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Boys will be boys. It’s a saying as old as time.
Let boys ride their bikes down the hill. Let boys play in the mud. Let boys split their knuckles against the jaw of another boy.
Samuel had taken that last one to heart. And it wasn’t so much about being allowed to be a little mischievous as part of growing up and more about exerting dominance. About being the top dog in his neighborhood. About working his way to the top.
Because Samuel never got to be a boy. Not in the childish kind of way, anyway. Because growing up, he’d known something was missing. And once he found that missing puzzle piece - he had to put aside any childish whimsy and had to live up to the name. Live up to the legend. He had to grow up the son of a gangster. Had to be strong.
But so did Jake.
And yet Jake is laughing as he tugs him along - acting like it's all fun and games. And for the life of him Samuel can't figure out what's so damn funny. There is nothing to laugh about. Samuel had been ready to fight back there. He had a chance to fight The Black Bear Gang, the pros, test them himself, but the idiot had to grab him by the collar and drag him away like a coward.
There's nothing remotely funny about that. Samuel doesn't like jokes. Samuel doesn't like Jake Kim.
Somewhere along the way they got separated from the others. Alexander had been the first one to fall behind. Jerry had sped ahead on his bike. Samuel has no idea what happened to the other two. Now it's just him and Jake, taking sharp turns and sprinting down street corners in an attempt to shake off the men with knives chasing them.
One moment Jake is running alongside him, shoulder to shoulder, and in the other he's reaching out and grabbing hold of his sleeve, roughly tugging him into a narrow alley. Samuel almost trips over his feet at the sudden turn, but he manages to catch himself, following Jake as the two run past an old rusty dumpster and into an enclosed area behind the building.
And then there's nowhere to go.
Tall buildings around them, cornering them in. The only way in is the only way out - and that's back down the alleyway they just came running through. But that will lead them back to the street where The Black Bear Gang is no doubt searching for them.
So in other words: dead end.
"Way to go, idiot," Samuel huffs with a roll of his eyes, turning to look back down the narrow alleyway. Maybe they still have a chance if they turn around and slip out - preferably unnoticed. Samuel's not a coward - but even he knows that this particular situation they find themselves in spells trouble.
"Shut up, ungrateful jerk," Jake huffs in return, reaching up to wipe sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. "It's my quick thinking that got us this far. If it were up to you, we'd be back there getting our asses handed to us."
Samuel scoffs, "I could have beaten them."
"Sure," Jake retorts sarcastically, rolling his eyes for good measure.
Almost as if summoned, the voices of the men chasing them trail down the alley. Samuel instinctively scurries behind the building, pressing his back against the wall and accidently digging his elbow into Jake's side as the other teen mirrors Samuel's movements and settles against the wall beside him. Jake grunts, digging his elbow in return into Samuel's side.
It earns him the stink eye from Samuel.
Is that a smirk on his face?
The members of The Black Bear Gang advance down the alley. Samuel adjusts his brass knuckles, fingers curling into fists, feeling the familiar rush coursing through his veins at the prospect of an impending fight. And this fight will be one to escape with his life.
Because that's the only way they're getting out of here. There's no more talking to be had, Samuel is sure. Their chances of just being bratty kids causing trouble were thrown out the moment they declared themselves part of Big Deal.
"Gonna get our asses handed to us anyway," Samuel mutters under his breath. Or worse.
It's scary. Just a little. Not knowing what these men will do to them. Will do to supposed members of Big Deal.
Samuel feels Jake press his shoulder against his before the idiot speaks, "Follow my lead."
And that, Samuel has quickly come to learn, could mean anything. Because as Samuel already figured out, Jake is an idiot. Just earlier today he claimed to be a girl aspiring to be a nail artist just to get out of fighting him. Samuel can't even begin to imagine what bullshit Jake is about to spew to The Black Bear Gang.
Samuel can already feel the second-hand embarrassment rearing its ugly head. Because if he wants whatever stupid excuse Jake cooks up to work, then he'll have to play along.
Jake pushes up from the wall and steps around Samuel, moving to look around the corner of the building and down the alleyway - or so Samuel had initially thought. Jake grabbing him by the front of his shirt with both hands catches him by surprise. Samuel can barely get a word out before Jake is slamming him back against the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs, but he doesn't let Samuel get it back as he surges forward and captures Samuel's lips in an open-mouthed kiss.
Samuel's grunt of surprise is caught in his throat as Jake tilts his head and angles his body so that he's covering Samuel.
Jake cannot be serious. This cannot be Jake's plan.
Any thoughts of protest promptly tumble out of Samuel's head as Jake moves his lips against his own - soft yet firm and what the fuck? Jake is kissing him in earnest, his tongue gliding along Samuels' bottom lip and what the fuck?
Samuel is so blindsided by Jake's sudden advances that he just stands there, hands in the air halfway between reaching for Jake and dropping back down to his side.
It isn't until he hears the shuffling of footsteps coming from right beside him that Samuel kicks into gear, hands clutching at the back of Jake's t-shirt. Pulls Jake in closer, the other teen still grabbing fistfuls of the front of his shirt.
Still kissing him.
This isn't going to work. This isn't going to work.
But he has to play along. Has to kiss Jake back.
So Samuel does.
He parts his lips, tries to get his mouth to fit with Jake's - and ends up knocking their teeth together. But he doesn't dare pull away and neither does Jake. Not until they get it right.
Samuel's head is in overdrive. Going a mile a minute as he focuses on everything and yet nothing at all. It's hard - Jake makes it hard. Demanding Samuel's undivided attention. So much so that he barely even registers that the footsteps at their side have receded.
"Anything?" a deep voice asks.
"Just kids making out." Another one responds.
Further and further the footsteps go until they're gone. Out of the alley and onto the street. Gone.
There is no way that just worked.
And yet they're still kissing. It goes on, in Samuel's opinion, a little longer than it needs to. The threat is gone. The Black Bear Gang is back on the street, continuing their search for the stupid kids claiming to be part of Big Deal.
Jake finally breaks the kiss and takes a step back, face flushed and eyes in a daze. He stares at Samuel for a long moment - and Samuel imagines his own face must be flushed with how hot it feels - before he's stepping aside and leaning over to peek around the corner.
It's clear. It worked. That actually worked.
Jake flashes a grin at him from over his shoulder and Samuel is tempted to shove him away, so he does. Jake stumbles forward into the alleyway, a chuckle bubbling out of him as he reaches out and catches himself against the wall.
"The hell was that?" Samuel huffs, reaching up to rub the back of his hand over his lips.
"Disguise," Jake responds easily, leaning his back against the wall.
Samuel frowns, glaring at the other teen, "What?"
"Always works in movies," Jake shrugs. Nonchalantly. Like if this is nothing to him. Like if it's normal to kiss your arch nemesis in the alley.
"Movies..." Samuel shakes his head because surely his ears didn't just hear what they did. "You pulled that shit cause you saw it in a movie?"
"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Jake laughs before he's pushing up from the wall. "How about a thank you?"
"Fuck you," Samuel scoffs, finally pushing up from the corner and bumping his shoulder into Jake's chest as he starts to walk down the alleyway.
Jake keeps laughing because of course he does. He's an idiot. "In the movies, a date usually comes first," he chortles, falling into step behind Samuel.
Samuel ignores him, for the sake of his own sanity, marching out of the alley and back onto the street. Because none of this is funny to him. There is nothing funny about running away. There is nothing funny about ending up in a dead end. And there is nothing funny about kissing his rival or whatever Jake is to him.
Nothing funny at all.