Chapter Text
Ilay had gone off on his mission again, this time somewhere in Yokohama. Deeming it safe enough, he had dragged Taeui out of his slumber and took off with Tay shuffling behind in confusion.
Now, in the bustling Chinatown of Yokohama, Taeui was looking around with an almost childlike expression. He rarely went to places like this in Berlin because he was helping Peter and Kyle – who declined at first but eventually gave in due to Taeui’s pleadings of wanting to do something in exchange for living at his house.
‘I should get some snacks to try with that guy when he gets back..’
This was usually how it went. Ilay would drop Tay off at a safe house, letting him roam, while Ilay focused on completing his tasks as fast as he could in order to spend time with Taeui.
Taeui, contemplating which snack to buy, was uncharacteristically unaware of his surroundings. It seemed like he was always like this when it came to Ilay. Once he allowed himself to think about that man, he would enter a daze without even realising.
“..ey..Hey!”
‘..huh?’ Taeui blinked out of his reverie and turned around. Standing behind him were two ladies, one hiding behind the other. Seeing his confused look, the lady in front nudged her friend forward and said, “Sorry, you were obviously occupied..but my friend here thought that you looked really cute. You’re not from here, right?”.
“Uh, thank you! Yeah, I’m not from here. I’m Tay”. Understanding the situation, Taeui replied and smiled kindly, scratching his cheek.
“Yeah, I thought you didn’t look Japanese. I’m Haruka, this here is Sakura.” The lady said. Sakura, finally stepping out from behind Haruka, nodded and shyly whispered that he could call her Kira instead.
“If you’re alone, want to come eat with us – ah. Actually, with Kira. I’m quite busy today.” Haruka teased and winked at Taeui. Sakura spluttered and grabbed onto Haruka, shaking her head.
‘...ahh..this is bad. I should be grateful he isn’t here right now..’
Scratching the back of his neck, Tay replied, “Sorry, I’ll have to decline. I’m already meeting up with someone later… ”, bowing his head.
‘Yes, it’s good to defuse the situation quickly before that guy catches wind of this..’
Sakura, who had shook her head so profusely earlier, seemed to be disappointed as her shoulders drooped a little. “Oh..uh. It will just be a short one, really! Don’t be so quick to refuse her, come on! ” Haruka persisted when she saw her friend’s pitiful expression and grabbed onto Taeui’s arm.
Taeui looked around worriedly, trying to spot the person he had come along with while Ilay was busy. ‘He’ll never let me hear the end of this if he sees..’
At this time, a voice suddenly sounded from his right. “Oh hoh..?”
‘....fuck.’
“Tay! You swung that way too? Wow, guess Rick will have to be even more cautious now..”
Taeui whipped his head around as he stepped back from the hand on his arm. “You! What are you saying! Don’t say such nonsense…!” Tay refused to be at the end of his teasing. Refused. Especially if this got out to that man, Tay would be dead. Most definitely.
The man in question kept a smile on his face as he stepped beside Taeui. He looked between Tay and the two ladies before bending at the waist. “Apologies for the disruption, ladies, but this one’s off limits..if you still want to enjoy your life…haha...” Haruka paused and her eyebrows twitched. “..huh..and who are you?”
“You can call me Alain, I’m this guy’s babysitter.” Alain declared with a smile, pointing over his shoulder.
An awkward smile appeared on Taeui’s face. “ha..ha..ha. Hey, let’s go already. Stop it.” Tay pushed Alain away with a hand and bidded farewell to the two ladies. Alain did not refute and just cackled as he continued being pushed.
On the way back to the safe house, not once did Taeui dare to make eye contact with Alain. “Hey, hey. Why are you avoiding me? Are you that scared for your life?”
‘No! It’s not my life that I'm scared for!..’ Tay shot Alain a dirty look from the side of his eye before speeding up towards the entrance of the house, leaving a laughing weirdo behind.
‘Why did that crazy man have to leave this one with me?..’
