A Fox That Tricks The Wolf

FOUR

!!TW!! guns, weapons, mentions of gangs !!

he didnt know how long he'd been there. maybe two weeks? a month? it was all starting to blur together in that small house. obviously, he wasnt allowed his phone. he still wondered how the police havent been contacted, the only one who knew he 'ran away' was shuyang from what he was told. knowing shuyang, the young boy was probably losing his shit not having xinlong around. and truthfully, he was going mad without the other as well. it wasnt like he didnt have any friends other than shuyang, anyone who wasnt shuyang were just significantly less pleasing to be around. shuyang understood him better than anyone on the planet, and maybe thats why he missed him so much.

but of course, he couldnt act like it was totally hell being there. yes, it was above boring when the others were on whatever heist they were pulling off. and maybe it was starting to feel like the very few rooms he was limited to being in were getting smaller by the day, but it wasnt completely terrible. mark was entertaining to be around, to say the least. either dancing or playing a game, he really knew how to lighten up a room. and zephyr seemed to never run out of things to talk about, be it an old story of one of the groups many crimes, or shit talking people he used to know. carson was interesting, very clearly not being the ever-stoic, tough face he put up that day in the warehouse. he had an obvious soft spot for the boys around him, and was more of a dad-friend instead of a gang leader (and he was a much better cook than xinlong or shuyang were, good food is always a bonus). and joey.. well joey is joey. while he had his bursts of energy where he played around with mark or zephyr, he spent a lot of time keeping xinlong company. he'd talk to xinlong whenever he had the chance, and he almost always told xinlong whatever he asked, which often were questions about shuyang.

xinlong wondered if it was stockholm syndrome, but the more time he spent around joey, the prettier the boy looked to him. but then again, these boys werent bad to him. yes, kidnapping was questionable, but he supposed they likely didnt mean any harm. or at least he kind of hoped they didnt. though he still didnt get to know their real names (other than joey of course), he got the pleasure of seeing them without their masks on. needless to say, xinlong wasnt really expecting his captors to be a group of very attractive people, but he wasnt complaining at all. a way xinlong found to distract himself from the boredom he was experiencing was to listen in on the boys plan out their heists. it was surprisingly entertaining, along with giving xinlong more insight to the boys individual roles in their group. carson was the boss, what he says goes. he looks out for the others and makes the decisions. he takes the fall and calls the shots. zephyr was the underboss, carsons right hand-man. when carson didnt know what to do, he went to zephyr, and vise-versa. on top of that, zephyr was a sort of lookout. he could get dirt on anyone needed in due time, by any means. give him a name and a day or two and he'll give you someones entire history. mark knew weapons like no one else. knew how to acquire and how to make them. as long as he had the tools and supplies, he could produce about anything he put his mind to. joey was the hacker. computers and coding were his forte. from personal devices to protected electronics of big shots, nothing seemed to be a challenge for him. the way they worked together amazed xinlong. it was as if they were telepathic, and understood each other without words. yes, they were somewhat criminals, but god were they smart.

xinlong laid upside-down on a couch, watching the back of carsons head as the other man typed something into a computer. it was just the two of them in the base at that time, the other three off doing god knows what. xinlong felt the boredom building up once again, letting out a sigh as he kicked his legs around. carson wasnt uninteresting by any means. he was actually great company, and if he wasnt being held hostage (technically), xinlong was sure the two of them would be close friends. but aside frorm that, carson could get really into his work. after all, he was a lot of what was holding this group together. and whenever he gets into his work, he goes all silent and zones out, only focused on the task at hand. and unfortunately, xinlong liked talking when he was bored. abruptly, carson got up from the desk, and walked towards the door leaving.

"hey! where ya going?!" xinlong yelled, accidentally falling off the couch as he scrambled to look at carson. the boy looked back at him, having picked up a black backpack off the floor. he chuckled and unzipped the backpack, rumaging around as he spoke to xinlong.

"going to the range. wanna work on my aim for a bit." carson explained, before closing the backpack and looking for his shoes. 'the range' was actually a small area underneath the base that carson and mark constructed together to practice their shooting.

xinlong shot up excitedly at what carson said, jumping up off the couch and running to the other boy, "can i come? please im so bored i dont want to be alone." xinlong whined dramatically, even going a far to grab carsons arm for emphasis. carson laughed and shook his head, throwing the black sneakers that xinlong had arrived in at the boy.

"c'mon then. dont keep me waiting." xinlong quickly slipped on his shoes, before following carson down the stairs. he didnt get to leave the main area of the base often, so seeing anything new was pretty refreshing for xinlong. the walls were a murky gray colour, and the ground was concrete. there were multiple training targets set up behind glass and stone barriers with openings to shoot through. it looked almost identical to an actual shooting range, save for maybe being a bit messier. xinlong watched carson practice his aiming for a while, almost entranced by the focus he had, the almost deafening silence between the shots (or maybe that was just the soundproof headphones he wore). he sat on a chair and watched, until carson spoke up. "you can try if you'd like. theres some training guns in the corner." xinlong grinned at carsons words, jumping up and runnning to the firearms carson had mentioned. he grabbed a small black handgun, along with a pair off safety glasses before walking up to one of the windows in front of the targets. his first shots were poor, to say the least, jumping back at the loud gunshots and letting the recoil of the shots control his arms. though, after having a laughing fit over xinlongs struggles, carson had given the other some pointers. adjusting his stance and hands, xinlong took another shot. he hit the target close to the middle, not perfect but better than he was doing before. another round later, and xinlong was hitting targets with ease. for his first time, he was surprisingly good. he hadnt realized carson had stopped his practice and was instead staring at xinlong, almost analyzing him. he walked to the other boy, leaning against the barrier and smirking at him. "your pretty good, huh?"

"oh uh.." xinlong wasnt sure how to respond, the comment was almost accusatory. "ive never done this before, honestly! i just.. got the hang of it fast i guess." he tried to defend himself, only earning another laugh from carson, who took a thoughtful look at the targets before xinlong, all littered with bullet holes by now.

"you know, we could use another hand with the fighting aspects of our group." carson suggested, turning back to xinlong with a mischevious grin. xinlongs eyes widened, realizing exactly what carson was saying.

"you mean, i join you guys? like your gang stuff?" xinlong confirmed, staring at carson in disbelief.

"ive been thinking about it for a while. joey really trusts you, and i think with some work you could make a great addition." carson smiled, putting back on his noise cancelling headphones. "but, its up to you. no pressure, just think about it and give me a yes or no." he shrugged and walked back to his spot, quickly getting back into position and going back to his practice. xinlong didnt move, just watching carson and thinking about the offer. he'd never considered joining a gang before, or commiting organized crime either. he never even used a gun before now. he restorted to sitting back down in the corner where he was before, staring at his hands in thought. his mind swam with different thoughts. above anything, he needed some time to think, knowing this decision could permanently alter his life.

// i didnt update for a while hmm i hope this chapter is good for now until i find more time to write😭