[TEKKEN] The Safehouse
Title: The Safehouse
Author: Merci
Source: Tekken
Characters: Hwoarang, Jin, Lars, Lee
Summary: Old rivalries die hard, and sometimes they change into something new.
Disclaimer: I am making no profit from this fanfiction. I do not own Hwoarang, Jin, Lars, Lee or anything Tekken
The Safehouse
Hwoarang started awake, his back protesting the change in position as he shifted in his chair.
Did he fall asleep? He looked around the room. He was still alone in the same glass and steel room fifth floors somewhere above the city.
Well, he wasn’t entirely alone.
His gaze fell to the bed he’d been sleeping against for hours. That man laid unconscious before him, painfully vulnerable. A hot tightness spread through him and took hold in his throat as he looked at the resting features of his favourite opponent.
No, that didn’t feel right. When had he stopped thinking of Jin as his enemy? Maybe it was when he realized he was the only one who saw their relationship in that way.
Wait, no. Relationship?
Well, maybe it was that.
There was something that had compelled him to search and fight until he finally knocked on Lee’s door and demanded to see Jin.
He raised his hand to his face and lightly touched the bandages there. He’d barely sought treatment for his own injuries. Shouldn’t he be in pain? It didn’t hurt. Was that bad? He poked experimentally and then pulled away. “How’d you get into this mess, you bastard?” Hwoarang breathed. “A grenade?”
His mind conjured up a scene from years earlier involving him, Jin and rocket launcher in a parking garage. He touched Jin’s arm and started laughing. “It was never going to be flowers and chocolates, was it?”
He stood and stretched as he walked to the window. So how did it get like this? It was always fists and fighting, but then he’d managed to tug a smile from Jin’s lips - he didn’t even remember what he’d done, but there it was. It was gone in a moment, but that rare image was seared into his mind. It made him feel special… and he wanted more.
He couldn’t explain it. He’d been gripped by a need to… what, make him smile more? Get those precious intimate gestures all for himself? Hoard them like a dragon on a bed of smiles and sighs and gentle touches and…
Hwoarang shook his head to get rid of the sappy thought as those feelings turned to worry. Now he didn’t know if he’d have another chance.
+++
Somewhere on the other side of the glass, Lars observed the scene with confusion. “I don’t get it, he’s Jin’s rival and you just let him in here the moment he knocks on your door?”
Lee shrugged lightly and laughed. “I let you in, didn’t I?”
“You should rename this place to Lee’s Home for Wayward Enemies of Kazuya,” or something, Lars grumbled. “I don’t see how he’ll help us.”
“He’ll help us by protecting Jin, thereby freeing up some my resources to focus on other priorities,” Lee laughed before turning and walking away, his footsteps echoing down the hallway as he left.
Lars stayed behind to continue watching. His gut told him that Hwoarang could be trusted, but he wouldn’t leave something this important to just a feeling.
+++
Hwoarang paced the room for ten full rotations before returning to the bed. Jin remained placid and unimpressed by Hwoarang’s efforts. His eyes combed over Jin’s body, looking for something that the doctors might have missed. Something he could do.
He hated not doing anything.
“I hate not doing anything, you know,” he finally said aloud. “You’re so annoying, making me stay here in this room. Oh sure, you’d probably tell me ‘There’s no need to stay here,” Hwoarang did his best impression of Jin’s calm and low voice. “But that’s just it, you… you… I don’t have anywhere else I want to be. So I’m going to keep talking to you until you wake up and tell me to shut up.”
Jin’s eyes remained closed. It was eerie. The normal movement of the eyes during sleep was absent, adding to Jin’s corpse-like appearance. Hwoarang clenched his fist as that hot tightness in his throat turned to cold fear. No, it was stupid. Lee wouldn’t keep Jin here if he couldn’t be saved. Right?
“Ok, I’ll tell you a joke, then. Hmm… ok, two muffins are sitting in an oven. One of them says, ‘it’s pretty hot in here!’,” he paused, as if waiting for Jin to wonder at the punchline, “and the other one shouts, ‘Holy shit! A talking muffin!’” He watched for any reaction as he laughed lightly and then stopped. He felt so alone.
“Hey hey,” Lars said lightly as he popped in from the open door. “How is he doing?”
“Shit!” Hwoarang cursed, angrily wiping at his face and then glaring. “What do you want?”
“You can’t tell jokes like that too someone who can’t answer,” Lars gestured to the bed.
“Yeah? Well, what do you know?”
Lars looked hard at Hwoarang. “What do you get when you combine a rhetorical question and a joke?”
Hwoarang frowned. “I don’t know.”
Lars raised his eyebrows.
“Well, what do you get?” Hwoarang asked, a little more forcefully.
