Chapter Text
"You wanna train? Now?"
Hyuntak shifts his weight from one leg to another and gulps down, a bit embarrassed by the request.
"Yeah."
Seongje studies him from the couch, lazing on it. His dark eyes are framed by glasses that fit his face awkwardly as they're too big for him, but they don't have many alternatives, in a city like Zaun. One of the lenses has a crack in it, cutting Seongje's right eye like a scar, dividing his eye in several reflections which are all watching Hyuntak.
Hyuntak avoids his gaze and looks at the ground. It's dirty, the wooden floor creaks every time they step on it, too old, too worn off, ready to break at any moment. The wood is barely perceptible as there's not much light in the room, engulfed in the dark like Zaun always is. Only one light shines right above Seongje, casting hard shadows on his face, making his best friend all the more intimidating.
"It's not Friday," Seongje says.
Hyuntak sighs. "I know, but…"
How can he tell him he's getting stressed for the heist they're going to do in less than fifteen minutes and that he needs some training to make sure he won't be a dead weight, like he often is? Baekjin, Humin and Seongje are so good at fighting while he… he's not bad, but he could definitely be better. Should be better.
"A future athlete gotta train more, don't you think so?"
Seongje scoffs. "Yeah, like you're ever gonna make it one day with your weak kicks."
Hyuntak should be offended, but he's not. Too used to Seongje's antics, or too stressed by the heist to waste time getting mad. "Well! That's even more the reason to help me train."
Seongje rolls his eyes. Hyuntak gets into a fighting stance, hopping from one leg to another, arms in front of his face. Seongje smirks.
"You getting all anxious from the heist?"
Bullseye, which irks Hyuntak.
"Fuck off!"
Hyuntak spins on his heel and spin-kicks Seongje who blocks it with one hand, stopping Hyuntak's foot from colliding with his face.
"Whew," Seongje whistles. "You were going all in."
"Get the fuck up, already."
"Woo, kitten is mad."
Hyuntak rolls his eyes at the stupid nickname. Ever since the day Hyuntak and Seongje fed a kitten in the street together, Seongje looking at him and then at the cat, he has been calling him like that. Apparently, he really looked like that kitten. Exact same copy, he even argued. Hyuntak didn't see the resemblance and was annoyed at that cringy nickname, but as days went by, he came to accept it.
Seongje slowly gets up, hands in his pockets while Hyuntak steps back, ready to face Seongje. They only fought three days ago, on a Friday like they always do, but Hyuntak still needs that training. Seongje has been showing him how to fight since the day they became friends, as Seongje has grown up fighting everyone — that includes Hyuntak, but Hyuntak wasn't scared of him contrary to all the other kids. He was amazed at his fighting skills, and wanted to learn from him.
Since then, they've been inseparable.
While learning to fight, Hyuntak came to appreciate that sport, especially kicking. He thinks it's cool. It demands a kind of focus he rarely has, feels like the entire world disappears whenever he kicks, time stopping for him.
He'd like to be an athlete one day. He knows it's a stupid dream, because no one from Zaun makes it. Only people from Piltover achieve the status of athlete, giving fights in fair matches; the ones from Zaun, they fight to survive, pitfighting for money.
But, still.
He wants to.
And because he wants to, Seongje has been steadily helping him training, every week, without a break. Of course, Humin and Baekjin help him too, but not as much as Seongje does.
Seongje's the reason Hyuntak ever came to like fighting that much, after all.
He's the one who gave him his dream.
The stars in his eyes.
Seongje raises his hands in front of his face, an amused light shining in his eyes. Tension hangs in the air and then, they both move.
Strike. Punch. Kick.
As always, the fight is unbalanced. Seongje is good, way too good. It feels like he always knows where to kick, where to punch, when to duck, when to dodge. Like he can read in Hyuntak's mind.
"I told you, stop looking where you're gonna hit, Tak-ah," Seongje says, and punches him in the stomach.
Hyuntak chokes, stumbling backwards as his back hits the wall. He winces, and Seongje sighs.
"Playtime is over, kitty."
Hyuntak curses under his breath while rubbing his stomach, straightening up.
"Stop saying-"
The door opens and Hyuntak starts.
"What's taking you two so much time to show up?" Humin yells, barging in. "It's five minutes past the promised time, Baekjin has started to get annoyed!"
Uh oh.
Seongje shrugs. "Well, some guy here wanted to fight to boost his ego, but still lost…"
"Hey, don't rat me out!"
Seongje chuckles, and there's something in Hyuntak's chest that clenches, makes him unable to get mad. He looks away, puffing, as he follows Seongje and Humin out of their lair, ready to do that heist. They're going to bring back valuable goods from Piltover without getting caught, and will make a lot of money.
Hyuntak prays for it.
