Super Junior AU; Various Pairings; Love/War
Title: Love/War (21/?)
Fandom: Super Junior AU (Mafia)
Pairings: Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul (Hankyung/Heechul), Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk, Tablo/Eunhyuk
Pairings in Chapter: Hankyung/Heechul, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi
Word Count: 3,247
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Kim family and the Choi family are the two oldest families in Seoul: where other families have been born, grown, and then fell apart, they remain strong. Unfortunately, they are mortal enemies, and where one lives alongside the law, the other is beyond any control. It's up to the new generation of members to destroy the violence between them - even if it means destroying one family in the process.
A/N: I am getting past my plot holes using technology :DDDD
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
“Hyuk?” Donghae peeked around the edge of Eunhyuk’s bedroom door to find his cousin sitting on his bed, his two suitcases open around him as he just looked helplessly at them. Donghae stepped inside. “Are you okay?”
Eunhyuk looked up at him, looking completely confused. “Donghae?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Donghae, and then laughed uncomfortably. “Of course it’s me.”
“Oh,” said Eunhyuk softly, and pulled something from his suitcase before he dropped it onto the bed next to him. “Why?” he asked, without looking at Donghae.
“Hmm?” Donghae sat down on the bed, and picked up one of Eunhyuk’s t-shirts.
“Why are you here?”
“To see if you needed help unpacking.”
“No!” Eunhyuk seemed increasingly desperate. “That’s not what I mean. I mean. Why are you still here?”
Donghae was quiet for a minute, twisting the material of Eunhyuk’s shirt between his fingers. “Because you’re my cousin,” he said finally.
Eunhyuk laughed like he was on the verge of tears. “And I betrayed everything that we had,” he said.
Donghae didn’t say anything to that; there was nothing he could say. “I don’t know why I did it,” whispered Eunhyuk. “I just - I panicked, I think.”
"I don't think anyone is going to-" Donghae broke off, and struggled to find the right words. "Everyone has had a moment where they panicked, and I think everyone has already forgiven you in the light of the story."
Donghae was, to some extent, correct. Most of the family had been informed of what had happened, and most had already worked through their personal demons when it came to the affair. For those who were planning a rescue attempt, the betrayal was perhaps a little too close for comfort. They felt the hypocrisy of condemning Eunhyuk for something that they were about to do themselves; Heechul was particularly snappish when it came to interacting with Eunhyuk, but while that was put down to an enduring anger, in reality he was just fighting back against his own guilty feelings.
Donghae waited in fear for Kibum to go to Eeteuk or Kangin with the knowledge he had overheard, but it never happened. Kibum simply never brought the subject up again. Donghae never spoke to Hankyung or Heechul or Zhou Mi about what Kibum had found out, and the day before they were set to carry out their plan, it seemed that nothing was going to happen.
"I'm not happy with this," announced Heechul.
"You never are," said Hankyung, exasperated.
"It's just stupid," said Heechul. "Hankyung and Zhou Mi are targets one and two for the Choi family. If both of them come into the household, it'll just be like handing them over on a silver platter."
"What else are we supposed to do?" asked Hankyung. "Zhou Mi needs to go with you to see Sikyu, you can't go see him by yourself, that's more of a suicide than the both of us going into the house. And Donghae will need me to help get Siwon out of there."
"And it's not like Hankyung-hyung can go by himself," said Donghae. "As soon as he speaks they'll realise. They need us so they can stay quiet."
No one had heard the door open, too busy in their argument, so they jumped when Kibum's voice said, "Maybe, in that case, you need another person in the group."
"What the fuck?" hissed Heechul. "Kibum, what are you doing?"
Kibum shrugged. "Eavesdropping," he said. "I have been doing so on every one of these meetings."
"If you weren't my brother, I'd fucking kill you," said Heechul.
"I've heard what you're going to do," said Kibum. "And-"
"If you say you're going to turn us in," interrupted Heechul, "I will actually kill you. They'll never find the body."
"And I want in," finished Kibum.
There was stunned silence throughout the room; Donghae was the first to speak. "You want in?" he repeated, incredulous. "You mean - you want to help us?"
"Yes," said Kibum. "I've thought about it, and I-" He turned to face Heechul. "I know what Siwon meant to you, hyung, and I want you to be able to get your answers."