Taeui continued ignoring the snorts behind him and swung open the front door, kicking his shoes off in irritation. He was about to turn the lights on when he heard a ‘clink’ echoing from the kitchen. ‘Hm? Isn’t he supposed to be out till tomorrow?’ Without suspecting anything wrong, Tay was about to head towards the kitchen when an arm grabbed him from behind.
“It’s not Rick.”
Taeui felt his breath stutter and stop as Alain muttered those words. ‘Then…who..’ A gun was placed into his hand as Alain stepped forward, eyes flicking around to check on the cameras that were placed by Rick.
The house was so eerily silent that Tay was sure that even breathing too harsh could be heard from across the house. Alain looked over at Tay and signaled to follow before his silent steps carried him further into the house. It was definitely better to stick with Alain when the intruder is still unknown.
As they entered the living room, nothing was out of place, not even Tay’s haphazardly thrown shirt from this morning, nor Alain’s socks. Everything was perfect. Too perfect.
Ring…ring…ring…
‘???’
Alain and Taeui looked at each other, exchanging silent words. Alain approached the house telephone and inspected it while Taeui had his back. This had become a norm before they themselves even knew it. Alain trusted Tay with his back while Tay trusted Alain with his. They didn’t know when and how, but they wouldn’t give it up for anything.
After inspecting thoroughly, there was nothing wrong with the phone. Alain looked over behind him and shook his head. Slowly nodding, Taeui moved to finally approach the kitchen. Turning the corner, he raised the gun and aimed, fingers twitching on the trigger as he stabilized his breathing.
When the kitchen fully came into view, there was….nothing.
Lights on, empty kitchen.
Badum..badum..badum
Taeui couldn’t help but feel anxious. Who was inside with them? How did they move locations without Alain or him seeing them? If you wanted to leave the kitchen you had to leave through the living room..and the living room was in full view from the front door…
There was only one possibility.
They were in the kitchen with the intruder.
Tay felt Alain move away from him, towards the left of the island in the middle and he followed, splitting up to move right instead.
Badum. Badum.
“Game over.”
Alain and Taeui shot out and aimed at the spot between each other, and slumped over…was a dead body…? It looked too clean to be a murder.
‘Shit, he had a pill.’
“What the hell? That was so lame. How cowardly is he that he had to bite a cyanide?” Alain muttered angrily as he poked the body with his feet, pulling out his phone and dialing away.
“Ivan, there was a dragon in the princess’ castle.”
‘...dragon?...wait. Princess?’
“Hey.” Taeui jabbed.
After a few words were exchanged, Alain hung up and turned to Tay. “It’s not safe here anymore, we’re going back to Berlin.”
“What? I’m not leaving yet. Ilay’s not back.”
“Rick’s orders, princess.”
‘What the hell is that man saying? We came together, so of course we should leave together.’ Taeui ruffled his hair in frustration.
“Ivan’s with him, right? Tell him to pass a message: ‘Make me.’ ”.
Alain’s smile dimmed a little and said, “Do you want him dead?”
‘..ah. He has a point.’
“Right..don’t do that. My bad.” Taeui turned away without saying anything else and disappeared down the hallway.
Right as Taeui entered his bedroom, his phone rang. He didn’t even have to try to guess who it was.
“...”
“Taei. Go back to Berlin."
“...”
“Tay.”
“...”
If he returned to Berlin, there would be no Ilay. At least not yet. He was dragged from his sleep onto the private plane Ilay had placed under Taeui’s name with the unsaid promise to spend time together after the mission, and now he had to return? He didn’t want to be in a place with no Ilay, heck, even crazy rick. Taeui didn’t want to admit it, but he had missed Ilay, damn it.
“If I go… will you come with me?”
“...........Taei.”
“Right. Your mission.” Taeui fiddled with the bedding as he bit his lip.
“I’ll wrap it up fast. So go with Alain.”
“........”
“We’ll get dried pollack soup when I get back, hm?”
….
Did he think Taeui was so easily tempted by dried pollack soup?