The house is quiet. Quiet, to the point every sound resonates ten times louder than it actually is, every step they take obvious to anyone's ears, their presences locked like dots on a radar. The place is so clean, Hyuntak can see his own reflection from the ground, made of marble. His slim eyes stare back at him, rounded cheeks of a teenager, dark hair falling on his head. Strips of gray split the furniture like thunder, grainy under the tip of Hyuntak's fingers as he brushes the table. The four of them look like dirty dust in this giant mansion covered in white, like mud that has to be washed away.
“Focus,” Baekjin murmurs.
Hyuntak straightens up and goes back to looking around the house, Humin and Seongje disappearing in the corridor while Baekjin is searching the living room.
They're on a time limit. According to Juntae, Yeon, the owner of the house, will be back in two hours after her conference. Until then, they have all the time in the world to steal from her and go back to Zaun, the rathole of a city they belong to — contrary to Piltover, always so lively, so clean, so proper. A place they don’t even have the right to set a foot in, so they’re breaking rules. Trespassing into Piltover territory, trespassing into a major scientist's house.
But that's what they have to do, to survive. Steal precious treasures, sell them back in hopes of having enough money to afford food and sleep in a house.
That's just how life is, when you're born in the wrong side of the world.
Hyuntak rummages through the drawers but finds nothing of interest, only notebooks filled with words he doesn't know to read fast enough. That's not worthy of anything, so he puts the books back and looks for jewelry, but there's none in the living room. Might have better luck in the bedrooms.
Hyuntak leaves the room and ends up in a long corridor. He walks there, looks at the walls with portraits of Yeon. She's a successful woman who's almost always posing alone, except for a picture where her hand rests on the shoulder of a boy who looks like her, doe eyes and long eyelashes, too pretty to be a boy. He looks kind of sad, Hyuntak thinks, but doesn't dwell on it as something flashy catches his eye in one of the rooms. He stops, cranes his neck to look inside and his eyes light up.
"Seongje-yah!"
Seongje's head jerks up and he smiles at him. The young man has a gummy smile that he doesn't often show, which means that something really good has happened. It warms Hyuntak's heart as he looks forward to whatever good news Seongje will bring him.
"Look what I found, Tak-ah."
Seongje holds a blue gem up while Hyuntak steps closer and crouches down to Seongje's level, the latter sitting on the ground. Seongje grins as Hyuntak tilts his head, observing the gem under the light. It's shiny and pretty, and Hyuntak's jaw drops in awe.
"It's blue!" he exclaims, eyes sparkling in admiration.
His favorite color is blue, so he thinks that gem is the prettiest object he has ever seen in his life.
Seongje's eyes soften, watching Hyuntak. "It is."
Hyuntak keeps staring at the gem, admiring the way it reflects light. "And it looks so fancy, too."
"Right?" Seongje answers with a proud smirk, turning the gem in his fingers.
"Yeah! Must be so expensive!"
"There's tons of it, too."
Seongje shoves his hand in his bag and then, opens his palm with what was inside of the pouch.
Hyuntak's eyes widen, surprised. "What! There's a bunch of it!"
"I know right? I don't think they're ordinary gems either."
"Why not?" Hyuntak asks, taking one between his fingers, their hands brushing for a second.
"Well… It's weird to have gems sitting in a lab," Seongje answers a beat too late, putting the rest away. "Feels like Yeon is up to something with those gems."
Hyuntak looks around and indeed, he hasn't noticed before but they're not in an ordinary room. This is a laboratory, most likely Yeon's principal one seeing how big it is. Flasks of different sizes containing liquids of all sorts of colors decorate the room, none that Hyuntak can identify. In the center of the room lies a table, white like the entirety of this house, and piled on it are many papers and jars with chemicals in them. Then, in the back of the room hangs a board with equations and words Hyuntak doesn't understand.
"That's true," Hyuntak replies and lowers his head again, but then, he stumbles upon Seongje's eyes on him.
Seongje has been staring at him for a while. His eyes are mesmerizing, attentive and so deep, Hyuntak feels sucked in a dark hole despite him. His chest clenches, breaths less easy to take, warmth filling his stomach. They're close. Too close. Hyuntak stepped closer to see the gem and take one, but he didn't realize how close their faces were.
He doesn't know why his heart is pounding in his chest. Why he feels hot suddenly, sweat on his neck, breathing uneven. Every muscle of his body tenses and his throat constricts, his heart squeezed like someone is trying to strangle him. God, what's happening? He panics, looks away.
"Um, any-"
He moves but in his nervousness, drops the gem on the floor.
"Shit!"
That's a precious item, he shouldn't damage it! He tries to take it back, but notices the gem behaves strangely. Continues to roll away, closer to the island unit, and it flashes.
Once.
Twice.
