Hyunjin had been truly scared a handful of times in his life, the first time he remembers feeling terror of a great extent past his childhood was when he was in High School, the last weeks before graduation, it was over a fight, an end to a friendship and though Hyunjin swears he'd never treasure friendships, swears they're unnecessary, he remembers to this day just how terribly sick he had felt when the boy he thought would be his best friend forever wanted nothing but the worst for him
He hadn't been sad, or so he'd never accept, but he does acknowledge just how terrified it made him feel. And then when his father was admitted into surgery, that was the last time Hyunjin remembers feeling scared, like the world was crashing upon you and your helpless. But Hyunjin had never felt this surge of fear in his entire life, a rise of terror like a relentless tide. Like every single vile thing in the world had just become your enemy and is out to get you, thirsty for your blood
His entire being shook at the sight that stood before him; There stands Lee Felix, the man who had managed to change the trajectory of Hyunjin's life in the span of just two months, eyes closed and body limp, head falling to the side as though he was not present in this minute whatsoever while Seonghwa held him close, making sure he doesn't tumble over in his unconscious state. Hyunjin's heart didn't stutter, it fell right into the pit of his stomach, he could not have imagined in his wildest dreams that the 'precious thing' Seonghwa was discussing would be Felix
the Felix he thought he had succeeded in protecting by keeping him away from himself that evening, the Felix he thought had ghosted him and in whose rage he stood here today. The colors flush from his face and go down into a puddle of this irrational rain, his gloomy and fiery eyes now a blank canvas of the night sky. His eyes count between Seonghwa and Felix and pacedly, wrath rises within him. His mind that was stilled for a second quickly realizes the situation and his blood becomes volcanic within his veins
"Think I got your heel, Achilles? Think you still don't have anything precious?"
Seonghwa smiles, leaning close to Felix and resting his chin on his shoulder, staring back at Hyunjin like he had conquered this war. There's a slick inky gun in Seonghwa's hand, beautiful in the dim lightening as he points it delicately toward Felix's stomach standing straight before he trails the gun upward his torso and rests it underneath his chin, pointing his face forward. Minho who was a hurricane of anger stepped forward instantly but he was stopped by two fingers, pausing him as a command
He couldn't understand how Hyunjin was so stable, so quiet and calm. Minho's eyes were burning when he studied the side of Hyunjin's face, trying to assess how he could be so composed in this situation. But then he saw the man's deathly grip on his gun, the storm behind his eyes and the clench of his jaw, it took Minho short seconds to realize through his own worry and anger that Hyunjin wasn't calm, he was calculating. Perhaps because he knew his old friend well, perhaps because for the first time in forever Hyunjin wouldn't let his anger take control over all his sensical thinking
he didn't want to play by his customs this night, not when Felix's life was on the line. Seonghwa had been right, he did have something precious of Hyunjin. And he wasn't going to waste time by asking questions or losing himself over anger
"State your demands, Park"
Hyunjin's quietly menacing voice lulls back even the deadliest of demons as he glares down at the man ahead of him, worry pinning down every atom inside of him making him pray even to the gods he couldn't believe in that he wins this fight and doesn't lose Felix. Never had he ever wanted to win any battle before this desperately, never had he feared for a life before this terribly and it's insane he'd do so for a person he barely knew. A smile spread on the ravenhead's lips, disgusting and vile
"So quick, Jinnie? no questions asked? no hows? no whys?" He raises his brows and Hyunjin doesn't answer but the visible anger on the blond's face shakes even Hades' throne and Seonghwa is just a man. "What do you want" It's mumbled through gritted teeth, like he was doing his ultimate best to not do something rash, his eyes so fatal you'd assume you had entered hell with just a look.
"Your Japan port"
"Deal"
The second Seonghwa had uttered those words, an answer was already out in the world and it nearly had the culprit at a loss of words. How was Hyunjin convinced so easily? Should he have asked for something bigger? The Japan port that belonged to the Hwangs was one of the most significant ports of the known business, and asking for it was like asking them for their title but Hyunjin had given it away so easily, without even a single thought crossing his mind, almost as if he was ready to give whatever Seonghwa had asked of him, like he wasn't going to weigh the demand at all
"How fascinating" the man smiles but it's cut short the second Hyunjin speaks further "Now hand the boy over" his voice is death in itself and Seonghwa doesn't want to show the sheer peril that he is feeling deep within "Not so easily, why don't you sign the papers first?" He grins, hiding his fear behind his smile as he presses the tip of the gun further to Felix's chin, just to add effect as he watches how Hyunjin nearly shivers physically from the amount of anger seeping out of him. The sight elates Seonghwa, the person he always thought he'd never be able to defeat was now crippled with fear as he held his most precious belonging close.
