Chapter Text
Yua-Si. That’s the name that his friend called him. He should know by now that it’s not his real name, but Yut-Lung kept the charade going anyway. The Japanese boy before him was unaware of his bloodline. Eiji was gullible enough to trust anyone he deemed kind, but he was no idiot. He could—and would—go out of his way to figure out his identity. Yut-Lung was living on borrowed time, and the further he could get his brothers away from Yua-Si’s life, the better.
“Yua-Si. Yua-Si!”
One blink and slowly, his blurred surroundings came into sharp focus. He turned back to the baby-faced young man sitting across him.
“Oh, sorry, Eiji…” He breathed out. One hand reached to twirl the teaspoon in his cup. “You lost me at ‘rave.’
“Yeah…” Eiji murmured. The hesitance melted away as he blinked and chimed out the rest of his declaration. “Ash invited me to see our friend’s show.”
“Ash? A show?”
He knows Ash. He hasn’t met him, but he’s heard of Ash. His brothers and their associates want to get a hold of him. From Yua-Si’s point of view, he knows nothing of this man.
Yut-Lung does, but Yut-Lung and Yua-Si are two different people.
That’s how it’s supposed to be.
“Yeah. You can finally meet Ash there.” Eiji said with a smile. Yua-Si found himself looking at Eiji’s phone. The wallpaper had a picture of the two men, with the Hudson River behind them.
Yua-Si lifted his cup and smiled back at Eiji. While responding, he found himself fixated on the phone. He was lucky his friend was too clueless, and easily missed his semi-cold gaze. “Sure. I would like to be there.” Yua-Si kept his tone cordial. The warm smile from Eiji was enough to assure him, and his friend didn’t pick up on any trace of envy that stirred inside of him. “I get to see the elusive Ash Lynx you keep telling me about—“
Before Yua-Si could continue, Eiji cut him off.
“You’ll get to meet our friend too.”
Yua-Si paused, raising an eyebrow. “Friend?”
Eiji nodded. He launched into a lengthy explanation, filled with detail on who would join them. Yua-Si slowly found himself staring off into space as Eiji prattled on. But, his attention was drawn back when he heard Eiji mention his other friend’s name.
“You’ll get to meet Shorter there too!”
Yua-Si focused on the name, storing it in his mind to keep himself from forgetting.
Shorter…Shorter…What a strange name.
Yua-Si stared out of the window and found himself wondering what it would be like to meet this Shorter...
Shit. I’m gonna be late!
Shorter grabbed his apron and yanked it off in one fluid motion. He nearly abandoned the dirtied cloth, but, thinking better of it, scooped it up right before it reached the greasy floor. As he swung the apron onto its hook, he could hear a stern yet feminine tone reverb through the clattering of pans, silverware and plates. He tried to scurry out before the woman’s voice reached his ears. He heard her shout right as he made his way out the swinging door.
“Shorter! Didn’t I tell you that you would be late?”
The tall, young man ruffled his hair, dyed in neon purple and cut in a mohawk. He grimaced, pausing and throwing his arms down. He forgot for a second that his favourite sunglasses were on the front hem of his shirt. The woman could see his skewed expression as he slowly turned to face her.
“Yeah, I know, jie jie. I know.” He tried to back away, slowly moving towards the door, “I can still make it if I leave... right now.” Phew. Finally, with a single step, he was out. And then he paused, thinking…
“Crap!” Shorter screamed, before rushing up to his room. “My stuff!”
He was going to go out, but not before getting his gear. And a change of clothes. And his key to his motorcycle.
As he made his way to backdoor, he did a mental check to make sure he had his essentials.
“Let’s see…” Shorter murmured, while patting his bulky backpack and then his body. “Laptop-Check. Show clothes-Check. Cellphone-Check. Sunglasses- Check. Underwear-Check—“
Finally, he was almost ready to leave.
“Hey, jie jie!” He yelled as he ran back inside, stopping a few inches away from the door.
The woman in question jogged to him.
“You left anything?” She said.
“No. I just needed to say ‘goodbye.’” He then pecked her on her cheek. The woman gave one back, dropping a quick kiss on his tanned cheek.
“Be sure to come back in one piece.” She waved as he went out the door once more.
“I will, Nadia.” Shorter revved up his bike, put on his helmet and wheeled his bike out of the back alley. Once past that place, he zoomed through the streets of Chinatown and off to his next big gig.