Shines brighter with each flash, like a supernova before it explodes. Hyuntak is intrigued, leaning in without even thinking about it, but Seongje reacts first.
"Duck!"
"Wha-"
BOOM!
Seongje tackles Hyuntak as they're flung outside of the room and knocked against the wall of the corridor. Hyuntak pulls a face, but he isn't hurt. Doesn't feel any pain, only Seongje's arms who hold him tightly, but Seongje's head banged against the wall and he winces, swears under his breath.
"Seongje-yah!"
The alarm rings in the entire house and pale yellow smoke curls up in the air, a nasty smell accompanying it.
Dread fills Hyuntak's lungs, making him unable to breathe, panic pulsing in every cell of his body, the alarm ringing in his head, incoherent thoughts flooding his mind.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, they're so fucked, they made too much noise, they alerted the security system, they're done for, and Seongje- what about Seongje?
Hyuntak straightens up and he cups Seongje's face, trying to see if he's wounded. No blood on his face, but he's the one who took most of the damage from the explosion since he instinctively protected Hyuntak, some parts of his clothes burned, his back dark. Oh no, his burns look quite serious, what if that stays on his skin for life? What if he's done for? What if he doesn't-
"What the fuck happened?" Humin yells.
The latter appears in the corridor from the room next to the lab, hands full with jewelry. His eyes widen at the sight of Hyuntak and Seongje lying on the ground, and Hyuntak's heart tightens. His throat is dry, he doesn't know what to say. One second they were just staring at each other and the next, the entire room exploded.
"Save your questions for later, Baku!" Baekjin screams. "Piltover's dogs know we're here, we need to go!"
Baekjin doesn't wait for them and jumps from the window to get on the balcony. Hyuntak collects himself and hauls Seongje up, holding him while Humin joins him, helping him.
"Stay with me, Seongje-yah!"
Seongje doesn't answer anything. Just breathes, and Hyuntak can only hope he's fine.
The tension in the basement is thick. Baekjin's jaw is flexed, his legs and arms crossed, sitting on the couch. Seongje is next to him, his torso covered in bandages as he's laying on the side that isn't burned, looking quite unbothered for the situation they're in. Hyuntak is sitting on the sofa next to the couch, leg bouncing off the floor and Humin can't keep still, walking in circles, preoccupied.
"What are we going to do?" Humin panics. "We lost all the treasures we managed to steal from Yeon, we're left with no money and on top of that, we fucked up Yeon's primary residence! The Yeons are definitely not going to let that slide that easily, we're fucked!"
"Sit down," Baekjin retorts, his voice firm.
"Like that's going to change anything!" Humin snaps, turning towards Baekjin. "What are we going to do, seriously?"
Baekjin closes his eyes for a moment. He's as frustrated as Humin, but contrary to him, he knows how to hide his emotions well. Hyuntak only notices because they grew up together, so he knows Baekjin too well not to see when he's feeling angry.
And an angry Baekjin, Hyuntak doesn't really like it.
"We'll think of something. We can't let the children in the orphanage starve," Baekjin ends up saying.
But Humin doesn't calm down, and continues. "Yeah but what? That was our biggest chance ever! Now that the explosion happened, they're going to straighten security. We basically won't have any new golden opportunity like this one! How are we going to make money now?"
Baekjin opens his mouth, his eyes as dark as his anger, but he doesn't get to say anything.
"Chill the fuck out," Seongje drawls. "I've got something."
Tension breaks free, and the three others' heads snap to him as Seongje doesn't move from his nonchalant posture, one hand digging into his pouch until he gets a few gems out in his palm. Hyuntak tenses up, remembering the disaster that happened when one of them exploded because Hyuntak dropped it on the ground. How can Seongje hold them out like this when he knows how big of a consequence these can have?
"What's this?" Humin asks, narrowing his eyes as he steps closer.
"Shh, don't come too close, I don't trust your hands," Seongje says, closing his palm.
Humin makes an offended face but he doesn't have the time to speak, Seongje talking before him.
"That's one of the experiments Yeon was leading, I think. It was in her lab. Also what made the whole room explode, by the way."
"What?" Humin shrieks, his jaw dropping.
Even Baekjin's eyes widen and Hyuntak gulps, nervous.
"Yeah, so it's powerful, right? There has to be a lot of value in those gems and we have a dozen of them, approximately."
Baku's eyebrows shoot up, his eyes sparking with hope. "Oh! So we could sell them!"
"Yeah, or…"
"We've got a weapon," Baekjin states.
His elbows are now leaning on his thighs, hands flat against each other in front of his mouth, busy thinking, gears running in his head.
"That blue thing could do a lot," he thinks out loud. "If one exploding could cause so much damage in a building… I can't imagine its power if a dozen of them were to explode simultaneously. Or… even more. If this was from Yeon's experiments, that means it's man-made, reproducible… and that we can master it, and produce it ourselves."