One of his workers brings out a file, protecting it under the shelter of an umbrella as he walks toward Minho and hands him the document, too scared to even look at Hyunjin let alone interact with him. Minho takes the file, a little surprised that Hyunjin would agree to give away something so significant just like that but he doesn't dare question it, opens the file and skims through it while he takes out the only pen Hyunjin would write from and hands the gold writing instrument over to his boss
Hyunjin doesn't spare Minho a glance or the papers, grabbing them from his hands roughly and scribbling down his signature like it meant nothing. Something crawled within Minho as he watched his boss take such a major step without even reading the contents of the document but Hyunjin's eyes were only fixed on the boy in front of him and his heart was in his throat, he was too impatient to have him return to safety that he couldn't be bothered by anything else
once his scribbles stopped, he threw the file at the worker's face and pinned his lethal gaze on Seonghwa, stretching out his hand and biting down his murderous rage
"Hand him over, Park"
his insides were twisting in on themselves, no relief was found anywhere in his system. He knew the man standing before him and he knew he could never trust him or the words he said. He was born to be a liar and Hyunjin didn't know for sure if he'd keep his unsaid words of letting Felix go once the papers were signed. A sigh withers from Seonghwa's lips when he looks down at Felix and smiles softly "I don't wanna let you go, gem, you seem like you could get me everything from this little guy but I'm above him now," he looks back at Hyunjin and smiles as if trying to prove a point, as If trying to let Hyunjin know he was above him
"And it's time for you to go~"
the raven head adds a melody to the words, removing his gun from Felix's chin and pushing his unconscious body forward violently. Unturning lividness would have risen in Hyunjin if he didn't have to click his mind in space and step forward, catching the frail man before he met the ground. And as soon as Hyunjin held Felix in his arms, the world around them ceased to exist, the relief that overtook his senses numbed his knowledge of anything else. He stood upright, an arm around Felix's waist and the other around his upper back, eyes fixated on his face searching for any signs of pain
his brows were scrunched and his lips a sealed line, heart forgetting to beat for a second and his lungs not doing their job properly as he raises a hand and cups Felix's face, terrified of the closed eyes and relaxed features. And then the eyes that looked dreary like the sky when it rains in summer turned into scarlet cyclones craving death as he looked up from Felix's face and darted his bullet-like gaze onto Seonghwa. The man has had a prominent smirk on his lips for as long as he stood here but the second he saw that look in Hyunjin's eyes, he knew he was damned for his life
or the rest of what Hyunjin would spare
in the spin of a second, the gust of a wind, the drop of a rainfall, everything spurs out of control. Six loud gunshots, six bullets in both of Seonghwa's legs, and with the quick bolts of Hyunjin's smoking gun came the storm of Minho's and the others' weapons, shooting at each other like they weren't modern idiots in a dingy alleyway but warriors at war. Sreams and gushing blood, dark nights and raging rainstorms. It wasn't anything new to Hyunjin, the way his men had gathered around him like human shields, the way his enemies cried, or the way none of it seemed to affect him
but one thing was new, one thing was changed, drastically so; The boy in his arms. He was not someone that belonged here, not in this bloodied alleyway or in Hyunjin's arms but the man still held him all too close, looking at his face with a gaze in his eyes that had never been found there before, his large hand held Felix's cheek and he could not have been more grateful ever. The rain that fell over him didn't get registered in his thoughts because they were occupied by something else. He held Felix close to his chest, a place where he'd be safest as he closed his eyes and drank in the moment that felt like the rarest air
he didn't know how close he was to losing him but now he knows how much it would have ruined his life, he would have never forgiven himself and it's all just dawning on him, dawning on him just how much he cares for Felix. His shaky breaths come out in huffs of breath as he pulls away from Felix and holds his face again, pressing a sweet kiss to his forehead because even the most dangerous of men can break if held, even the viper who had venom for blood has felt the warmth of a soothing touch, the bliss of a passing love and now he wasn't going to risk it
And in that moment, in those constant fires and these turbulent raindrops, Hyunjin knew he was going to make every single person who was involved in the threatening of Felix's safety pay, and he was going to make them pay with all they had. His eyes, a blazing fire, look up from Felix and onto Minho, holding his arm as he was about to aim at Seonghwa and rip him off his breath right there but was stopped by his boss, forced to turn around and the look of danger melts from his face
"Keep him alive"
and Minho knew right there and then what that meant, and even if he wanted Seonghwa dead, he couldn't help but pray for the man because he knew well enough what awaited him. A fate worse than hell.
