Chapter Text
Chenle's POV
Chenle watched as his breath escape him. It, of course, had to be cold as shit outside. He remembered just this morning waking up, tangled in the warm embraces of his hyungs. Taeyong had said the night called for a cuddle pile, as most nights before a huge crime did.
It's funny, when you think of their routine, thugs cuddling up to one another.. But that's just what they do. It's become the norm in their group of strays to always bare such weakness before each other, they hardly think anything of it.
Had Chenle known that would've been their last cuddle pile, their last interaction, maybe he wouldn't have told Jisung that his breath stank when he playfully tried to kiss him. Or maybe he would've accepted Johnny's invitation to shower together instead of calling him gross. Maybe he would've hugged them and said goodbye instead of sulking that he couldn't go with him because of his broken arm.
Taeyong and Lucas had just laughed.
"Awww, our little baby."
"Don't worry, you can come next time."
"Your arm's almost healed."
"Don't give Winwin-hyung and Jeno-hyung a hard time."
"Fighting Haeyadwae!"
Would it had been so hard to just.. Reply? To sense they were worried about him too?
Maybe.. Maybe this is karma? Maybe--
"Come inside, Chen Le." Sicheng reached out in his elegant Mandarin, "You'll catch cold, 贝贝."
Wordlessly Chenle stood up from the steps of the porch, dusting off the wet snow and dirt on his pant leg, and came inside. There he saw Jeno setting the large -- now too large -- dining table for three people. The eighteen empty chairs, all mismatched and well-loved, seemed eerie now and sad. He could still remember the struggle of adopting more and more members from the harsh streets of Seoul and not having enough chairs. He remembers especially the morning after Kun found Yangyang and Xiaojun. He got to sit on Kun's lap and be fed because he offered up his seat to the new members. They had laughed at how Lucas terrified the shy boys with his loud voice and crude habits. He'd give anything right now for another morning like that.
"Winwin-hyung talked to Yixing-hyung over the phone," Jeno's soft voice plucked him out of his depressing thoughts before it could delve too dark.
"Yixing-ge?" He questioned, "What did he say?"
"He said that the police are taking them to holding cells in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do tomorrow morning after they're done questioning everything. Sehun-hyung saw a glimpse of some members.. Lucas-hyung looks ruffed up but he's fine, and Duckie was unconscious. That's all he knows of their well-being." Jeno relayed as he pushed food around his plate, too stressed to eat anything.
"For now.. We lay low. We.. We.." Sicheng looked deep in thought, burdened by the bleak future and the looks of despair in his dongsaengs' eyes, "We will have to wait and see."
"Our group has connections, we can reach out to a lawyer, they'll need one. We should make that top priority, right?" He spoke up. Logically it made sense, however this was Jaehyun and Johnny's forte. Usually whenever one of them got caught, or something incriminating was found against their group, they were the ones to pull strings.. Lessen the sentence or wipe their record entirely if it came to it. Chenle had no idea how to do that, and he knew for sure Jeno and Sicheng, who would more often then not stay home while the others went out, had no idea either.
".. Should we call EXO hyungs again?" Jeno looked up at Winwin from underneath his eyelashes. Chenle waited for a response from their eldest.
"We can't keep bothering them. They have their own problems and family. They certainly don't have time for our small gang." He sighed. Chenle looked down at his plate, untouched as are the others'. "I'll.. I'll call some people that I used to know. An old friend of mine from a 十四K group, the Long Zi group, can help. We'll get an apartment, we can't stay here.. Just in case."
Chenle let the information set in. ".. 十四K" he whispered, incredulous, "a fucking triad!?"
"Language!" Jeno scolded inappropriately.
"How do you know a large drug-trafficking motherfucking triad, hyung?" Chenle ignored Jeno, adding a cuss word just to spite him.
Nothing much is known about Sicheng's past. When he arrived at the doorstep with Kun, the boy didn't speak. Kun told them he was just very wary. The only thing they had learned about him is he had a horrible gambling addictions of which his infamous nickname originated, and that he struggled with skinship, still does today.
To Chenle he just shrugged, dismissing it, "I just know someone, I don't like the gang. My friend can give us money, probably enough for an apartment. And he'll protect us, if I ask."
"Can he get us a lawyer?"
"I can ask.."
Chenle sat back as Jeno and Sicheng continued to exchange plans.
Soon Jeno was gathering their untouched plates, and Sicheng was pulling the small blonde upstair to his room. The three of them wrapping around each other in an awkward but familiar tangle of limbs.
Despite the warmth of two others, Chenle lie awake. He could hear Jeno's sleep-induced mumblings and Sicheng's sniffling as he held back tears-- probably in an effort to not wake the other two.. But Chenle was awake anyways, and he stayed that way until Sicheng's crying stopped and his breath evened out. He stayed that way until Jeno fell deeper into slumber and stopped mumbling. He stayed that way even when the sky turned a pale blue, a rather sad color that reflected his clouded mind.
It was a cold, empty feeling that befell him that dawn. And he promised to himself that when, not if but when he reunites with the others, he'll tell Jisung that his breath smells like flowers, and he'll take a shower with Johnny, and they'll all fall asleep in a cuddle pile.