Seongje grins, his eyes gleaming in amusement. "Exactly."
Humin's under shock, just like Hyuntak is. Produce it? A weapon as dangerous as this one, which has already injured Seongje like that and caused an apartment to explode? Are they crazy?
"Wait no, have you guys gone mad?" Humin jumps in, baffled. "What we need now is money, not a fucking bomb! Having a weapon won't fill the stomachs of our people!"
"But it can serve as a weapon to make Piltover fear us," Baekjin answers. "If we threaten to bomb the Council if they don't give us food and money, they will be forced to yield, and we won't have to live in poverty anymore. That would solve starvation definitely."
"Until when though? How do you guys even plan on making a weapon big enough that would make Piltover fear us? How many of us will die while you're busy making up a weapon because in the meantime, we don't have any money? We need to sell those gems."
"We can't," Hyuntak shoots back.
Humin looks at him, eyes widened in betrayal. Hyuntak sighs, shaking his head.
"Those gems are dangerous. They blew up an entire apartment, for fuck's sake! Even if we do sell them for a good price, what about the people that receive it? How would they handle it without blowing themselves up by accident? That's too dangerous, and it's dangerous even for ourselves! Seongje-yah, you should just throw them away."
Seongje's eyebrow raises, not impressed, before smirking. "Scaredy-cat."
"I'm not! You almost died!"
Seongje smiles, shrugging in a nonchalant way. "But I'm alive."
"Geum Seongje!"
Seongje laughs, and Hyuntak wants to kill him, but he can't. Seongje actually got injured because of him, after all. He's always like this, Seongje. Always nonchalant, or just faking it to get on Hyuntak's nerves. Hyuntak hates it, but for some reason, he still doesn't hate Seongje.
"Gotak is right," Baekjin says. "We can't sell those, it's too dangerous for our people. But we can't throw them away either, that's also dangerous. We should hold onto it, study it to evaluate its danger, and see if we can use it. I'll tell Choi about it, he will definitely help us. I've looked through Yeon's documents and have remembered some things. Yeon might be clever, but I am too."
Hyuntak stays silent. Baekjin marks a point: they can't make money with that, but throwing it away is dangerous too. The safest outcome is to keep it with them, and while they're at it, study it. They're only kids, so seeking the help of Choi, the head of the orphanage Baekjin belongs to, is a good idea. It reassures Hyuntak a little bit but… he isn't a fan of the idea to turn the blue gem into a weapon, seeing how dangerous it is, but they should at least study it to see how advanced Piltover's science is compared to Zaun's.
"What about the money then? What are we going to do?" Humin adds, unsatisfied.
"Well, the usual. Let's beat some people up and steal from them."
Humin sighs through his nose. "Great."
But because it's Baekjin, he ends up agreeing in silence. The only one Humin listens to is Baekjin, and that's the case for everyone. Baekjin is their hidden leader, the one who's able to bring everyone back to order. Humin's fierceness, Seongje's craziness, Hyuntak's impulsivity, Baekjin eases all of them out to make them use their head and rationality. He's also the one who's the most involved with the orphanage, as he's the only one who belongs to it and also the oldest from it now. It's really important to him that all the kids from the orphanage end up happier than him, and why he's the most determined to make Piltover pay for its crimes. Humin comes a close second, thinking about Zaun in its entirety and their people, and then, Hyuntak also thinks it's pretty important. In dead last, Geum Seongje doesn't really care about anything or anyone, apart from the four of them or, more specifically, someone.
Hyuntak never thought much of it, until a certain day.
In any case, their reunion ends like this and they leave the basement, landing on the official front which is Hyuntak's mom's bar. They all greet Hyuntak's mom who smiles at them, treating them like her kids. He's the only one in their group of four to have a healthy parental figure, as Baekjin lost his parents, Seongje has a father locked in prison and Humin has a good-for-nothing father who drinks alcohol in bars all the time.
But she notices how they don't look like usual, so she holds Hyuntak back, and leans in. Hyuntak stares at her. Messy bun, eye bags, her mom has been working hard to provide money for them, but it's not enough. What can she do, when she has to pay so many fees to keep the bar afloat?
"Everything alright? You look like you fought."
Hyuntak shakes his head and tears his gaze away from her. "Nothing important, Mom."
She sees right through him, but says nothing. "Alright. Come back soon, I need your help."
"Yeah, yeah," Hyuntak agrees and leaves, catching up with his three friends.
They were all going to leave but Hyuntak stops Seongje before he does and the other two get the memo, leaving the two of them alone. Seongje's hands are in the pockets of his worn out pants, his torso covered in bandages. Hyuntak shifts his weight from one leg to the other, uncomfortable.