…
“Okay. You can’t go back on your words.”
“I won’t. Now be a good boy and pack up. Essentials. Your plane will leave tonight at 10.”
It sounded like Ilay was smiling…if only Taeui could see it, how nice would it be.
“You… don’t get hurt.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Taeui nodded even though he knew Ilay couldn’t see, and then the call ended. There was no need for goodbyes. After all, they would meet again. No matter how long it takes, Jeong Taeui and Ilay Riegrow will always meet again.
— — —
Ilay’s side:
Someone had broken in. How? Who? He was going to find out no matter what it took. They tried to hurt Taeui, and now Ilay will hunt them down.
The client requested for someone who was able to finish the job no matter what. Naturally, it fell into Ilay’s hands. It’s supposed to be easy. In and out, data theft. The client wanted to know what the last thing her lover did before she died.
The thing is, her lover was the daughter of someone high on the hierarchy. Almost all information about her was wiped out, and the only person who could find it? Gone. A pain in the ass if you ask Rick. So he had to handle it all with Ivan and Mark, leaving Taeui with Alain.
“Rick, we got the footage. He was digging around the kitchen for what I suspect, DNA” Ivan spoke up after seeing Ilay returning from the call.
“Dna…whose?” Ilay’s eyes sharpened after hearing it.
“...Tay’s.”
“......”
“The intruder seemed to know where Tay kept his chopsticks. The weird skinny ones.”
Koreans seemed to like using those, it had really irritated Ilay when he tried using one, but Taeui had been overjoyed when he saw it in a restaurant. So Ilay bought a few for him. Taeui brought his favourite black one with red engravings along, complaining that eating wouldn’t be the same without it. Ilay, sighing in exasperation, had ruffled Taeui’s hair before storing the chopsticks in his bag along with other essentials.
With a strange feeling in Ilay’s chest upon remembering that memory, he walked towards the end of the room and said, ”So? Are you going to talk or..”, lifting up a guillotine cutter and waving it.
“MMPH!...MM!...MMMHH!”
“Is that a no? Pity.” Ilay crouched and extended his hand covered in a pitch black glove and….shnk…
“MMMMMMPPPHHHHH!!!” Tears escaped the reddened face of the owner of those…now fingerless hands.
“Let’s see how long till you croak.”
— — —
Alain’s side:
If you asked him, he wouldn’t even know where to start. Seeing Rick all in love was a huge shock. He thought he had died and went to hell!
When Rick showed up to the plane with Taeui in tow, he thought that Tay was just there to send him off, but then they got on together. Throughout the plane ride, Taeui was dozing off and Rick had slid closer so that he could lend his shoulder. It was a bizarre sight. Really. Seeing the crazy rick smiling – smiling!! – gently at the man on his shoulder while pulling his blanket higher. He even set aside beer in the fridge for said man. My god.
Worst of all, when they got off, Rick told Alain to stay with Taeui and scout the area for more information. He wanted in on the fun too, okay? Not sitting around and waiting for a mouse to step in his trap. Of course, it worked as expected, and he even got to see Taeui being approached by two poor ladies who didn’t know his situation and stepped in before it got any further.
When they returned to the safe house and entered, Alain immediately knew something was wrong. Rick hadn’t sent anything regarding his return and would definitely not have left the door locked…knowing Taeui would be returning. Rick would’ve been standing at the door, leaning against the frame and waiting like a maiden for Tay instead with disgustingly soft and gentle eyes.
Yes, it has happened.
No, he never wanted to see it again.
But do first think later Taeui had sensed nothing and wanted to walk straight into danger. Only when Alain grabbed him and told that it wasn’t Rick, then did he take into account the suspicion.
After being edged for a fight, Alain did rounds around the house until he was sure that nothing else was wrong, then did he start packing up. He had nothing much anyway, just a few pairs of clothes and his wallet and phone….and weapons.