Excitement fuelled him, adrenaline causing him to increase the speed of his bike. He knows he’s going to get a speeding ticket at worst. Nothing’s going to stop him. He won’t get hit. He was certain of it.
He was certain of it….
“Master Yut-Lung. Are you certain that you want to be dropped off here?”
The chauffeur’s voice cracked as he glanced around at the location Yut-Lung had given him.
The evening had long set in. The streets were crowded with people, young and old. The location the car was parked at, the cafe, sat sandwiched between two office buildings. But it seemed that its customers were younger than those who’d enter the locales besides it.
“Yes. Here is fine.” Yut-Lung glanced at the outside. No good…too many people. “On second thought…drop me a block away from the stoplight. By the corner. Do it fast. I’m expecting someone real soon.”
The chauffeur gave a firm, “Sure,” before revving up the engine and heading straight to the intersection up ahead.
Yua-Si can’t be seen going into town in a car owned by his brothers. People might expect someone like Yua-Si to ride in such a luxurious car, but Yut-Lung felt that Yua-Si wouldn’t want any of that tonight. The car he rode in was no limo, but was fancy enough to earn the stares of the common folk. Heck, there were already passers-by who stopped to stare at the car parked in front of the quaint, little café Eiji told Yua-Si to meet him at that night.
Walking down to the café would be the right course to take for tonight. He just wanted a quiet night at the rave that Yua-Si’s friend is taking him to. To have a night to enjoy himself and to meet with Eiji’s other friend.
That would’ve been the plan. If his chauffeur didn’t go past the red light.
“LOOK OUT!” Yut-Lung shouted and closed his eyes at a blur that zoomed past the side of the car.
The chauffeur hit the brakes, the tires screeched.
Thud!
The thud wasn’t loud enough for Yut-Lung to register that an impact between metal-and-metal was made. But it was loud enough for him to know that some damage had to have occurred.
When Yut-Lung opened his eyes, he found someone beside their vehicle. In one piece.
That meant that, fortunately, his driver had stopped the car on time. Yut-Lung sighed in relief but quickly furrowed his brows.
“HEY!”
Yut-Lung rolled down the window on his opposite side. As he did, car horns blared. Yut-Lung could hear them, but his primary focus was towards the revving of a different vehicle. A motorcycle?
Yut-Lung glared at the rider of the cursed thing, knowing that this motorcyclist had been the cause of a scene. Vehicles behind the luxury car started to honk their horns, and some people were whipping out their phones to record a video or take pictures.
“Hey, you!” The motorcycle driver screamed at Yut-Lung. “Watch where you’re going!”
Yut-Lung fumed. He locked his amethyst eyes on the drivers. With his helmet’s face mask raised, Yut-Lung had a chance to get a nice long look at the rider’s eyes.
On that night, something in Yut-Lung told him that being playful with the figure before him would be a very good idea.
“Tell that to the driver, if you aren’t blind thanks to that bulky head of yours.” Yut-Lung chimed out. A sly smirk crept on his lips.
He heard the chauffeur eck something out in response, but couldn’t quite catch it.
“Oh no, just because you’re the one who’s being driven around doesn’t mean that you don’t have something to do with this hunk of metal nearly running me over!”
The bike driver kicked his heel on the emphasis. His foot landed on a tire’s hubcap, then on the metal above it.
“Hey!” It was the chauffeur’s turn to roll down his window. “You’re paying for that—!” His threat though, became an empty one, as almost immediately, the biker revved the vehicle and drove off west into the distance.
The chauffeur made a futile attempt to call the biker but Yut-Lung ordered him to stop.
“Just, drive two more blocks down, hurry, before the police arrive.” Yut-Lung instructed.
“O-Oh...right!” The driver jumped, and fumbled to get back into his seat, starting the car to head off to where Yua-Si had to walk from. Sure enough, the police arrived shortly after, stopping their vehicle as soon as they flew past the traffic light.
It was a routine investigation. The chauffeur mentioned the biker while being questioned. During that, Yut-Lung sent a quick text to Eiji, saying that Yua-Si would be late meeting with him due to some... “traffic.”
Yut-Lung had already been in a bad mood before leaving the mansion. He was still in a bad mood thanks to the cretin on the motorcycle. The police, unfortunately, gave him and his driver a tough time. But, at the end of it, Yut-Lung ended up paying for his “ticket” on the spot.