"Well… Seongje-yah, I just wanted to say sorry."
Seongje raises an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Today. It's my fault the place blew up and we failed to bring back any goods…"
Seongje laughs, and Hyuntak's heart does something he doesn't know how to identify. He gulps down and Seongje leans in, ruffling his hair. He usually doesn't like it as he's the shortest of them four, Humin loving to make fun of his height and leaning in, sticking his tongue out to mock him but his heart doesn't clench like it does when Seongje gets closer to him.
"You didn't know, kitten. Really, it's fine."
"Stop this," Hyuntak retorts, pouting. "I'm the oldest among us, okay? Don't treat me like some kid."
"Well, act like an adult then. We'll soon turn into ones."
Only three years left before they're fully recognized as adults. Until then, they have to do their best to earn money in order to support themselves and their loved ones.
"Hey, psycho! What's up, how's your papa doing?" a boy throws at Seongje, chuckling with his friends.
Seongje's eyes turn dark, glaring at them. Hyuntak runs towards them before Seongje can even move, and he throws a few kicks in the air.
"Get fucking lost!"
The boys giggle and run away. Hyuntak sighs through his nose while Seongje stays silent, just staring at their silhouettes. Hyuntak feels bad for Seongje. He's always been ostracized because of his father, looked down by everyone because how stupid can someone be to get caught by Piltover's dogs? Everyone called him the son of a good-for-nothing criminal, which soon turned into psycho as how harshly Seongje would retort to anyone who mocked him. Still, it doesn't stop some brats to provoke him by still calling him psycho. Seongje doesn't deserve such a nickname, it's mean. Hyuntak doesn't like it, and has promised himself to never call him like that.
"I hope we can escape from here, one day," Hyuntak ends up saying.
Seongje looks up to the dark sky of Zaun, his bad mood vanishing. "Mmh… I think it's possible. Thanks to the gems I found, actually."
He smirks, but that doesn't make Hyuntak feel at ease.
"You really think Baekjin and you will be able to reproduce the gems? Yeon isn't anybody, you know. She's a great scientist."
Seongje shrugs. "I don't know, but we gotta try. That's our only option at this point. If it works… The power we would have, Tak-ah. We could do anything we want, and get away with it."
Seongje chuckles, but there's an unhinged light in his eyes that Hyuntak doesn't really like. Sometimes, just sometimes, Seongje gets a bit too excited and he starts looking uncanny, as if he's entered in a world Hyuntak doesn't know the existence of. He transforms into a Seongje Hyuntak doesn't recognize, and he wonders which one is the true Seongje, in the end. The one who throws himself on Hyuntak with no hesitation to protect him, or the one who wants so much power he wants the entire world to bow to him?
Hyuntak doesn't know.
"Guys guys guys!" Juntae yells, barging in their basement.
Humin and Hyuntak were counting how much money they had left while Baekjin and Seongje had been stuck in their experiment room since the start of the day. It's been a week since they did the failed heist, and Baekjin and Seongje have been extremely serious about the gems. Up until now, no explosion has happened, but Hyuntak is still restless.
Especially now, since Juntae who never yells is now yelling.
"Yoo, Junjun!" Humin raises his hand to check him, but Juntae doesn't seem in that mood.
"You guys are done for! The Council is looking for the ones who provoked the explosion in Yeon's residence, they want to make a public execution! They want the four people involved dead! They've started to arrest people who have nothing to do with it, the enforcers have shown up into Zaun!"
Hyuntak and Humin's eyes widen, a punch in their stomachs blowing all the air out of their lungs.
"What?" they both shout at the same time, standing up.
"It's only a matter of time before someone sells you four out, everyone here knows you four were behind this! You better hide somewhere and not come out until the enforcers are gone for the day!"
"Wait, but how long will this go on?" Humin asks, stepping closer to Juntae.
"I don't know!" Juntae panics. "From the news, the Council seems really mad and wants to make an example from what happened to make sure this never happens again! I'll do my best to make sure you guys aren't in danger, but you better hide fast and leave your basement!"
Hyuntak freezes, blood running cold.
Shit.
They're actually done for. The Council from Piltover is looking for them. Wants all of them dead. A public execution. Making sure Zaun never dares to show their people in the sacred city of Piltover ever again.
Fuck.
Is that his fault? For letting that single gem fall on the ground and explode? If they had pulled off a perfect heist and stolen Yeon's jewelries, would that still have happened? After all, that day, they had to run away while the enforcers ran after them. Piltover knows approximately what they look like, just four teenage boys. If they had managed to slip off without alerting the authorities, Piltover wouldn't have any clues leading to their identities. Moreover, an explosion could have been taken the wrong way. It looks like a warning that they could do much worse, like a terrorist attack. That it might not be the last time they bomb someone's house. Is that why the Council has taken such drastic measures?
