Chapter Text
3rd P.O.V
"Sweety. XXX what's wrong!? What happened?"
"Daddy...i'm so scared."
"You gotta talk to me-what did he do?!"
"He-I can't do this marriage anymore!"
"XXX?"
"He's a monster dad...one that destroys everything he touches..."
HoW riGhT yOU wERe!
Snapping his eyes open Jyugo exhaled, cold sweat coursing down his forehead. Quickly he twisted his head, his panicked green and purple heterochromia eyes softening as he gazed on his three cellmates. All were sleeping peacefully through the night.
The raven haired boy sighed in relief. He was glad he didn't wake them up for once. These days the memories and nightmares liked to intermingle with his mind, causing him to wake up the others from his crying or shouts of fear.
"It's fine. I won't be found. I'm safe." It sounded silly as he kept repeating those words quietly to himself. The irony was not lost on him as he continued sitting in the cold floor of a jail cell, clenching his hands together. He was a prisoner...it was supposed to be everyone outside of prison that was supposed to be protected from him.
Jails were meant to keep terrible people in, so that no one could be hurt, but for Inmate Number 15, Jyugo, that wasn't the case. Being chained here meant HE couldn't get him. Locked up in a cage meant no one could touch him-or at the very least, not someone who maliciously wanted to hurt him.
Especially since this was Nanba Prison-the most high tech security and secretive jailhouse in the world. Prisoners go in-they don't come out. Hell it's not even known to the public with how confidential it is.
Literally a detention center floating on some random rock in the vast Japanese seas. That made it the perfect place to hide. "Jyugo?" The teen blinked, startled from his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the sleepy voice.
It was Uno. His eyes were half opened, like he was ready to fall back asleep any second now. His pink and blond locks were free from their usual confined braid, flowing down like a river as the older male rubbed his eye.
"What are you doing up man? It's late." There was no real way to prove that. There was no clock in here, despite the fact that the four escape artists had access to practically everything they wanted and needed. Just the other day Uno had ordered something for Nico with a laptop!
For being condemned convicts they were living the life. However, knowing Uno, he was probably right. Another one of his damn accurate hunches. Jyugo could only shrug, not wanting to worry the other boy. "Couldn't sleep." It technically wasn't a lie, a nightmare woke him up.
Making him nervous and unable to fall back to sweet dreams. But he still felt bitterness leave his mouth as he finished his statement. He didn't like keeping secrets, nor lying, especially to his friends, but then he remembered why he MUST.
If he told Uno anything about his bad dreams, his friend, being the nice guy that he was, would want Jyugo to talk about it. And eventually Jyugo would break down, unable to hide anything, and that was a dangerous thing to allow.
So he shook his head, clamping his mouth shut as he gazed at the moon. Reminding himself time and time again why he had to stay silent. It was for them as much as it was for himself. Uno stared at his friend for a moment, growing more awake as the seconds passed.
Uno sat up, blinking the rest of the sleep crusties away, able to get better visual on the young man who seemed to hold so many burdens. Once more Jyugo was in the corner, holding his knees to his chest a bit aways from the little sleeping pile that the four of them usually created.
The moon was shining on him from a barred window near the ceiling, casting him in a white illuminating glow. Majestic...was the word Uno thought as he took in Jyugo's eyes, they shifted colors again, becoming a beautiful mint green and ice blue. Shaking off the thoughts, Uno lifted himself up, shivering as he did so. "Geez it's cold."
Immediately he grabbed his blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders as he quietly tiptoed over Nico and Rock. Both were oblivious to the world around them. "What are you doing?" Jyugo hissed as Uno nearly tumbled, but fortunately remained standing. Coming closer and closer until the eighteen year old sat right down next to Jyugo.
Making sure to wrap the blanket around both of their shoulders. "You know if something's bothering you-you can tell us right? We're here for you Jyugo." Said boy was blushing at the close proximity of the other male as well as the fact that Uno was able to either read or sense his inner turmoil.
Still he was grateful for the warmth, both from the blanket and words. "I know." He knew that if anyone could understand the situation he was in, it was Uno, Rock and Nico. Jyugo had met all of them long before they got thrown into the same jail cell they now called home.
At one point or another he had encountered them separately in different parts of the world. He was never able to stay around them for too long, especially when they broke out of whatever institution they would be confined in. But all of them were swell guys, guys that didn't deserve to be locked up.
Nico was arrested for being in possession and using narcotics-not that he knew what it was until after his arrest. It was the slums, and there he wasn't too knowledgeable at most things, let alone drugs that could and did massive damage to his body.
Busting out due to being constantly monitored by doctors and forced to take all sorts of painful and disgusting medication. At least here the medicine was tolerable to the green-haired otaku. In fact, he actually looked forward to his appointments now, with the candy flavored medicines they made for him.