◃ ⛓ ▹
Everything is hurting and that's the first thing Felix acknowledges when he wakes up, his eyes are still closed and he hasn't truly woken up yet. A groan tries to slip past his throat but only a guttural sound echoes as he shifts slowly, squinting his closed eyes and forcing them open. Brightness conquers his vision, blinding him to the extent that he is forced to close his eyes all over again and this time he can groan without sounding like a butchered goat. Seconds of struggle later, Felix discovers the strength in him to try and shuffle to the side but his ribs hurt so bad that he can barely breathe
all this pain he felt in his state of slumber just seemed to have doubled now that he was awake and it was making his already paining head hurt more. His eyes open softly, he blinked them instantaneously to avoid the brightness and once he had settled, he let out a soft sigh of relief, staring ahead at whatever occupied his sight which turned out to be a lavish ceiling, one that felt unfamiliar and foreign; where was he?
his thoughts echoed as his brows furrowed and he looked around, trying to understand his surroundings and why he was in a place that felt strange. His mind couldn't recall what had been going on before his slumber overtook him and now he finds himself in a strange bed in a strange room he has no recognition of. Hazy panic blooms in his chest as he ignores the fatal pain in his ribs and gets up on his elbows, looking around the room in a rush, taking in every single detail to help him understand
the more he looks at it, the more known it feels yet he can't put a finger on it, and as he ponders deeply about the past state of affairs that could have led him here, a scent overtakes his senses stopping his mind from recollecting passed moments and it starts to feel more and more like a place he feels safe in. His panic is present, but the relief the familiar Versace's Dylan Blue brings to him calms his thoughts just a little. His head is throbbing, in fact, every single part of him is throbbing, and to have his memory be a choppy vision of some dream he lived is not the most favorable thing right now
a grimace takes over Felix's expression as he tries to get up properly, trying to ignore the rising pain in him and seek security. He succeeds but with too much pain that he feels like he might throw up his organs in a heavy heave. Felix wants to shake his head as if it would ease anything but he can't do even that because everything hurts so much, so all he does is try his best to get off the bed and search this foreign land. His legs are the first thing he moves, the only part of him that wasn't hurting like he was being dragged into hell
sets them on the ground but his upper body is nearly rising tears in his eyes as he sighs heavily and does his best to turn around and get off the mattress. With stretched struggle and a little too much pain, the blue-haired finally manages to get off the bed and fix his shakingly blurry vision. Three steps towards the door of the magnificent room and Felix already feels like he's going to pass out. What was going on with him? The rising panic and anxiety were doing little to help as he dragged himself as far as he could without collapsing and when his knees began to buckle, gladly he had a table to take hold of instead of falling to the cold hard ground.
What felt like long and slowly burning minutes later, Felix finally managed to make his way out of the room, swinging open the door with half-closed eyes and a body that was nearly limp with pain. His throat was dry and burning and he couldn't make out most of the things that occupied his sight. The scent that calmed some part of him was ripped from him and now there was nothing he had that felt familiar, that helped him feel like he wasn't entirely too unsafe
his nerves were buzzing with the urge to attack whatever would come his way, ready to fight his way to security but his body felt all too weak to act cautious and here he was; stumbling down mysterious hallways to reach somewhere, something—someone. Maybe Felix had drunk too much like he would on most weekends, maybe he had been partying and ended up hooking up with someone, but then what was this undeniable pain in him and this sense of danger looming over him?
His mind has never been more hazy and everything was making him want to scream, or if he had the energy for it. Uncounted strides down the hallway, Felix finally stumbled upon hushed voices coming from behind a large door that was to his left as he turned to it, ignoring his pain and feeling both anxiety and horror of whatever lay beyond this door. He didn't know where he was, and this entire place felt remote and he needed someone to explain what this meant to him
so facing his fears, he raised his hand to grip the doorknob but his hands were too slippery and there was barely any energy in him. "I don't fucking know! It's your responsibility to keep my enemies off of my back, I thought I was protecting him, I didn't know this would happen! No one has ever been able to harm me, I didn't doubt for a second you'd fail to do your goddamn job" A familiar voice shouts on the other side of the door, sounding more emotionally drained than angry.
The sound, though it confuses Felix, also raises a sense of relief in him, the same one he had felt after smelling that distinct perfume and it's still a mystery to him. "Of course, this would have happened! You're constantly out with him, everyone and their mother knows you've got eyes for him! Do you know what happens when the lord of this fucking realm falls for someone out in the goddamn open and reveals his biggest weakness? Wars, fucking wars happen Hyunjin. And now all of this is going to ruin his life" Another voice echoes, it's sweeter than the one Felix felt comforted by and it's all the familiar
he feels like he knows these people but he can't understand it, and before any more shouting occurs, Felix manages to swing open the door and reveal the sight of the people his heart claims to recognize.