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The faint tune of a whistle bounced off the high walls around him. It grabbed him, ripped at his clothes as he tried to run faster. He was being hunted – there were no footsteps yet he knew that he hadn’t been alone for quite some time now and he also knew that it was only because the person hunting him wanted him to know that he did.
A shiver of dread worked itself through his body as he pressed himself closer to the cold frame hanging behind him, the hallway in front of him mostly dark except for the faint light pouring in through the window to his left. His breath quivered as he tried to make something out in the dark but couldn’t.
“Show yourself!”, he called angrily as he clutched the transmitter connected to his security system in his right hand.
The whistling stopped, just like his breath got stuck in his throat – intensifying the shaking of his knees.
“Do you even know who I am?”, he shrieked terrified, pressing the security button on the blinking device once again as if that would make the police show up faster. However, because of his intensive shaking it slipped through his sweaty hands and fell to the ground. Without a second thought he scrambled to pick it up when two heavy boots came to view just at the edge of the lightcone of the window. The man they belonged to slowly approaching.
“Lee Hyunsik.”, a low voice rumbled through the chest of the other, freezing Hyunsik in place – giving the stranger the perfect opportunity to step on his hand that was still outstretched towards his transmitter.
“A criminal, cheater, more or less a politician – and apparently”, the other put more of his weight on his hand, making Hyunsik rip open his eyes and screamed in agony as his fingers made a crunching sound from being pressed to the floor, “A crybaby.”
Hyunsik looked up as tears ran down his face but all he saw were the others white teeth as he send him a teasing grin – he was playing with him.
“Does that answer your question?”
Hyunsik tried to form sentences through his labored heaving as he tucked on his hand: “What do you want from me? I don’t even know who you are!!”
The other just rightened his back and said in the same calm tone he’s been speaking in the entire time: “I’m Mingi.”, before Hyunsik could vehemently clarify that he doesn’t know a ‘Mingi’ and therefore clearly couldn't have wronged him, he was interrupted, “And let me tell you another thing I know about you.
You, my friend”, the other crouched down in front of him, revealing his face to him and making him panic even worse, “Pissed off the wrong guy.”
Mingi sensed the exact moment his target gathered the breath to scream and shoved his gun between his teeth – making both of them stop.
It was deadly silent as cackling laughter blared through his ear piece.
The politician in front of him went cross eyed looking at the glittery stickers and little pink diamonds that were all littered across the barrel of his weapon. A little creature drawn with glitter pens next to it. There was a yellow flower placed on it’s head and a speech bubble saying ‘You’ve got this!’ – the last letters a little crude as their obviously wasn’t much space to write on.
In disbelief Mingi pulled out the knife from his belt, making him come eye to eye with hello kitty.
A loud crash and Wooyoung’s teary voice chimed into the silence once more: “God, this is priceless.”
Mingi’s eyes softened while he gave an exasperated sigh, trying to comprehend what happened and how his boyfriend had gotten his hands on his weapons – again. It wasn’t like he hid them very well or as if he kept his job a secret or anything similar to this. In fact, Yeosang even knew all of his colleagues. They were their best friends and Mingi’s biggest competition when it came to Yeosang’s heart. Even so, it still created for interesting moments like this when his artistic darling decided to expand his horizons and worm his way into Mingi’s work space.
He shook his head before it could fill any further with toothy smiles and twinkling brown eyes.
Hyunsik was wriggling, positively terrified by the gun in his mouth – no matter how cute it was decorated it would still end his life tonight – and Mingi didn’t want to give him another chance to draw any more attention to them. Just as he was about to make another noise the bounty hunter swiftly stepped back and pulled the trigger, embedding a bullet in his skull. Right in time with the alarm bells that started to blare all around them.
Mingi took that as his cue to make a run for it.
Wooyoung – though still highly amused by the previous scene he had just witnessed – quickly got his head back in the game and started to lead him out of the most critical area that rapidly filled with police and personal guards that resided closer to the grounds.
He almost felt bad as he dragged his dirty shoes across the expensive carpets and then proceeded to trample over the tediously maintained beds of crystal blooms, yet he also got a satisfaction out of leaving a bad taste in the residents mouths.