"You are not that compassionate, Kibum," said Heechul, amused in spite of the situation.
"Fine," said Kibum. "I have some questions, and I think that I might be able to find the answers at the Choi house."
Heechul nodded; although none of the others probably knew what Kibum had meant, Heechul hadn't missed the way Kibum's eyes had flickered over to Donghae as he spoke. Perhaps Kibum could find the answers to something that remained a mystery to them all.
Kibum sat down at the table, ignoring the way the others looked at him with still suspicion. "I've been thinking about this," he said. "And I think I know where the plan can be improved."
"Improved?" Heechul looked unconvinced. It was impossible to see if Donghae was offended, as he was staring at the floor, face in shadow.
"Before you had an even number of people, and that could have been a problem. Sending the heir into the building, letting them know that hyung is the heir, it could be disastrous. It needs to be changed."
"Heechul won't stay behind," said Hankyung, as Heechul seemed too annoyed at the prospect to actually speak.
"I'm not saying that," said Kibum. "Send me to see Sikyu instead, I'll go with Hankyung, Heechul can go with Donghae to get Siwon, and Zhou Mi can stay in the van, so we can make a quick get-away."
"Get-away driver?" Zhou Mi sighed. "Just give me the boring job."
"Boring, but it will keep you safe," said Kibum. "Hankyung-hyung is better at fighting than you, and we'll need someone to get us away quickly. It won't take long for the Choi family to realise what's going on, and we'll need to get onto our territory as soon as we possibly can afterwards."
Heechul was staring at Kibum in shock. "You've really been thinking this through, haven't you?" he asked. Kibum nodded seriously.
"I want to go with you," said Donghae, suddenly and impulsively. "I want to go with Kibum to see Choi Sikyu."
There was silence in the room again, before Hankyung said, in an uncertain tone; "You want to go with Kibum?"
"Yes," said Donghae. "This way, you get to go with Heechul to see Siwon."
This prospect was too much for Hankyung to fight against, and so it was decided that Donghae and Kibum would go see Sikyu on the pretence of talking about what was happening with Siwon, while Heechul and Hankyung somehow found their way to where Siwon was being held, and Zhou Mi waited for them in the van. Zhou Mi wasn't too happy still, but the earnest pleading from Hankyung, and the scorn from Heechul was enough to convince him to do it.
"We haven't thought about what will happen afterwards," said Heechul that night, voice muffled as he pressed his face to the pillow. Hankyung, lying on his back, was silent for a minute.
"There's no way of knowing," he said.
"At least if it goes wrong, we'll have him," said Heechul.
So much relied on Siwon being who they thought he was, that Hankyung could do nothing but reach out and take Heechul's hand and hope.
***
Zhou Mi sat in the van, tapping his foot nervously against the floor, trying to ignore all the feelings rushing around his head. It had now been almost a week since he had fallen out with Kyuhyun - and he had to think of it as a falling out, couldn't bear to consider it a break up, because that seemed to suggest something permanent, and Zhou Mi couldn't live with that.
Kyuhyun had practically stopped talking to him, only acknowledging his presence with the barest civility. He refused to go on any jobs with Zhou Mi, and while he hadn't gone to Eeteuk, he still glared at Zhou Mi whenever he saw him with Donghae or Heechul. Zhou Mi couldn't help but feel that Kyuhyun thought he would yield in the face of this behaviour, and even though Zhou Mi hated the separation, he was fiercely determined to not give up.
"He should have trusted me," he muttered in Chinese, chin pressed to the steering wheel.
"What?" asked Heechul, climbing into the back of the van. "First sign of madness, Seasoning."
"I'm going mad with waiting," said Zhou Mi, smiling slightly at Heechul in the rear mirror, and Heechul snorted and checked that his gun was in working order one last time, as Donghae climbed in next to him, followed by Kibum and Hankyung - and they were finally ready to leave.
It was with some apprehension that Zhou Mi pulled out of the drive and out of the gates at the bottom. Of the party, only two had ever been into the Choi estate previously, and of those, Heechul had only ever been to one of the meeting rooms, and Donghae refused to account for how much of the estate he actually knew. They were about to go into the unknown, and suddenly Zhou Mi regretted the argument, that he hadn't been able to explain why this was so important to Kyuhyun, hadn't been able to apologise and let Kyuhyun know how important he was.