Execution.
They're going to be executed if the enforcers find them. The moment enforcers get their hands on them, it'll be over. No one escapes from Stillwater, the most infamous prison.
They're fucked.
But where can they even go? Is there even a safe place in the city of Zaun? Every place is a trap, a corner they could be easily found in. Should the four of them separate?
"What's happening?" Baekjin asks.
Seongje and Baekjin are both out of their secret lab and Juntae sweats profusely, explains the whole situation again.
"You guys better hide! I'm gonna go now!"
Juntae turns around but then, Hyuntak thinks of his mother. His mother will obviously be in danger if Hyuntak's targeted, that place is right under Hyuntak's mom's bar!
"Wait, what about my mom?"
"I don't know, she wasn't in the bar when I arrived, I don't know where she is! I'm sorry, I'll do my best to find her!"
Just like that, Juntae leaves.
Hyuntak hears his heartbeat drilling into his ears, his breath ragged, body shaking. His mom is nowhere to be found. They're hunted by the enforcers who want them to be dead. Even Zaunites will probably sell them out for their own safety.
Nothing could be wronger than that. How could they even make out of this situation alive?
Hyuntak is starting to see the entire room spin on itself, the world distorting, his heart hurting him. He can hear Baekjin, Seongje and Humin talking but he can't make sense of any of their words, squeezing his shirt, his chest hurting him, out of breath.
And then, a gunshot.
Hyuntak's head jerks up and he hears footsteps above him.
Enforcers.
They're already here.
Shit!
Hyuntak's sweating, doesn't know what to do but he's yanked to the side and pulled into the closet under the stairs, Seongje closing the door with him. Hyuntak widens his eyes and Seongje slams his hand on his mouth, telling him to shut up. They're pressed against each other. Hyuntak can feel Seongje's warmth from his hand, his body close to his, their breathings filling the small space. He can't see anything because of the darkness, which makes the situation ten times more chilling as he doesn't know how close Seongje actually is, how close the enforcers are.
Are they going to die? Just like that? What have they done so badly that they deserve to die? Sure, it wasn't a good thing to steal, but to deserve the death penalty for that? They're not even stealing because they want to. They steal because they have to. If only Piltover shared a bit of their wealth with them, then none of that would've happened. Hyuntak's dad wouldn't have died. They wouldn't fight for their lives everyday just to hope to have something to eat, somewhere to sleep.
They shouldn't be punished to death just for trying to live like humans, and yet.
Anxiety churns into his stomach, knots it, his lungs shrinking, body trembling.
He's so nervous, he starts hiccuping.
He stares at the darkness in horror as he gives out his first hiccup, then his second. Seongje presses both of his hands on Hyuntak's mouth, stressed out.
"Go Hyuntak, stay quiet!" Seongje whispers yells.
Hyuntak hits Seongje's hands to be able to breathe again, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he coughs.
"I'm not hiccuping because- hic! I want to!" he bites back.
A creak from upstairs can be heard, meaning some people have made their way in their house. Fuck, it's only a matter of time before they get to the basement!
"For fuck's sake, stop!" Seongje murmurs, but Hyuntak still hiccups. "Isn't that situation scaring you enough? Do you really need the enforcers to open that fucking door to stop hiccuping?"
Hyuntak is ticked off, annoyed at his best friend. "Try stopping hiccups, we'll see if you do better than me!"
Seongje's jaw flexes. "Go fucking Hyuntak, you-"
"Just go hide somewhere else, I can do just fine on my own!"
"I had to make you hide with me because you weren't even moving! We-"
Seongje is forced into silence as a creak resonates just above their heads.
Stairs.
They're at the stairs.
If Hyuntak makes a single sound now, they're both fucked.
What should he do? What should he do, what should he do? How does he stop hiccuping?
"Fuck," Seongje mutters.
Seongje's lips crash onto Hyuntak, and Hyuntak is stunned into silence.
He freezes.
He's so surprised, astonished, dumbfounded, his hiccups stop.
The enforcers walk down the stairs, each sound sending a shiver on Hyuntak's spine, fear making his hair stand on end and he decides to cling onto Seongje. Doesn't know exactly where he is, but he feels fabric, and he figures it's probably his sides. Seongje's hands are on his shoulders, and he's not moving at all. Their lips are slotted against each other but none of them dare to move an inch, as if they were frozen in time, a stone statue of two lovers sculpted a thousand years ago that's hidden in a closet.
Hyuntak's heart is beating like crazy but the reason for it is unclear, doesn't know if he feels like he's going to throw up from the stress or because kissing Seongje is the last thing he expected to do now and he doesn't know what to think of it, his feelings a mess, blurred out by the anxiety that situation is giving him.
"No kids," they can hear an enforcer say.
