Just another day after work, except other than the sounds of Shun's own shoes against the pavement under the complete darkness of night. No one around as he holds the plastic bag of takeout in his hand and darts his head around to check on his surroundings. No one, except a tall, mysterious shadow-y figure whose silhouette is only dimly lit by the sparse street lamps on the sidewalk. The man sighs and pulls out his phone and checks the time,
21:06
He hastens his pace when he looks at the time, and the wallpaper of his giggling son serves as both a heartwarmer, smile supplier and most importantly a gentle nudge that he needs to get back home to his son as soon as possible. "Oh yea, I gotta call him." He dreadfully remembers as he dials Shinji's number with clammy hands. The man finds himself walking aimlessly in a straight line while he clutches his phone, the trepidation for what's to come when he gets home making his stomach swirl inside. Maybe he could spend a couple minutes taking a breather back at the restaurant he picked up the food from, right? Anything, anything except for spending a minute with that horrible woman waiting for him back at home. He could already feel his head getting dizzy and his body trembling right in the same time of him trying to walk home... But Shinji needs him more than anything, and he knew that he'd absolutely regret it if that horrible, horrible bitch hurt him in some way while Shun just pranced around knowing he could have protected him if only he'd gotten home sooner. He gave up his right to be selfish when he had a son, anyway. And he promised his boy that he'd be home as soon as he could!
He takes a deep, deep breath, holds it for a little bit, and then lets at least the steam some of the tension inside his body bubbling his blood leave him. He clears his throat to sound as cal as lossible, and then hits the answer button.
Pi!
Pi!
Pi!
"Papa?" A soft, high pitched voice answers groggily from the other.
"Did you just wake up, Shinji-kun?" shun asks.
"Yes papa...where are you?" Shinji softly coos, wiping his eyes as holds his blanket over him.
"I'm gonna be home in a couple minutes, okay? I got us something to eat!" Shun sings, a wide smile on his face as his excitement takes over control of his legs and he starts to move faster despite being utterly exhausted from the long, hard day at work.
"What are you getting, papa?" Shinji shivers as the air from the AC hits his arms and his face, his blanket no match for the strong blast of cold air from the vent.
"It's a surprise, and are you cold?"
"Mhm..."
"I'll turn it off when i get home, okay? Just keep yourself snuggled for now."
"Oki...can you wake me up when you get home?"
"Sure! just get some sleep until then, okay?"
"Oki..."
"I love you, shinji."
"Me too, papa," Beyond his eyelids slowly weighing down his will to keep going and stay up, shinji's lips crack a smile at those words. "bye bye!"
The warmth of the serotonin hit he'd gotten from that call almost made him forget about the stranger, whom he turned around and saw again... it's nothing right? Just a stranger trying to get home just like him. It's nothing, right? Nobody's trying to follow him, not at all. He ignores his gut twisting like a pretzel, screaming at him about the potential danger of the situation. It's nothing! He's just being paranoid, goddamnit! But just in case it's something to worry about, he starts to walk even faster, slowly approaching a running pace at this point as he hears the foot steps getting faster behind him.
Shun can feel his body heating up, his ears ringing. He doesn't dare look behind him again to check on the stranger, a fellow who is likely close behind him by now if not nape-of-his-neck close. His hands start to go numb as he quickens his pace even more, now at a jogging pace. He dials 110 on his phone, careful not to make it too visible, though the fruitfulness of that action is debateable.
No.
He can't trust those bastards. This wasn't his first rodeo trying to get help from them in some way, and he knew that this was the exact scenario where they wouldn't take him seriously. He wasn't going to call them up for help, for them to do their jobs, just to be laughed at again.
His feet stomp on the ground, propelling his body forward as he makes a break for it. He doesn't dare look back, knowing it'd only slow him down if he did. He just needs to get home to his boy, his precious son. He remembers the keys to his house he always keeps in his pocket and quickly takes them out as he sprints as fast as his legs will carry him across each and every street. He makes a sharp turn on the next intersection, and it's only after running for an extra few seconds that he decides to turn around and see if he's lost the man yet. He breaths a sigh of relief when he not only doesn't hear the man's footsteps anymore, but that the shadow figure is gone!
He takes a peak at what street he's on, and hisses in mild annoyance. "Fuck, wrong street."
Shun decides to take a long route, wanting to make sure he's actually shaken the guy off. He looks around his surroundings at all times, making sure he doesn't miss a single detail of the bare sidewalk, the generous amount of street lamps he was trying his best to stick to, the darkness surrounding the that was practically his kryptonite at this point if he couldn't get home as quickly as possible.
"I'm sorry, Shinji. Something came up. I'll get home to you soon, okay?" He apologizes mentally. At least Shinji wasn't awake to see his father coming home late. Maybe it was a good thing in a way so he could get more sleep before he eats with him. Game plan: Head home, eat with Shinji, go to sleep and maybe talk to the police about it the next day if they even take him seriously. He never knew that the thought of returning to his shit home with a beaten down shit door and a shit porch was going to be the one thing keeping him sane through this whole walk. Like a mantra, he repeats it over and over in his head. He can't focus on anything else other than his safety and getting home-
"HELLP ME! SOMEONE HELP!" A woman shouts from the distance, followed by a blood curdling scream that has him standing on the sidewalk like a deer in the headlights.
His entire brain switches off except for his survival instincts in that moment, and he bolts away as fast as he can. He pulls out his house keys and tries to take out his phone only to find out that it's... missing?! "Where the fuck is it?!" He whines, sweat beads getting blown off his face almost like rain as his lungs burn from him pushing himself as hard as he could. He's going to make it home, he has to. He would die if he didn't make it home, he has to get there. He needs to! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!
His face hits the grass beneath him, and he tries to struggle out of the grasp of whoever's pressing their body against his back. He grips the grass, hs feet also digging into the ground as he tries to throw a handful of dirt in the assailant's face before his wrists get pinned down as well. He screams, begging anyone and anything around him to save him like a deus ex machina. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO PLEASE! I HAVE A SON!" He screams at the top of his lungs while the captor drags him from his body from the grass. He thrashes as much as he can, claws at the man's muscled arms and continues to scream as much as he can in hopes someone could possibly hear what was going on.
"Ow! That hurts, you know!" The captor exclaims as he tries to keep Shun subdued.
"Junpei! We got him, let's go!" Another man exclaims.
"Do we bring the lady?" Junpei asks.
"What the hell- Of course we do! Now let's get the hell out of here before someone sees us!"
Junpei grabs Shun by the nape of his shirt and throws him inside the truck, quickly frisking him and taking away his only other means of defense; his keys. He watches the same thing happen to a woman who was very likely the source of the screams he'd heard, her hairy stringy and her shirt covered in dirt as tears rolled down from her bloodshot eyes to her wet and bruised face.
"Let me go... please! I have a little sister at home..." The woman whimpers with beady eyes to the assailant, whose interest seems to be piqued by her words. Seeing this opening, she takes the chance to try even harder. "S-she needs someone to take care of her-"
SLAM!
"PLEASE!" Cries the young woman as she bangs on the door of the van, sobbing as the kidnapper heads to the front of the car.
"Aw come on! She was trying to tell me something, Hachiro!"
"And get distracted on the job so our bosses can get pissed off at us again?!"
Junpei huffs in annoyance and furrows his eyebrows, but he doesn't challenge his words. The two of them get inside the van and quickly drive off, leaving tire marks on the road as they head towards the base of their operations.