Zhou Mi couldn't help it; a dark foreboding had come over him, and as he drove down the road leading from the Kim estate, he regretted the argument so deeply that he shocked himself in finding that he was thinking that he wasn't going to return at all.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then had to slam the brakes on as Kyuhyun stepped out of the path straight in front of the car, calm and collected. Zhou Mi jerked forward with the force; in the back, Heechul almost fell off his chair and had to be caught by Hankyung.
"What the fuck, Seasoning!" he shrieked. "What are you doing?"
"Kyuhyun," was all Zhou Mi could say.
"Huh?" Heechul looked over the seats out of the windscreen, and frowned. "Huh. What's he doing in the middle of the road, the moron. Just drive around him."
"But I-"
Kyuhyun strode up to the van then, pulled open the passenger seat and clambered in. "For God's sake," he said. "Honestly, I cannot leave you alone for more than five minutes without you wandering off to get yourself killed without me."
"What?" asked Zhou Mi, completely confused. There was silence from the back.
"Like I'd actually let you go to the Choi estate without me," said Kyuhyun. "Honestly, do you take me for someone completely retarded? You would die without me there to stop you from wandering in front of stray bullets, seriously."
"I am so confused," came Heechul's voice, annoyed.
"Whatever," said Kyuhyun. "Look, just drive, okay?"
"You're coming with us?" asked Zhou Mi, a smile beginning to form on his face. Kyuhyun avoided his eyes.
"Of course," he said. "If it's that important to you, then it should be important to me, too, right?"
"Oh my god," said Heechul. "Fuck, Seasoning, just drive before I throw up."
Zhou Mi, grinning widely, pulled away again.
The Choi estate was built on a similar basis to the Kim estate, but with a larger house and smaller grounds. It was also built directly in the middle of their area, surrounded on each side with the houses of their corrupt benefactors, and so had less of a run up compared to the Kim estate, which was built slightly back off a main road.
The unnecessary technology that the Choi family had built into their house was to prove to suit the purpose of those from the Kim family bent on rescue. Their gates were partially automatic: once a registration number of a car was allowed through, the sensor worked to recognise it and open the gates automatically on the way back. Getting through the gates proved to be easier than previously supposed; it appeared that the Choi family had been expecting something like a deputation, and they were greeted as they pulled up in front of the house by three members who, although they looked hostile, at least didn't draw their guns.
Kibum, Donghae, Heechul and Hankyung clambered out, the latter two drawing back as if deferring to Kibum and Donghae; it was enough to stop Heechul from getting recognised, and anyone from looking too carefully at Hankyung. Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun, waiting in the van, could hear nothing, and were forced to watch as greetings were passed, and then the four walked up the stairs and disappeared into the house.
"And now we wait," sighed Kyuhyun, leaning back heavily against his seat.
"We wait," echoed Zhou Mi, trying to ignore the dark feeling that still lay in his stomach. After a minute or so, he spoke again. “Why did you-”
“I’m following you,” interrupted Kyuhyun. “I’m - I thought about it, and god, I’m an idiot. Why would I - I know you, don’t I? I know that you wouldn’t be willing to give up on - us - without there being a good reason.”
“I can’t live without knowing.”
“It’s driving me mad too,” said Kyuhyun, and for the first time in too long he smiled at Zhou Mi. He leant forward and kissed him softly, before he pulled back and settled back down. “I think I’ll sleep,” he said.
“What was that about protecting me?” asked Zhou Mi, amused.
***
The four who had been led into the house were separated almost as soon as they walked in the door. Kibum, acting as the most superior of the family, was taken to see Choi Sikyu, and nothing was said against his taking Donghae with him, it seemed almost obvious that he would not go by himself. Heechul and Hankyung were taken down a corridor - "They're going to kill us," muttered Heechul and was given a reproachful look from Hankyung, which gained a smirk in reply - and into a meeting room. There, they were left, but Heechul, after opening the door a little, announced that there was guard outside.
"Well, we can't go roaming the estate like we wanted," said Hankyung. "We never really thought we could though, did we?"