Hyuntak feels Seongje relax against him at the same time, and their simultaneous reaction actually makes his heart beat faster, because instead of seeing Seongje's relaxation, he felt it. They're close enough for him to feel it, and they're still kissing, Hyuntak can feel each one of Seongje's emotions against his lips.
"What about the closet? Have you checked?" another one says.
Fuck.
One step.
Seongje leans away, just from an inch, so that their lips no longer touch. Hyuntak can feel Seongje's slow breaths on his lips, and his head spins, his heart beats like crazy, unsure of what's making him feel so disoriented.
Two steps.
Seongje's grip on his shoulders tightens, getting ready to resist the enforcer that will be opening the door at any moment now. Hyuntak braces himself, repeats mentally how to run away in his head.
But then, the enforcer stops as there seems to be some commotion above their heads. It doesn't last, though, like someone just ran.
"Is that… a child running away?"
Who? Is it really a child running away? If that's the case, Hyuntak hopes it was an animal and not Baekjin or Humin, as he doesn't even know where they hid.
The enforcers don't say anything else and some run on the stairs but two stay behind, one of them whining.
"What a pain in the ass… Can't we just take four random kids?"
"That's the plan if we can't find the four real perpetrators, but let's at least put in the effort to punish the real kids, alright?"
The two enforcers laugh and start to walk away, going up the stairs.
He hears the distant steps from the enforcers but it's so far away, Hyuntak slowly landing back into reality.
That's not how he expected to have his first kiss, and definitely not with Seongje.
One of his best friends. One of his oldest friends, one he grew up with. One that makes him feel… weird, sometimes, in the chest.
"We were lucky," Seongje mutters.
He doesn't even give Hyuntak the chance to talk as he already opens the door of the closet and slips away from it, leaving Hyuntak without his warmth.
The enforcers left for the day.
Silence fills the basement, none of them speaking, all worn out. Baekjin's jaw is locked, hands flexed together in front of his mouth, Humin's jaw is tight, arms crossed. Even Juntae is here, sitting on the couch, his usual soft smile gone from his face. And Seongje… Seongje doesn't even look at Hyuntak, his eyes staring into space in a nonchalant attitude, as if nothing particular happened earlier.
As if they didn't kiss.
Yeah, sure, that was a good idea to make him stop hiccuping as it worked, and Seongje only resorted to it because he had no other choice. But, still, kissing someone is a big deal, right? Why does Seongje look so unbothered about that?
"Three people have died," Humin says, grimly. "Several are injured, and Hyuntak's mom is still nowhere to be found."
No one says anything. Hyuntak's chest hurts, and he gets back to reality. Right. There's more urgent pressing matters than a stupid kiss, which is that the government wants all of them dead with a public execution. Enforcers going into Zaun to do a witch hunt, taking with them innocent people and even killing them, just to make them speak about their whereabouts. Maybe the enforcers have taken his mom. Maybe they killed her, and that's why they can't find her.
Hyuntak takes a deep breath. No, this can't be. Juntae would've known that, if Hyuntak's mom was killed. She's probably safe, hiding somewhere. He knows it. His mom is a strong woman. She was married to a fighter, after all. Shared the same views as him.
"I did my best to hide you guys," Juntae says. "But I couldn't protect everyone. Someone said the name of Baekjin, and gave that basement away. This place isn't safe anymore for you, so you should hide somewhere else but… I… I don't know how to help you guys. It's only a matter of time before they catch you, they locked all Zaun's exits, you can't get in or out at all. And you can't hide here forever, because the more this situation stretches on…"
The more Zaun will suffer.
The more people will die.
Because of them.
Because of their failed heist.
Because of Hyuntak's mistake.
Guilt churns in Hyuntak's stomach and he bites his lips, playing with the hem of his shirt while Humin lets out a deep exhale.
But despite that, Baekjin looks calm. Strangely calm.
"We're not powerless," he states. "We can fight against them."
That piques Humin's interest who looks at Baekjin, frowning. "How?"
"We have to distract the enforcers until we're ready to face them. Seongje and I are still unable to reproduce the gems for now, but once we do, we'll have a weapon that will make them unable to catch us-"
"Are you fucking crazy?"
Humin gets up, fists clenched as he strides forward Baekjin, stopping right in front of him. He looks down on him, Baekjin who hasn't moved an inch from his seat.
"How many more innocent people will suffer and die because of your selfish desire to make a weapon, Baekjin-ah? Aren't three people enough for you to wake the fuck up? We're not talking about studying a weird gem for some dumb project anymore, we're talking about people's lives here!"
Baekjin glares at Humin and stands up too, the both of them facing each other. The atmosphere is tense, tension is thick and Hyuntak finds it harder to breathe, feeling uncomfortable.