Once he got to the point where he could navigate the exit route by himself Wooyoung stopped giving him directions and he relaxed a little. Obviously he stayed vigilant, he had learned his lesson after he got a nasty scar on his shoulder. Back then he had been lucky that San had been teamed up with him, otherwise he probably wouldn’t stand there today… With his decorated weapons threatening one of the most influential people in the floating city.
“Hey, I was meant to ask you if you two are free for dinner tomorrow night?”, Wooyoung’s voice sounded through the static noise of his earpiece.
Mingi ducked under a few branches before continuing on towards the getaway car Yunho had left there for him earlier: “I need to ask Yeosang. He’s been busy with one of his projects and I think it’s really stressing him out that he’s not making progress as he wants to.”
“All the more reason to join us!”, Wooyoung exhaled deeply, putting all his dramatic flair into it when continuing, “I just want to see my sons who visit me oh so seldomly.”
“You basically live with us – I’ve found you and Yunho in our shared home – our bed – more often than I can count.”
At some point in their relationship Mingi had asked Yeosang if he could install their friends iris into their flats recognition system. Just in case anything ever happened and he wasn’t available he wanted to make sure they had the ability to help Yeosang immediately.
It had been a grim subject yet once he got his agreement and told the other’s they were beyond delighted. Completely ignoring the connotation of what it meant when worst came to worst their eyes shone like christmas lights. In the process of weaving his relationship through these rather unwelcome emotions and worries he had forgotten that this would also give his friends access to unrestricted Yeosang-time. It wasn’t like they didn’t recognize their privacy at all but they were rather enthusiastic about their visits. Especially in the beginning.
More situations Mingi would rather eradicate from his memory.
“Well, sometimes you’ve got to help yourself.”, Wooyoung said matter of factly and Mingi could vividly imagine him nodding to himself – a habit he had actually picked up from Yeosang, “To come back to my invitation: I’ll take your answer as you’ll ask Yeosang and he’ll agree because he actually loves me so you’re basically written down on the guest list. Good? Good.”
Before Mingi could say anything else in response Wooyoung cut off the channel and a robotic voice told him that the other side had switched back to simply monitoring him. He shook his head at a loss for words as he opened the car and started the engine.
Once he had driven to the designated junkyard that Wooyoung had send him the address to, he commuted back to where he left his motorcycle and finally made his way home. It were already the early morning hours and in most of the windows of his apartment complex the lights were turned off or the shutters closed – except for his own.
A warm orange flooded outside and showed the world that the owner was still awake. As so often Yeosang tended to stay awake if Mingi had a bigger job like this. It wasn’t like he went to bed early anyways but especially on nights that could cost him his life, Yeosang insisted on waiting for his return – which Mingi obviously wouldn’t fight him on.
He rubbed his eyes as he walked up to the door and quickly let himself in.
Inside, the warmth of their little hallway greeted him. The walls were decorated in metal panels that Yeosang had engraved swirling spirals into which came together as an elaborate motif of his favourite flowers. They didn’t really exist anymore – not on their planet anyway – but Yeosang had spent a lot of time on the database studying their images and meanings.
Mingi hung his coat next to the hovertrinkets that Yeosang had made with whatever scrap he could find. They looked like the little origami cranes and butterflies Mingi liked to fold in his spare time. Faithfully holding up their coat rack – they made comforting, buzzing sounds.
Mingi moved further inside where more of Yeosang’s creative mind was revealed. He had actually managed to build and paint little planets and stars gliding through the air around their ceiling, circling the hanging lamp that gave off a soft light. He called it their personal little galaxy and had placed it right above the foldable bed which Yeosang was currently sitting on. He wore a grey shirt that looked suspiciously big on him and was probably Mingi’s, with comfortable pajama pants – his freshly dyed blonde hair, glowing like a halo in the lightening.
He spinned a pencil in his hand while moving his head to the music playing in his headphones that looked like they belonged to another time. They used a cord and were connected to a device that used something Yeosang called ‘cassettes’. When he had first shown him, Mingi had asked why he didn’t just search the local database for the songs he wanted but Yeosang had insisted that listening to the music like this heightened his concentration.