"It would have been nice," said Heechul.
"Now," said Hankyung. "Plan B?"
"Let's do it," said Heechul, and cocked the trigger on his gun. Then, slipping it into his pocket where it couldn't be seen, he opened the door and stepped out.
"Hi," he said to the guy on duty. "Can you help us with something?"
The man, tall and well-built, had a look of arrogance around him, and Heechul had quickly come up with something that he thought would work. The man gave him a look of contempt, which morphed into apprehension as Heechul walked up to him.
"You see," continued Heechul, standing so close as to be slightly unnerving, "there's a window that we want opening but we can’t get it open."
"A window?" repeated the man, and Heechul almost winced at the obvious lack of intelligence in his voice.
"Yes," purred Heechul, and lay a hand on the man's shoulder. "We're absolutely dying in there." And he smirked, looking at the man through his hair, and the man was following him dumbly back into the room, where he was greeted with Hankyung holding his gun to his forehead. The man reached quickly for his own weapon, but not fast enough, because the holder was empty, his gun being spun around in Heechul's hands.
The man then reached for the walkie-talkie on his lapel, but the click of the trigger priming and Heechul's cheerful "I wouldn't do that if I were you," stopped him, and then Heechul reached forward and removed the temptation from the man's path.
"Okay," said Heechul, coming to stand beside Hankyung. He swept his jacket back to give the man a clear view of his own gun, even as he continued to twirl the other in his hand. "We're here to see someone. We don't have an appointment, but I don't think he'll mind. Take us to Choi Siwon's room."
Heechul wasn't happy that they now had to trust a man of questionable intelligence to guide them to that room, and not to a room full of Choi members, but, as Hankyung muttered to him as they followed, they really couldn't do anything else. There were certain parts of this venture that were simply out of their hands, and probably relied more on sheer luck than anyone was willing to acknowledge.
The only consolations, in Heechul's mind, was that he felt himself to be lucky by nature, and that, knowing how self-serving the Choi family was, the man in front of him probably valued his own life over any duty to his family.
They stopped outside of a door, dark wood with gold inlay. "In here," muttered the man, nodding towards the door. Heechul nodded tensely.
"Key?" he asked.
"Doesn't need one," said the man. "The lock works so that it only doesn't open on the inside."
"That is just asking for someone to attempt this," said Heechul, amused, and then he reached out, turned the handle, and opened the door.
Siwon was on his bed, and he sat up when he heard the door opening, clothes rumpled and hair all over the place. He opened his mouth, scowling; and then stopped when he saw Heechul in the doorway, his scowl giving way to pure confusion.
"Hyung?" he asked.
"This is a rescue," said Heechul, smirking.
"And we are your rescuers," said Hankyung, grinning.
"You owe us so bad for this," added Heechul.
***
Kibum and Donghae, meanwhile, were being led down a main hall which opened onto a large room which had several doors leading off from it. The rooms seemed to be offices, although there were no ways of knowing; there were no plaques on the outside of the doors. The two were told to sit down while they were announced to Sikyu.
"I supposed that makes sense," muttered Kibum to Donghae. "I mean, we didn't ring up in advance."
"Yeah," muttered Donghae tersely, but he didn't really seem to be listening. His hands gripped his knees as he looked around himself, staring at the faces of everyone intently, just long enough so to escape being rude. Kibum watched him for a couple of seconds in silence, before he tried to distract him.
"I wonder how Heechul and Hankyung are getting on," he said quietly.
"They'll be fine," muttered Donghae, finally looking away from the Choi members in front of them. "Hankyung won't let Heechul do anything stupid."
"I hope you're right," said Kibum, and was about to say more when the man who had disappeared into one of the rooms emerged, and motioned for them to come forward.
"Kim Kibum," sneered Sikyu as Kibum and Donghae entered the room. "They send the heir-but-one to talk to me. Unbelievable. It's a disgrace and an offence, and you can tell-"
He broke off as he spotted Donghae, voice trailing into nothing. Kibum glanced back at Donghae to find him white, eyes suddenly terrified, and he took an involuntary step backwards. Kibum looked back at Sikyu to find him triumphant, and when he spoke, his voice was almost a purr.
