Chapter Text
After all the scuff that had happened today during the planning, the Cleanbois thought for sure that the hack and the getaway would go perfect. But as Yuno usually said with a cheerful attitude "it wouldn't be us if it wasn't scuffed!".
The hack that had put so much pressure on Yuno these past few weeks was finally done and over with. Buddha had once again witnessed the hacker's one shotting skills and had been completely blown away by it. Even after Yuno explained to him his memory strat, he still couldn't understand how he did it, but he was amazed at how passionate and dedicated the younger was. He knew ever since the first failed attempt at the black dongle, that this hack was finally a real challenge for Yuno and that he was serious about it.
He was so proud of Yuno and had believed in him every second of the way. Of course Yuno hit them with his usual "I just got a lucky pattern that's all!" But he knew from Raymond who shared a room of the Clean manor with him, that the hacker would often stay up late, practicing relentlessly until he would fall asleep from exhaustion.
And while Tony and Ray were watching the hostages, Buddha and Yuno were now collecting the stacks of cash from the trays in the lower vault. There was over a million dollars in total, Yuno had never seen so much money in his life, however the celebrations were cut short when the two robbers suddenly heard a loud metallic noise... The vault door had closed itself behind them without any warning.
They desperately tried everything they could to open the door, nothing worked. But what really panicked them was the realization that their radios and phones were rendered useless, they had no way of contacting the rest of the crew because of the heavy vault door blocking the frequency. Yuno stared with a blank expression at the 'No Service' icon on his phone.
After a good 30 minutes of messing with the keypads, getting impatient and even shouting, Buddha decided it was useless to keep trying, so he joined Yuno who was sat back against a wall. He sighed, the silence was heavy, he could feel Yuno's mood had changed, he had been quiet for a while. The boy’s hands were shaking.
"Are you okay Yuno?" The man in question only nodded slowly while staring at his feet, avoiding eye contact. They both had removed their night vision goggles, the only thing allowing them to see their surroundings was the faint light of a flashlight placed on the floor.
Yuno had been observing the layout of the vault for a while now. There was no ventilation system and he began worrying that they would eventually run out of air if they stayed here for too long. He finally felt the panic settle in, he couldn't think rationally anymore and his heartbeat was accelerating.
Yuno spoke with a knot in his throat, "Are we gonna be stuck here forever Mr Lang?", his voice was slightly muffled by his helmet. Buddha couldn't see the expression on Yuno's face, but he could hear how tiny his voice was and how small he appeared, he couldn't bear to see Yuno like that. He seemed so vulnerable.
"Hey, hey Yuno don't worry okay? Our boys are smart, they'll find a way to get us out of here or they'll negotiate something with the cops if they have to alright?" He tried his best to reassure him.
But the young hacker saw how Mr Lang, the one person he looked up to the most, had to cater to him again, he felt like such a burden. He had no business being a crim in Los Santos when he couldn't keep his cool like him, he wished he could be as efficient as the rest of the crew. He wasn't a driver and certainly not a shooter, he couldn't come in clutch and save others from the cops like Ray. Nor could he do cool car tricks like Mr Tony in car chases, nor own million dollar businesses like Mr Lang. All he could do was hack.
This time he had succeeded the 12 digit hack, but would he be able to do next heist hack and the one after that? Even right now all that was standing between him and the exit was just this one door, but without a code or a laptop to hack all he could was watch, his skills were useless in this situation. He felt more powerless than ever before. All those emotions suddenly overwhelmed him, he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"I'm sorry, I- I don't know what to do, what's wrong with me? I'm so useless.. " Yuno rambled with a shaky voice.
What totally broke Buddha was when he started hearing sniffles coming from Yuno and tears sliding down onto his shirt from under his helmet. He couldn't take this "Come here baby, you have nothing to apologize for, you are not useless" he carefully removed Yuno's helmet and pulled him into a hug. Yuno immediately buried his face in Buddha's neck, he was so pretty even when he was crying. He was shivering and breathing hard, his panic attack was in full effect and he couldn't stop it.
The older male hugged Yuno as if he could protect him from the world, he whispered sweet nothings into his ear and showered him with praises. "You're okay, you're doing so well, good boy". They both stayed like this for a few minutes until the younger calmed down, Buddha was petting his hair and comforting him the whole time.