Dropping the rest of his stuff on the small dining table, Mingi moved over to him and slowly joined him on the bed cuddling up into his side as Yeosang naturally lifted his arm to make more space for him.
“Hi”, the other murmured into the quiet, only interrupted by the whirring of the little machines turning above their heads as he took off the headphones and laid them aside.
Mingi smiled once his eyes were on him and leaned in for a soft kiss, a sweet feeling unfurling in the pit of his belly: “Hello”, he whispered against his lips, “How is it coming along?” He nodded towards the discarded notebook while he felt Yeosang’s fingers gently tracing his face like he often did after one of Mingi’s jobs. It was his way of coping with the fear that came with the danger Mingi was exposed to every few weeks so he just let it happen, letting him find out for himself that he was save and sound back in his arms.
“It’s…whatever.”, he sighed looking up and down the rest of Mingi’s body before finding his way back to his eyes, “I have so many sketches but none come close to being ‘good enough’ let alone 'perfect'.”
Mingi hummed lowly waiting for him to continue but he stayed quiet so he lightly brushed his waist by moving closer: “Wooyoung said you should come out of your enclosure for dinner with the others. Seeing something different and having a night out may loosen the gears?”
The corners of Yeosang’s lips quirked up a little upon hearing the suggestion: “Are you sure he doesn’t just want an excuse to shove more drinks over to my side of the table?”
Mingi leaned back to rest against the cushions more comfortably, dragging Yeosang on top of him: “Maybe, who knows what’s going on in this head of his.”, he shrugged as something came to his mind, “Speaking of: Your stickers created quite the interesting situation today.”
Yeosang frowned before a light seemed to go up in his eyes and he laughed in good nature: “Oh yeah? What happened?”
Mingi smiled at successfully shooing away the clouds of desperation regarding his project and started to retell the story of how he had discovered his glittering and sparkling weapons making Yeosang giggle a few more times along the way.
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry!”, he pleaded as Mingi began tickling him as his ‘revenge’, “You have to know it’s not my fault.”
He considered that and stopped to let the older catch his breath: “And how exactly is it not your fault that the last thing Hyunsik saw in his miserable life was a drawing of Hehetmon saying ‘You’ve got this’?”
Yeosang spluttered out another laugh but scrambled to talk before the other could attack him again: “They looked so bland and sad! They were practically begging me for a make-over.”
Mingi raised an eyebrow: “I was not aware they talked that much.”
“Oh, all the time.”, the smaller nodded now trapped under Mingi’s body as it was easier to keep him in place like this.
“Hm, I never noticed”, Mingi decided to relent as his eyes settled on the mess that was Yeosang’s hair and he started to carefully untangle them, “I need to pay more attention to them it seems.”
The older cupped his cheeks to pull his face closer, kissing him briefly before murmuring against his lips: “Yea, you do seem rather easily distracted.”, he pecked him before stopping again, “Now that I think about it, that seems rather impractical in your line of work-“
Mingi fondly rolled his eyes. He gently grabbed the older’s chin and captured his lips before he could get any further, making Yeosang giggle breathily before melting against his body, wrapping his arms around Mingi’s neck as they both succumbed to the sweet taste of their little universe. Mingi let his eyes fall shut as he swiped his tongue across the other’s lower lip – making Yeosang gasp softly and using this as his chance to delve deeper while still keeping his movements soothingly tender. Taking the last tension from his shoulders Mingi felt it when Yeosang shuddered lightly in response to him stroking his thumb across his cheek right under his eye.
When they separated to take a breath, Mingi watched the older’s eyelids tremble before revealing the gems that reflected the all-consuming love Mingi held for this other human being.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”, Yeosang whispered silently.
Mingi smiled a little, touching their foreheads together: “I’d cheat death to come back to you.”
Now it was his boyfriend’s turn to roll his eyes in amusement: “You’re so cheesy, it doesn’t match your bad-boy image at all.”
“What can I say? I’m perfect like that.”
Yeosang shoved at his face making him laugh.
“Go shower already!”