"Lee Donghae," he said, with a curl of his upper lip. "Well, I have missed you."
Fandom: Super Junior AU (Mafia)
Pairings: Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul (Hankyung/Heechul), Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk, Tablo/Eunhyuk
Pairings in Chapter: Hankyung/Heechul, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi
Word Count: 3,247
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Kim family and the Choi family are the two oldest families in Seoul: where other families have been born, grown, and then fell apart, they remain strong. Unfortunately, they are mortal enemies, and where one lives alongside the law, the other is beyond any control. It's up to the new generation of members to destroy the violence between them - even if it means destroying one family in the process.
A/N: I am getting past my plot holes using technology :DDDD
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
“Hyuk?” Donghae peeked around the edge of Eunhyuk’s bedroom door to find his cousin sitting on his bed, his two suitcases open around him as he just looked helplessly at them. Donghae stepped inside. “Are you okay?”
Eunhyuk looked up at him, looking completely confused. “Donghae?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Donghae, and then laughed uncomfortably. “Of course it’s me.”
“Oh,” said Eunhyuk softly, and pulled something from his suitcase before he dropped it onto the bed next to him. “Why?” he asked, without looking at Donghae.
“Hmm?” Donghae sat down on the bed, and picked up one of Eunhyuk’s t-shirts.
“Why are you here?”
“To see if you needed help unpacking.”
“No!” Eunhyuk seemed increasingly desperate. “That’s not what I mean. I mean. Why are you still here?”
Donghae was quiet for a minute, twisting the material of Eunhyuk’s shirt between his fingers. “Because you’re my cousin,” he said finally.
Eunhyuk laughed like he was on the verge of tears. “And I betrayed everything that we had,” he said.
Donghae didn’t say anything to that; there was nothing he could say. “I don’t know why I did it,” whispered Eunhyuk. “I just - I panicked, I think.”
"I don't think anyone is going to-" Donghae broke off, and struggled to find the right words. "Everyone has had a moment where they panicked, and I think everyone has already forgiven you in the light of the story."
Donghae was, to some extent, correct. Most of the family had been informed of what had happened, and most had already worked through their personal demons when it came to the affair. For those who were planning a rescue attempt, the betrayal was perhaps a little too close for comfort. They felt the hypocrisy of condemning Eunhyuk for something that they were about to do themselves; Heechul was particularly snappish when it came to interacting with Eunhyuk, but while that was put down to an enduring anger, in reality he was just fighting back against his own guilty feelings.
Donghae waited in fear for Kibum to go to Eeteuk or Kangin with the knowledge he had overheard, but it never happened. Kibum simply never brought the subject up again. Donghae never spoke to Hankyung or Heechul or Zhou Mi about what Kibum had found out, and the day before they were set to carry out their plan, it seemed that nothing was going to happen.
"I'm not happy with this," announced Heechul.
"You never are," said Hankyung, exasperated.
"It's just stupid," said Heechul. "Hankyung and Zhou Mi are targets one and two for the Choi family. If both of them come into the household, it'll just be like handing them over on a silver platter."
"What else are we supposed to do?" asked Hankyung. "Zhou Mi needs to go with you to see Sikyu, you can't go see him by yourself, that's more of a suicide than the both of us going into the house. And Donghae will need me to help get Siwon out of there."
"And it's not like Hankyung-hyung can go by himself," said Donghae. "As soon as he speaks they'll realise. They need us so they can stay quiet."
No one had heard the door open, too busy in their argument, so they jumped when Kibum's voice said, "Maybe, in that case, you need another person in the group."
"What the fuck?" hissed Heechul. "Kibum, what are you doing?"
Kibum shrugged. "Eavesdropping," he said. "I have been doing so on every one of these meetings."
"If you weren't my brother, I'd fucking kill you," said Heechul.
"I've heard what you're going to do," said Kibum. "And-"
"If you say you're going to turn us in," interrupted Heechul, "I will actually kill you. They'll never find the body."
"And I want in," finished Kibum.
There was stunned silence throughout the room; Donghae was the first to speak. "You want in?" he repeated, incredulous. "You mean - you want to help us?"
"Yes," said Kibum. "I've thought about it, and I-" He turned to face Heechul. "I know what Siwon meant to you, hyung, and I want you to be able to get your answers."