Lars’ shoulders sank, “Nevermind. It’s not good to tell jokes to unconscious people. So tell me why you’re really here? Lee says you can be trusted, but all I’ve seen you do is chase Jin to fight him. But then I find out that you took a grenade for him, so… there’s more to it.”
“No, I just like fighting, and he’s a good fighting partner,” Hwoarang huffed.
Lars looked at Jin’s body and then back at Hwoarang, seeming to consider something before seeming to understand something and then relax his stance. “I’m sure he would make a good partner.”
Hwoarang tightened his fist. “What do you want?”
“You’ve been in here for two days. Do you want to eat something?”
“I’ll be fine,” Hwoarang grunted, “well, maybe… where’s the bathroom?”
Lars’ face broke out into a smile. “It’s… uhh…”
“It’s down the hall by the elevators,” Lee announced in as he appeared in the doorway with Alisa following behind. “You should take better care of yourself if you’re going to stay here.”
“Please do not worry,” Alisa piped up. “We will guard Jin while you take care of your needs.” She busied herself by checking the equipment around Jin’s bed.
“Alisa is correct,” Lee said with conviction. “I have also asked my staff to prepare some food for you, so please eat something. They will bring it up shortly.”
Hwoarang’s expression softened towards Lee and he nodded and all but ran out of the room, clearly in greater need of a washroom than he’d let on.
Lars frowned at how Hwoarang’s countenance had changed the moment he spoke with Lee. “Why does he like you?” Lars inquired. “Did you know him from before?”
“No, I just met him the other day, but we move in some of the same circles. I feel a… kinship with him, as one of the only other non-Mishima-blooded people who continues to embroil themselves in this mess.”
Lars’ jaw clenched. He wasn’t used to being judged for his blood like this.
Lee sighed and patted him gently. “I’m sorry. I know your situation is complicated. If it helps, I consider you an honourary non-Mishima. You are quite engaging when you want to be.”
Lars’ cheeks felt hot as he said that. Is this why Kazuya hated Lee so much, because he knew how to push his buttons?
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Lars, I thought you’d agreed to help me anger Kazuya?”
“Y-yes, I did. I just… wait, did you release the video yet?”
“I sent it to him this morning.”
“Y-you what? So soon?”
“Well, I didn’t get him a birthday gift this year - not since we were… closer - so I wanted to send him something to make up for it.” His phone pinged in his pocket. Lee smiled widely and ignored it. “It sounds like he just finished watching.”
Lars buried his face in his hand. “Oh wow, this… this is happening.”
Hwoarang returned just as Lee finished laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“Lee is laughing at his own jokes,” Lars grumbled.
“I believe Lee and Lars are sending Kazuya birthday gifts,” Alisa piped up, returning to the doorway.
Lee laughed loudly as he grabbed Lars’ shoulder and pulled him in for a side hug. Lars didn’t resist.
Hwoarang all-but-rushed to Jin’s bedside and touched his arm. He was warm. He breathed a sigh of relief.
There was quiet for a moment and Hwoarang focused on the feeling under his touch, the quiet pulse continued to throb under the pads of his fingers. Jin continued to live. Now he just had to wake up.
“Oi, Kazama! Don’t make me wait forever.” He tightened his grip and resisted the urge to collapse into the chair again. He braced himself on the bed and leaned heavily over Jin.
“He cannot wake until the necessary repairs have be-” Alisa’s speech halted and she stiffened, her head turning back towards the windows, “Multiple enemies detected!” she announced.
Lars and Lee sprang into action, always ready for a fight. “Maybe you shouldn’t have sent that to Kazuya?” Lars commented.
“Ah, it’s a shame. He always had such a hair trigger,” Lee shrugged.
Lars rushed out the door, pausing only briefly as he understood the statement and then continuing out the door. “Let’s go!”
Hwoarang’s grip tightened on Jin’s arm. He couldn’t leave.
Lee appeared at his side and touched his shoulder. “You stay here. I know you’ve sacrificed a lot for him. I need you to protect him a little bit longer,” he squeezed firmly and then let go. “I have a plan. Be ready!” and he ran out the door.
Hwoarang’s grip loosened slightly as he released a breath. “That guy… is so annoying,” Hwoarang said, looking at Jin’s face. “Is he always that confident?”
There was no reply.
And so they waited.
It didn’t take long. He could hear gunfire and explosions outside, and they steadily got louder. They were coming.
Hwoarang took one last look at Jin, hesitating, as if he wanted to do something meaningful if this was his last stand. No, this wasn’t the end, there would be more time. There had to be.
He moved in front of the bed, ready to anihalate whoever was foolish enough to enter.
After all, Jin was his, and he’d kill anyone who tried to take his place as his… partner.