With the police taken care of, his thoughts turned back towards the motorcycle driver. Now that was someone he wished to deal with.
He literally needs to pay for what he did.
He wished that it would be easy to find out the identity of this man. . But, Yut-Lung couldn’t have gotten a plate number in their brief encounter or anything to identify this man. All he knew was that the biker had dark, deep brown eyes.
Eyes that glinted amidst the dark of the night, and the lights of New York City. Eyes that, for a second, captivated Yut-Lung…
If only such eyes didn’t belong to someone so rude.
Yua-Si would arrive at the café late, but Eiji assured his friend that there was no worry. He said that his friend’s show would start as soon as they got to the venue.
Shorter wheeled his bike toward the back of a large building, cursing underneath his breath. He hurried to kick the bike stand up after shutting the bike down.
“Fuck…fuck…fuck.” ‘Anything broken?’
He took a glance and underneath the single light illuminating the back door, he found a sizeable dent on the side of the fender.
“UGH!” He kicked the dirt under his feet. Removing his helmet, he then ruffled the purple hair behind his scalp. Before Shorter could stew for too long, he was greeted by the sound of a creaking door.
“There you are! You’re late!”
Standing by the door was a woman clad in a black shirt and a lanyard with an ID tag. Her arms were crossed but he could still see the text on her shirt, “CREW” written in big, bold white letters. Shorter recognized this person immediately: she was one of the event coordinators.
“Hey! I did my best to come here early you know, and—Whoa!”
Before Shorter could let another word out, the woman had dragged him inside. He managed to leave his bike helmet by one of the hand grips before continuing on. The woman shut the door behind them and pushed him through a dark hallway. While they marched forward, Shorter unzipped his hoodie jacket and slipped on his signature sunglasses. And while he did so, the woman gave him commands to start preparations.
“I know...I know—you don’t have to tell me twice.” Shorter snorted as he found the woman smirking at him. “What? I’ve been working ages for this gig! I know what to do.”
“You’re a people pleaser, Mr. Wong.” She chuckled, all the while patting his shoulder. “Just do your best to prep. We did our best to buy you some time.”
“Thanks, Natalie. You guys are the greatest.”
As they reached a large machine, Natalie smiled, motioning for Shorter to go and “do his thing.” Shorter’s thing involved fishing out the laptop in his backpack and hooking it up the machine he was led to.
We meet again old friend.
A DJ deck. It's been quite a while since he’s played a show. When he first started out, he would normally have jitters before pressing the play button. His nerves still reared their ugly head every so often. Especially with tonight’s ...little incident. But once he put on his headphones….
Ah…that’s better.
…the music swells, making all the anger and frustration fade away.
He doesn’t forget about the incident right away, though. Shorter wondered why.
“Show starts in T-minus one minute, Mr. Wong!” Natalie yelled, stopping his train of thought right in its tracks. But not his primary focus for the night, which was, as it always was and would be, to bring fantastic music to everyone in attendance.
Natalie signalled for the crew to lift up his platform. Shorter saw some crew members flip switches and work on some pulleys while Natalie moved at the foot of the platform. She had to watch over the stage they were going to raise Shorter in. As Natalie stood, she instructed the off-sight members through a tiny device on her shirt hem. After the device garbled something out, Natalie gave a stern, “affirmative” and stood silently.
The lights dimmed down but Shorter could still make out where Natalie was, even with his sunglasses. “You look tense, Wong.” She whispered, waving her hand to him to stop him before he spoke. “I don’t wanna know if you don’t wanna say but, I just want to know this, you ready to give a good show?”
Shorter took off his headset. The DJ deck was alit, neon lights glinting on Shorter’s sunglasses and his eyebrow piercing. Sure enough, these lights also illuminated his small smirk. Enough for Natalie to see.
“I got to hit a car today.” He breathed, quietly.
“Really?” Natalie said. Her face stayed stern, but her eyes flickered with worry. “Wow.” She said softly after a while, shifting slightly as she struggled to think of something else to say.
“That’s all, Nat.” He chuckled before putting on his headphones back on. “As for your question, I was born ready.” At that, all tension faded away. He rolled his shoulders for one last stretch. He really felt ready for what was to come next.
Natalie motioned for the crew to raise the platform. Shorter had enough time left to tell her one last thing before they parted ways. He grinned.
“I’m ready to get this party started!”