"You are not that compassionate, Kibum," said Heechul, amused in spite of the situation.
"Fine," said Kibum. "I have some questions, and I think that I might be able to find the answers at the Choi house."
Heechul nodded; although none of the others probably knew what Kibum had meant, Heechul hadn't missed the way Kibum's eyes had flickered over to Donghae as he spoke. Perhaps Kibum could find the answers to something that remained a mystery to them all.
Kibum sat down at the table, ignoring the way the others looked at him with still suspicion. "I've been thinking about this," he said. "And I think I know where the plan can be improved."
"Improved?" Heechul looked unconvinced. It was impossible to see if Donghae was offended, as he was staring at the floor, face in shadow.
"Before you had an even number of people, and that could have been a problem. Sending the heir into the building, letting them know that hyung is the heir, it could be disastrous. It needs to be changed."
"Heechul won't stay behind," said Hankyung, as Heechul seemed too annoyed at the prospect to actually speak.
"I'm not saying that," said Kibum. "Send me to see Sikyu instead, I'll go with Hankyung, Heechul can go with Donghae to get Siwon, and Zhou Mi can stay in the van, so we can make a quick get-away."
"Get-away driver?" Zhou Mi sighed. "Just give me the boring job."
"Boring, but it will keep you safe," said Kibum. "Hankyung-hyung is better at fighting than you, and we'll need someone to get us away quickly. It won't take long for the Choi family to realise what's going on, and we'll need to get onto our territory as soon as we possibly can afterwards."
Heechul was staring at Kibum in shock. "You've really been thinking this through, haven't you?" he asked. Kibum nodded seriously.
"I want to go with you," said Donghae, suddenly and impulsively. "I want to go with Kibum to see Choi Sikyu."
There was silence in the room again, before Hankyung said, in an uncertain tone; "You want to go with Kibum?"
"Yes," said Donghae. "This way, you get to go with Heechul to see Siwon."
This prospect was too much for Hankyung to fight against, and so it was decided that Donghae and Kibum would go see Sikyu on the pretence of talking about what was happening with Siwon, while Heechul and Hankyung somehow found their way to where Siwon was being held, and Zhou Mi waited for them in the van. Zhou Mi wasn't too happy still, but the earnest pleading from Hankyung, and the scorn from Heechul was enough to convince him to do it.
"We haven't thought about what will happen afterwards," said Heechul that night, voice muffled as he pressed his face to the pillow. Hankyung, lying on his back, was silent for a minute.
"There's no way of knowing," he said.
"At least if it goes wrong, we'll have him," said Heechul.
So much relied on Siwon being who they thought he was, that Hankyung could do nothing but reach out and take Heechul's hand and hope.
***
Zhou Mi sat in the van, tapping his foot nervously against the floor, trying to ignore all the feelings rushing around his head. It had now been almost a week since he had fallen out with Kyuhyun - and he had to think of it as a falling out, couldn't bear to consider it a break up, because that seemed to suggest something permanent, and Zhou Mi couldn't live with that.
Kyuhyun had practically stopped talking to him, only acknowledging his presence with the barest civility. He refused to go on any jobs with Zhou Mi, and while he hadn't gone to Eeteuk, he still glared at Zhou Mi whenever he saw him with Donghae or Heechul. Zhou Mi couldn't help but feel that Kyuhyun thought he would yield in the face of this behaviour, and even though Zhou Mi hated the separation, he was fiercely determined to not give up.
"He should have trusted me," he muttered in Chinese, chin pressed to the steering wheel.
"What?" asked Heechul, climbing into the back of the van. "First sign of madness, Seasoning."
"I'm going mad with waiting," said Zhou Mi, smiling slightly at Heechul in the rear mirror, and Heechul snorted and checked that his gun was in working order one last time, as Donghae climbed in next to him, followed by Kibum and Hankyung - and they were finally ready to leave.
It was with some apprehension that Zhou Mi pulled out of the drive and out of the gates at the bottom. Of the party, only two had ever been into the Choi estate previously, and of those, Heechul had only ever been to one of the meeting rooms, and Donghae refused to account for how much of the estate he actually knew. They were about to go into the unknown, and suddenly Zhou Mi regretted the argument, that he hadn't been able to explain why this was so important to Kyuhyun, hadn't been able to apologise and let Kyuhyun know how important he was.