Author: Merci
Source: Tekken
Characters: Hwoarang, Jin, Lars, Lee
Summary: Old rivalries die hard, and sometimes they change into something new.
Disclaimer: I am making no profit from this fanfiction. I do not own Hwoarang, Jin, Lars, Lee or anything Tekken
The Safehouse
Hwoarang started awake, his back protesting the change in position as he shifted in his chair.
Did he fall asleep? He looked around the room. He was still alone in the same glass and steel room fifth floors somewhere above the city.
Well, he wasn’t entirely alone.
His gaze fell to the bed he’d been sleeping against for hours. That man laid unconscious before him, painfully vulnerable. A hot tightness spread through him and took hold in his throat as he looked at the resting features of his favourite opponent.
No, that didn’t feel right. When had he stopped thinking of Jin as his enemy? Maybe it was when he realized he was the only one who saw their relationship in that way.
Wait, no. Relationship?
Well, maybe it was that.
There was something that had compelled him to search and fight until he finally knocked on Lee’s door and demanded to see Jin.
He raised his hand to his face and lightly touched the bandages there. He’d barely sought treatment for his own injuries. Shouldn’t he be in pain? It didn’t hurt. Was that bad? He poked experimentally and then pulled away. “How’d you get into this mess, you bastard?” Hwoarang breathed. “A grenade?”
His mind conjured up a scene from years earlier involving him, Jin and rocket launcher in a parking garage. He touched Jin’s arm and started laughing. “It was never going to be flowers and chocolates, was it?”
He stood and stretched as he walked to the window. So how did it get like this? It was always fists and fighting, but then he’d managed to tug a smile from Jin’s lips - he didn’t even remember what he’d done, but there it was. It was gone in a moment, but that rare image was seared into his mind. It made him feel special… and he wanted more.
He couldn’t explain it. He’d been gripped by a need to… what, make him smile more? Get those precious intimate gestures all for himself? Hoard them like a dragon on a bed of smiles and sighs and gentle touches and…
Hwoarang shook his head to get rid of the sappy thought as those feelings turned to worry. Now he didn’t know if he’d have another chance.
+++
Somewhere on the other side of the glass, Lars observed the scene with confusion. “I don’t get it, he’s Jin’s rival and you just let him in here the moment he knocks on your door?”
Lee shrugged lightly and laughed. “I let you in, didn’t I?”
“You should rename this place to Lee’s Home for Wayward Enemies of Kazuya,” or something, Lars grumbled. “I don’t see how he’ll help us.”
“He’ll help us by protecting Jin, thereby freeing up some my resources to focus on other priorities,” Lee laughed before turning and walking away, his footsteps echoing down the hallway as he left.
Lars stayed behind to continue watching. His gut told him that Hwoarang could be trusted, but he wouldn’t leave something this important to just a feeling.
+++
Hwoarang paced the room for ten full rotations before returning to the bed. Jin remained placid and unimpressed by Hwoarang’s efforts. His eyes combed over Jin’s body, looking for something that the doctors might have missed. Something he could do.
He hated not doing anything.
“I hate not doing anything, you know,” he finally said aloud. “You’re so annoying, making me stay here in this room. Oh sure, you’d probably tell me ‘There’s no need to stay here,” Hwoarang did his best impression of Jin’s calm and low voice. “But that’s just it, you… you… I don’t have anywhere else I want to be. So I’m going to keep talking to you until you wake up and tell me to shut up.”
Jin’s eyes remained closed. It was eerie. The normal movement of the eyes during sleep was absent, adding to Jin’s corpse-like appearance. Hwoarang clenched his fist as that hot tightness in his throat turned to cold fear. No, it was stupid. Lee wouldn’t keep Jin here if he couldn’t be saved. Right?
“Ok, I’ll tell you a joke, then. Hmm… ok, two muffins are sitting in an oven. One of them says, ‘it’s pretty hot in here!’,” he paused, as if waiting for Jin to wonder at the punchline, “and the other one shouts, ‘Holy shit! A talking muffin!’” He watched for any reaction as he laughed lightly and then stopped. He felt so alone.
“Hey hey,” Lars said lightly as he popped in from the open door. “How is he doing?”
“Shit!” Hwoarang cursed, angrily wiping at his face and then glaring. “What do you want?”
“You can’t tell jokes like that too someone who can’t answer,” Lars gestured to the bed.
“Yeah? Well, what do you know?”
Lars looked hard at Hwoarang. “What do you get when you combine a rhetorical question and a joke?”
Hwoarang frowned. “I don’t know.”
Lars raised his eyebrows.
“Well, what do you get?” Hwoarang asked, a little more forcefully.