"It always was about people's lives," Baekjin snaps. "I'm not making a weapon because I want to. I'm making a weapon to protect us all."
Humin huffs and he grabs Baekjin's collar. "People are fucking dying because of us and you dare say that you're protecting everyone? Are you even hearing yourself?"
Baekjin's jaw tenses, and he sighs as he pushes Humin's hands away from him. "We don't save anyone without some sacrifices, Baku."
Hyuntak's eyes widen.
Humin's jaw drops, eyes flashing with pain. There's a silence that lingers for a second too long, before he collects himself.
He steps away, his jaw locked again, his entire body retreating like he doesn't want to be here anymore, staring at Baekjin as though he's staring at a monster instead of a best friend. His eyes are full of hurt, betrayal, chin trembling, fists shaking.
"Sacrifices, huh," Humin repeats, voice weak. "I see."
Just like that, Humin's gone, the door slamming behind him.
"Baku-"
Hyuntak gets up but Juntae stops him, shaking his head. "I'll go. You three, pack up your things and think of a way to get away from this mess. I don't know what you're talking about, but please find a way to stay alive. I don't want to lose you guys."
Juntae storms off, and the three of them stay in an awkward silence, where anger still hasn't gone away, still hanging in the air, a scent of burnt charcoal. Baekjin is fuming, his eyes dark, while Seongje hasn't said a single word since the start of the conversation. Hyuntak doesn't know what to do. Humin is right, three people have died because of them and if this goes on, even more will die by tomorrow. The longer this stretches on, the more in danger his mom is. How long until they catch her? Or, if they already caught her, how long can she hold out? At the same time, he can't surrender to the enforcers, because that means death. And he can't die, not yet. He has dreams to accomplish. An entire life to experience. He's only a teenager, after all. Why should he die because he wanted to live?
"We're going to keep working on the gem," Baekjin eventually says. "I'm not giving up. I think we're very close to mastering that power. Until then… Until then, we have to make sure enforcers don't find us."
"Baku doesn't agree," Hyuntak answers.
"He can't see the big picture. It's fine. He'll see we were right when we get our hands on that weapon."
Baekjin leaves the room, going in the secret laboratory surely to retrieve their stuff to move it elsewhere for tomorrow, as this place is now unsafe. That leaves only Seongje and he in that room, which is the first time they're on their own since the closet. That conversation made him forget about what happened, but now, being alone with Seongje is making him remember it. Their proximity. Seongje's warmth. Seongje's lips.
"Who do you agree with?" Seongje asks.
Hyuntak jumps, not expecting such a question. Seongje doesn't speak about what happened. Maybe it's not worth talking about. Maybe it was as simple as taking someone's hand to prevent them from falling from a cliff, as he did it as an attempt to save them both. No need to say sorry, no need to talk about it, the moment already gone. Or maybe they're better off not talking about it, not recognizing the elephant in the room.
"I don't know," Hyuntak ends up saying. "Humin isn't wrong, so many people will die because of us… but we can't surrender to the enforcers either because of that. Still, saying they're sacrifices… Baekjin was mean."
"Mmh," Seongje hums.
Seongje stays laying down on the couch, like it's just a normal day like the others. Like tomorrow, they'll get up and organize themselves to steal from the merchants, trying to collect enough treasures to feed the kids at the orphanage and themselves. Hyuntak would go back home and tell all about his day to his mother, who'll be busy serving him another bowl of soup.
"What about you?" Hyuntak asks.
"Mh?"
"Who do you agree with?"
Seongje shrugs. "No one. I don't really care."
"You don't care at all about what's going on?"
"Yeah. People, Zaun, Piltover, enforcers… I don't care."
What a Seongje-like answer. He's so detached, Hyuntak wonders how it's possible.
He huffs. "What do you even care about, then?"
Seongje doesn't say a word.
Just turns his head, and looks at Hyuntak straight in the eyes.
Hyuntak's breath catches in his throat.
Seongje doesn't say anything, but Hyuntak gets it immediately.
You.
He's at a loss for words, unable to say anything back. He might be imagining it. Seongje might be looking at him just because he's thinking that it's a stupid question.
But Hyuntak's feelings are a mess, and he feels trapped in a dimension where only Seongje exists, where he's become blind but can only see Seongje, his point of reference, his origin, his everything.
He thinks back of their kiss, and wonders again what it meant for Seongje.
Did it mean nothing to Seongje?
Or did it mean the world?
Is that why he's not talking about it? Because it means so much to him, if he knows that Hyuntak didn't consider much of that kiss, his entire world would shatter?
"Hey, what are you guys doing? I'm not going to move our stuff all alone, am I?" Baekjin cuts through their silence, breaking it.
Seongje gets up, yawning. "Coming."
Just like that, Seongje disappears, leaving Hyuntak on his own.
His thoughts a mess.