Zhou Mi couldn't help it; a dark foreboding had come over him, and as he drove down the road leading from the Kim estate, he regretted the argument so deeply that he shocked himself in finding that he was thinking that he wasn't going to return at all.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then had to slam the brakes on as Kyuhyun stepped out of the path straight in front of the car, calm and collected. Zhou Mi jerked forward with the force; in the back, Heechul almost fell off his chair and had to be caught by Hankyung.
"What the fuck, Seasoning!" he shrieked. "What are you doing?"
"Kyuhyun," was all Zhou Mi could say.
"Huh?" Heechul looked over the seats out of the windscreen, and frowned. "Huh. What's he doing in the middle of the road, the moron. Just drive around him."
"But I-"
Kyuhyun strode up to the van then, pulled open the passenger seat and clambered in. "For God's sake," he said. "Honestly, I cannot leave you alone for more than five minutes without you wandering off to get yourself killed without me."
"What?" asked Zhou Mi, completely confused. There was silence from the back.
"Like I'd actually let you go to the Choi estate without me," said Kyuhyun. "Honestly, do you take me for someone completely retarded? You would die without me there to stop you from wandering in front of stray bullets, seriously."
"I am so confused," came Heechul's voice, annoyed.
"Whatever," said Kyuhyun. "Look, just drive, okay?"
"You're coming with us?" asked Zhou Mi, a smile beginning to form on his face. Kyuhyun avoided his eyes.
"Of course," he said. "If it's that important to you, then it should be important to me, too, right?"
"Oh my god," said Heechul. "Fuck, Seasoning, just drive before I throw up."
Zhou Mi, grinning widely, pulled away again.
The Choi estate was built on a similar basis to the Kim estate, but with a larger house and smaller grounds. It was also built directly in the middle of their area, surrounded on each side with the houses of their corrupt benefactors, and so had less of a run up compared to the Kim estate, which was built slightly back off a main road.
The unnecessary technology that the Choi family had built into their house was to prove to suit the purpose of those from the Kim family bent on rescue. Their gates were partially automatic: once a registration number of a car was allowed through, the sensor worked to recognise it and open the gates automatically on the way back. Getting through the gates proved to be easier than previously supposed; it appeared that the Choi family had been expecting something like a deputation, and they were greeted as they pulled up in front of the house by three members who, although they looked hostile, at least didn't draw their guns.
Kibum, Donghae, Heechul and Hankyung clambered out, the latter two drawing back as if deferring to Kibum and Donghae; it was enough to stop Heechul from getting recognised, and anyone from looking too carefully at Hankyung. Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun, waiting in the van, could hear nothing, and were forced to watch as greetings were passed, and then the four walked up the stairs and disappeared into the house.
"And now we wait," sighed Kyuhyun, leaning back heavily against his seat.
"We wait," echoed Zhou Mi, trying to ignore the dark feeling that still lay in his stomach. After a minute or so, he spoke again. “Why did you-”
“I’m following you,” interrupted Kyuhyun. “I’m - I thought about it, and god, I’m an idiot. Why would I - I know you, don’t I? I know that you wouldn’t be willing to give up on - us - without there being a good reason.”
“I can’t live without knowing.”
“It’s driving me mad too,” said Kyuhyun, and for the first time in too long he smiled at Zhou Mi. He leant forward and kissed him softly, before he pulled back and settled back down. “I think I’ll sleep,” he said.
“What was that about protecting me?” asked Zhou Mi, amused.
***
The four who had been led into the house were separated almost as soon as they walked in the door. Kibum, acting as the most superior of the family, was taken to see Choi Sikyu, and nothing was said against his taking Donghae with him, it seemed almost obvious that he would not go by himself. Heechul and Hankyung were taken down a corridor - "They're going to kill us," muttered Heechul and was given a reproachful look from Hankyung, which gained a smirk in reply - and into a meeting room. There, they were left, but Heechul, after opening the door a little, announced that there was guard outside.
"Well, we can't go roaming the estate like we wanted," said Hankyung. "We never really thought we could though, did we?"
"It would have been nice," said Heechul.