*step step step*
Alain looked up to see Taeui all set to go and raised a brow, voicing out, “and who wanted to send Ivan to his death?” Taeui only stuck his tongue out at him before turning towards the kitchen. He rummaged around a drawer with a frown etched on his forehead. “Huh..I’m pretty sure he put it here..”
“What’re you looking for?”
“My chopsticks.”
“.....what?”
“Chop. Sticks.”
“Right, yeah..i heard you…”
Who didn’t know about Tay’s chopsticks? He ate with it every meal and only Rick was allowed to touch them. Rick doesn’t even use those! Even Rita was weirded out by him, come on! Suddenly, he paused his thoughts…
He glanced at the corpse on the ground and narrowed his eyes.
“Hey, check him. Chopsticks.”
Taeui looked up with wide eyes, “Huh? But why?”
Alain shrugged, saying that his intuition said so and bent down to pat the body.
Clink Clink
‘Busted.’
Alain took out a ziplock bag containing black metal chopsticks with red engravings on them. ‘This is definitely his, Rick personally picked this. I was there witnessing all that and gaining trauma.’
“Oh. Thanks. Wait, why did he…” Taeui finally asked the important question.
“No idea. But I have a hunch..” Although not many people knew about Taeui being the Gilsangcheon anymore after all these years, there are undoubtedly still a handful with that belief.
Taeui stared at him, waiting for the elaboration, but it never came. “Come on, let’s go. It’s already 8:30. If we don’t make it in time your man will come for my head.” Alain smoothly stirred the topic away and loaded Taeui and his bags into the car. With one last look at the safe house, they drove off.
.
.
.
In the car, Taeui leaned his head against the window and stared out into the distance. The faint sound of the radio didn’t seem to reach his ears as he sighed. “What, too boring for you?” Alain asked.
‘Tsk, he didn’t want to answer my question, and now he wants to talk?’
“...hey, what’s the mission anyway?” Right. Taeui never did ask Ilay about it.
“Hm? Oh it’s nothing hard, just finding out some information. Rick didn’t tell you?”
“No..I never asked.” Taeui jutted his lips and turned away.
“You trust him that much huh?”
‘Of course I do. If not him, then who?’ Instead of saying that, Tay just hummed.
There was a comfortable silence in the car as they sped past the scenery. He had only been in Yokohama for 3 days, so there was a bit of regret as Tay wanted to explore more.
As Taeui continued looking out the window, his eye caught on to a sleek black car in the sideview mirror. “..hey, hasn’t that car been behind us since we left the city..?” Tay sat up in his seat, hand slowly reaching for the gun in the compartment in front of him.
“Yeah. They’re most likely with the intruder.”
“..and you’re only telling me now because..!?” Tay’s eye twitched, but he wasn’t able to say more as a hand reached out of the car tailing them and shot.
“Shit! What the hell!”..
‘...? That was not the sound of a bullet..’
Pshhhh….
“Oh no. The wheels.” Alain said monotonously. ‘You can’t be serious..’ Taeui glared and was about to reach out to fire when he got roughly pulled back in.
“Tay. You’re the one they’re after. Don’t be stupid.” Alain said before making Tay switch places with him. “Drive faster, I’ll hold them off”
Another car appeared from behind the black one…and another…….and another…
…
‘Just how many did they send?’
“Hey…no matter how good of a shot I am, I can’t possibly hold off that many…I’m no Rick..” Alain sweatdropped, laughing awkwardly.
The car started slowing down as air escaped from the wheels. “Shit, shit, shit. Just a bit more..” Taeui bit his lip and furrowed his brows as he stepped harder on the gas.
‘Didn’t he say this mission was easy? What’s with all this…making enemies in Japan too?’ Taeui thought as he used one hand to pass Alain his extra gun while unbuckling his belt to reach down for more ammo.
Suddenly, a car zoomed at them from the side. “...! Alain! Get down!” Taeui pulled at the back of Alain’s shirt as a bright light engulfed them.
And right when Alain turned back around..
Crash.
…
….
…
‘Shit. I haven’t even seen that smile of his again..’ Taeui thought as his eyes slipped shut.