Rock had gotten into a fist fight in public after being disowned by his family, causing a massive riot to occur. Deciding to become an escapee since he was sick of eating shitty food day after day. Just the sight of stale, rotten dishes left him breaking out with his strength, though he wasn't always successful.
Often times he would starve for days as he took abuse from the guards. It took Jyugo busting him out just to eat at a restaurant(adding dining and dashing to their list of crimes) and finally meeting Shiro at Nanba that truly mellowed the guy out. The food at Nanba was to die for, and Rock had no shame becoming a foodie.
And finally Uno was arrested for gambling in the deep underground illegal casinos dens all across Europe. Frankly, he still has a gambling addiction, but these days it was all in good fun with his fellow prisoners. His reasons for leaving prison was simply for going on dates with the beautiful women he knew from here or there.
Out of all of them Jyugo's known him the longest, since first having to help him bust out while they were in France. Uno was always(for some weird reason) excited when he ran into Jyugo, eager to catch up as if they were penpals meeting instead of runaway convicts. Uno was always looking out for him when he could, it was nice.
All of them had their flaws for sure, but compared to other people Jyugo's met, these three had hearts of gold. "Get some rest Jyugo, you look like you need it." A hand caressed his black and red locks, gently twisting and smoothing them before that hand pushed Jyugo's head to Uno's shoulder.
"Wha?" His eyes blinked as Jyugo tried to lift his head away from the British teen. A pink blush forming on his cheeks. "I'm fine Uno!" He whispered sharply, still aware of the still sleeping audience.
Uno glances down at him, a knowing expression on his face. "You haven't been sleeping well lately, you got bags under your eyes. It's not good to constantly worry like you've been, regardless of what reason it is. You can lean on us when things get rough, or even when they don't. But don't bottle it up."
Cheesy, and corny. Yet despite that his words were sincere and full of kindness, relaxing the tension from Jyugo's shoulders. A yawn escaped as tears prick his multicolored eyes, blinding him for a moment.
He willed with all his might not to cry as he nestled against Uno's warm collarbone. Jyugo was a man dammit! 'HE' couldn't get sentimental and cry over something so small and stupid. Even if it did make him incredibly happy and relieved.
Big girls don't cry.
And big BOYS definitely don't!
"Ok you win, stupid Uno." Said stupid gambler smirked as Jyugo closed his eyes, at last losing his battle at staying awake. "Night Jyugo~" Huffing the flirt continued stroking the now sleeping teen's hair with a fond gaze.
It didn't even take a minute for him to fall unconscious. "You gotta stop pushing yourself so much. You're worrying everyone with your distance." Now it was Uno's turn to sigh. It was getting harder and harder for him to deny his feelings for Jyugo and that was becoming a slight problem.
For starters he was straight, a true blue arrow when it came to his preferences. Although Jyugo was becoming an extreme exception to his standards. The guy was a master of puzzles and busting out of the big house, but was crappy with everything else.
Could barely write, sucked at math(despite being a magical hacker) was an idiot-the list went on. But all of those flaws didn't matter and Uno couldn't help but be frustrated with not only his feelings, but also Jyugo's.
Were it not for his extreme observation skills and having a heavy amount of experience reading people with their poker faces, Uno would've never been able to tell at all what Jyugo was feeling.
If people were books, Jyugo was a diary, locked away from all prying eyes. However, even a child could see that the young teen was thinking deeply about something important. He and the other's have noticed how distant the jailbreaker was becoming, and that spelled bad news. Uno's seen this pattern before, they all have.
He remembered back when they were in Los Angeles after getting caught by the cops. One night out of nowhere the young boy made a break for it, releasing all the prisoners he considered friends from their cages before disappearing without a trace. Uno had often wondered what had caused him to do it that day.
There was nothing special about that day or any particular reason for it. And where did he go after escaping? It was nearly a year later when Uno was thrown in Nanba did he reunite with Jyugo, followed by Rock and then finally Nico.
Those questions still lingered. In the end though he was never able to figure it out, even when he asked the boy himself, he received no answers. But he did know this... Jyugo was planning on leaving soon, or at least planned on an actual solo attempt to leave.
Something that worried the gambler to no end. Granted none of them have managed to actually get passed Supervisor 13 Hajime Suguroku despite the hundreds of attempts they've made. However, there was this uneasy feeling in his gut, his hunch telling him something bad was going to happen if he left Jyugo alone for even a second.
For whatever reason, Jyugo never stayed in one place for too long. Whether it be in prison or out. It felt as if he was running from something, but what exactly? Uno could guess endless possibilities but had no real clue. "What are you hiding from us? How can we help?"
His questions fell on deaf ears...but his hunch told him he would know soon enough.
To be continued