"Now," said Hankyung. "Plan B?"
"Let's do it," said Heechul, and cocked the trigger on his gun. Then, slipping it into his pocket where it couldn't be seen, he opened the door and stepped out.
"Hi," he said to the guy on duty. "Can you help us with something?"
The man, tall and well-built, had a look of arrogance around him, and Heechul had quickly come up with something that he thought would work. The man gave him a look of contempt, which morphed into apprehension as Heechul walked up to him.
"You see," continued Heechul, standing so close as to be slightly unnerving, "there's a window that we want opening but we can’t get it open."
"A window?" repeated the man, and Heechul almost winced at the obvious lack of intelligence in his voice.
"Yes," purred Heechul, and lay a hand on the man's shoulder. "We're absolutely dying in there." And he smirked, looking at the man through his hair, and the man was following him dumbly back into the room, where he was greeted with Hankyung holding his gun to his forehead. The man reached quickly for his own weapon, but not fast enough, because the holder was empty, his gun being spun around in Heechul's hands.
The man then reached for the walkie-talkie on his lapel, but the click of the trigger priming and Heechul's cheerful "I wouldn't do that if I were you," stopped him, and then Heechul reached forward and removed the temptation from the man's path.
"Okay," said Heechul, coming to stand beside Hankyung. He swept his jacket back to give the man a clear view of his own gun, even as he continued to twirl the other in his hand. "We're here to see someone. We don't have an appointment, but I don't think he'll mind. Take us to Choi Siwon's room."
Heechul wasn't happy that they now had to trust a man of questionable intelligence to guide them to that room, and not to a room full of Choi members, but, as Hankyung muttered to him as they followed, they really couldn't do anything else. There were certain parts of this venture that were simply out of their hands, and probably relied more on sheer luck than anyone was willing to acknowledge.
The only consolations, in Heechul's mind, was that he felt himself to be lucky by nature, and that, knowing how self-serving the Choi family was, the man in front of him probably valued his own life over any duty to his family.
They stopped outside of a door, dark wood with gold inlay. "In here," muttered the man, nodding towards the door. Heechul nodded tensely.
"Key?" he asked.
"Doesn't need one," said the man. "The lock works so that it only doesn't open on the inside."
"That is just asking for someone to attempt this," said Heechul, amused, and then he reached out, turned the handle, and opened the door.
Siwon was on his bed, and he sat up when he heard the door opening, clothes rumpled and hair all over the place. He opened his mouth, scowling; and then stopped when he saw Heechul in the doorway, his scowl giving way to pure confusion.
"Hyung?" he asked.
"This is a rescue," said Heechul, smirking.
"And we are your rescuers," said Hankyung, grinning.
"You owe us so bad for this," added Heechul.
***
Kibum and Donghae, meanwhile, were being led down a main hall which opened onto a large room which had several doors leading off from it. The rooms seemed to be offices, although there were no ways of knowing; there were no plaques on the outside of the doors. The two were told to sit down while they were announced to Sikyu.
"I supposed that makes sense," muttered Kibum to Donghae. "I mean, we didn't ring up in advance."
"Yeah," muttered Donghae tersely, but he didn't really seem to be listening. His hands gripped his knees as he looked around himself, staring at the faces of everyone intently, just long enough so to escape being rude. Kibum watched him for a couple of seconds in silence, before he tried to distract him.
"I wonder how Heechul and Hankyung are getting on," he said quietly.
"They'll be fine," muttered Donghae, finally looking away from the Choi members in front of them. "Hankyung won't let Heechul do anything stupid."
"I hope you're right," said Kibum, and was about to say more when the man who had disappeared into one of the rooms emerged, and motioned for them to come forward.
"Kim Kibum," sneered Sikyu as Kibum and Donghae entered the room. "They send the heir-but-one to talk to me. Unbelievable. It's a disgrace and an offence, and you can tell-"
He broke off as he spotted Donghae, voice trailing into nothing. Kibum glanced back at Donghae to find him white, eyes suddenly terrified, and he took an involuntary step backwards. Kibum looked back at Sikyu to find him triumphant, and when he spoke, his voice was almost a purr.
"Lee Donghae," he said, with a curl of his upper lip. "Well, I have missed you."