Lars’ shoulders sank, “Nevermind. It’s not good to tell jokes to unconscious people. So tell me why you’re really here? Lee says you can be trusted, but all I’ve seen you do is chase Jin to fight him. But then I find out that you took a grenade for him, so… there’s more to it.”
“No, I just like fighting, and he’s a good fighting partner,” Hwoarang huffed.
Lars looked at Jin’s body and then back at Hwoarang, seeming to consider something before seeming to understand something and then relax his stance. “I’m sure he would make a good partner.”
Hwoarang tightened his fist. “What do you want?”
“You’ve been in here for two days. Do you want to eat something?”
“I’ll be fine,” Hwoarang grunted, “well, maybe… where’s the bathroom?”
Lars’ face broke out into a smile. “It’s… uhh…”
“It’s down the hall by the elevators,” Lee announced in as he appeared in the doorway with Alisa following behind. “You should take better care of yourself if you’re going to stay here.”
“Please do not worry,” Alisa piped up. “We will guard Jin while you take care of your needs.” She busied herself by checking the equipment around Jin’s bed.
“Alisa is correct,” Lee said with conviction. “I have also asked my staff to prepare some food for you, so please eat something. They will bring it up shortly.”
Hwoarang’s expression softened towards Lee and he nodded and all but ran out of the room, clearly in greater need of a washroom than he’d let on.
Lars frowned at how Hwoarang’s countenance had changed the moment he spoke with Lee. “Why does he like you?” Lars inquired. “Did you know him from before?”
“No, I just met him the other day, but we move in some of the same circles. I feel a… kinship with him, as one of the only other non-Mishima-blooded people who continues to embroil themselves in this mess.”
Lars’ jaw clenched. He wasn’t used to being judged for his blood like this.
Lee sighed and patted him gently. “I’m sorry. I know your situation is complicated. If it helps, I consider you an honourary non-Mishima. You are quite engaging when you want to be.”
Lars’ cheeks felt hot as he said that. Is this why Kazuya hated Lee so much, because he knew how to push his buttons?
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Lars, I thought you’d agreed to help me anger Kazuya?”
“Y-yes, I did. I just… wait, did you release the video yet?”
“I sent it to him this morning.”
“Y-you what? So soon?”
“Well, I didn’t get him a birthday gift this year - not since we were… closer - so I wanted to send him something to make up for it.” His phone pinged in his pocket. Lee smiled widely and ignored it. “It sounds like he just finished watching.”
Lars buried his face in his hand. “Oh wow, this… this is happening.”
Hwoarang returned just as Lee finished laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“Lee is laughing at his own jokes,” Lars grumbled.
“I believe Lee and Lars are sending Kazuya birthday gifts,” Alisa piped up, returning to the doorway.
Lee laughed loudly as he grabbed Lars’ shoulder and pulled him in for a side hug. Lars didn’t resist.
Hwoarang all-but-rushed to Jin’s bedside and touched his arm. He was warm. He breathed a sigh of relief.
There was quiet for a moment and Hwoarang focused on the feeling under his touch, the quiet pulse continued to throb under the pads of his fingers. Jin continued to live. Now he just had to wake up.
“Oi, Kazama! Don’t make me wait forever.” He tightened his grip and resisted the urge to collapse into the chair again. He braced himself on the bed and leaned heavily over Jin.
“He cannot wake until the necessary repairs have be-” Alisa’s speech halted and she stiffened, her head turning back towards the windows, “Multiple enemies detected!” she announced.
Lars and Lee sprang into action, always ready for a fight. “Maybe you shouldn’t have sent that to Kazuya?” Lars commented.
“Ah, it’s a shame. He always had such a hair trigger,” Lee shrugged.
Lars rushed out the door, pausing only briefly as he understood the statement and then continuing out the door. “Let’s go!”
Hwoarang’s grip tightened on Jin’s arm. He couldn’t leave.
Lee appeared at his side and touched his shoulder. “You stay here. I know you’ve sacrificed a lot for him. I need you to protect him a little bit longer,” he squeezed firmly and then let go. “I have a plan. Be ready!” and he ran out the door.
Hwoarang’s grip loosened slightly as he released a breath. “That guy… is so annoying,” Hwoarang said, looking at Jin’s face. “Is he always that confident?”
There was no reply.
And so they waited.
It didn’t take long. He could hear gunfire and explosions outside, and they steadily got louder. They were coming.
Hwoarang took one last look at Jin, hesitating, as if he wanted to do something meaningful if this was his last stand. No, this wasn’t the end, there would be more time. There had to be.
He moved in front of the bed, ready to anihalate whoever was foolish enough to enter.
After all, Jin was his, and he’d kill anyone who tried to take his place as his… partner.