[ vixx ] enthalpy
title: enthalpy
pairings: sanghyuk/hakyeon (nhyuk), wonsik/hongbin (rabin)
rating: pg-13 probably
summary: Hakyeon is the light of their lives, the warmth in their chests, the soul of their work, and sometimes it's hard to remember he's human too.
length: ~2.5k
warnings: blood, gang violence, guns
a/n: i honestly just wrote this in an hour but i have a lot of muse for this gta au and im??? probably gonna write more bc i want to explore more things.........starts screamin softly.. thanks @ appia for screaming at me in my doc
Sanghyuk is no stranger to violence.
Of course that isn’t so surprising, considering his current place in life -- the youngest counterpart of the biggest crew in all of Haert, South Korea doesn’t just get brought in on looks and potential skill alone. His experience extends beyond the reach of the Black Stars, stretching even into the alleyways and crevices of the city and its outskirts, bathed in crimson and black and bodies stacked way too high to count on two hands.
He’d been picked up in the middle of a drug store robbery, both cold shaky hands wound around the pistol he trained on the cashier and mask off kilter with how quick he’d thrown it on from behind the stacks of chocolate bars. He was only halfway into his demand for the cash when there was a loud, strained groan from behind him, casual enough that he turned his head just slightly to see its source, completely befuddled.
The stranger was masked as well, reaching up to bring the white skull just up enough so his mouth was visible, teeth surprisingly white against the contrast of his tanned skin as he grinned and Sanghyuk’s hands stilled at the sight, “Guess I never thought to check with customers before to make sure they weren’t planning to rob the place, too. Wanna split the money?”
The situation was odd enough and Sanghyuk was thankful enough to not have gotten a bullet right in the back of his head right when he pulled his own gun that he agreed, and the cashier kicked into second gear to try and get everything in the bag even quicker, two barrels aimed at their head seemingly enough motivation to want things over quicker. Sanghyuk’d been planning on running on foot into the darkness and wait out the cops but his newfound partner had the bag of cash in hand and he seemed to have a different idea, climbing into a completely conspicuous, tricked out supercar and roaring the engine loud enough to drown out the gaining sirens.
Sanghyuk only stared for a few moments in unsurety before the man rolled down the window and shouted, amusement audible in his voice, “Hurry up and get in, kid, before I leave you here!” He didn’t need to be told twice.
It wasn’t so much his own decision to stick around as it was Hakyeon’s himself, because after losing the authorities they stopped at his apartment and the elder flopped right into bed with the cash in his arms, refusing to get up no matter how hard Sanghyuk shook him. He ended up having to stay the night on the floor and never really spent a night anywhere else afterwards, something stirring in him that told him shooting the person who’d given him a roof for the night was unethical, wrong, that someone who’s smile was so warm didn’t deserve the coldness of a bullet between the eyes..
Hakyeon was simultaneously like a parent and a child, bringing Sanghyuk in under his wing and teaching him the ins and outs of how he managed his crime and contacts and how he managed to keep alive and safe and advising the younger on how to do the same with himself. Yet at the same time he teased and responded to the jabs Sanghyuk gave him in the most childish way possible, the amount of jars Sanghyuk had to open for him and the number of ‘your moms’ he dropped piling into double digits within the first few days alone.
They worked well together, despite their difference in age, Sanghyuk generally being the collected and organized one during their small scale heists and Hakyeon taking the loose cannon end of things and often putting them in extra danger just for the sake of some stupid joke. Yet it put a bit of fun into things and Sanghyuk loved it, loved spending time with Hakyeon, loved the look in his eyes he got when they went on a beer run and the elder decided on the spot he wanted to rob them blind, loved the way his laugh rang loud over police sirens (and Sanghyuk’s screams) when he recklessly drove against the flow of traffic, loved the way he practically glowed when they got home safe and sound and celebrated, just the two of them, his warmth burning deep into Sanghyuk’s bones.
It was only when Sanghyuk asked why Hakyeon paid for such a big apartment that previously only held him that he brought someone else in, though the younger didn’t regret it at all. Taekwoon fit in just fine with the two of them and it helped having an extra eye on things in the field, a second gun out the window when they were fleeing. He never really asked where Taekwoon come from because it didn’t really matter too much to him, as long as he stayed loyal and didn’t hurt either of them, though Hakyeon did once tell him that the other had no other place to go.
The two of them still went out alone, still spent the most time together in the living room with their PS3, as Taekwoon tended to keep to himself just enough to give them enough privacy. (Though that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t come out often either, as part of the reason for Sanghyuk’s abs’ existence has to be how hard he laughed at the quips that came out of that quiet, devilish mouth. Hakyeon brought out more smiles in him than he seemed to realize and soon it wasn’t as hard to hold a proper conversation, wasn’t so rare to hear him speak even without being spoken to first.)
Wonsik and Hongbin showed up on the doorstep together and the place crowded quickly despite the fact that they stayed in in the same room, more voices and more laughter filling the empty corners of the apartment. By then the three of them had already considered trying to make an actual name for themselves, assert themselves as a proper crew and a force to be reckoned with in Haert, but the addition of the two newcomers had them holding off just a little bit.
Hongbin and Wonsik brought more destruction than Sanghyuk had ever seen before. If Hakyeon was fire then they were the matches, the lighters, the gasoline that had the three of them igniting together in a blaze so large Taekwoon and Sanghyuk often had their work cut out for them trying to douse the flames into something manageable.
Wonsik looked at Hongbin like he was the entire world and Hongbin looked the same way at destruction, demolition, the extra C4 he strapped to his belt, but when he looked at Wonsik his fire dimmed and softened the slightest bit but his smile only grew three sizes larger. They fit together nearly like puzzle pieces and entropy filled the spaces that didn’t quite fit, leading them into such disorder they sometimes lost track of it themselves.
Hakyeon was always there to pick up the pieces when Hongbin dipped too far into chaos and Wonsik too far into harmony and they clashed, always helped them meld back into the cohesive duo they’d arrived as. They were only the catalyst and he was the reaction and Sanghyuk watched as they branched away from each other, into further individuality, watched as Wonsik’s look of adoration spread from not only Hongbin but to Hakyeon, Taekwoon, even himself, watched as Hongbin’s attention diverted from his explosions to way they reflected off the faces of his friends.
Jaehwan was the last to join, walking right through the door without even knocking and right into Hakyeon’s outstretched hands. They’d known each other from pre-Sanghyuk days and the youngest couldn’t help it, jealousy dousing the flames Hakyeon usually left in his wake and ice creeping in from the corners every time he saw the two together.
It’s not until weeks later when he actually spends a day with Jaehwan, albeit reluctantly, that he sees his resentment is unfounded. The way the elder talks about Hakyeon is fond, he doesn’t say anything truly negative, but he describes the time they’d spent in their childhood and the things Hakyeon did for him Sanghyuk warms yet again. They’re friends but the years Sanghyuk has known Hakyeon hold merit just as much as the ones he’d spent with Jaehwan and when he breathes out into the cold air on the balcony his breath does not steam, the frost of his envy escaping in a fell swoop.
Hakyeon is crackling fire, Hakyeon is gentle heat, Hakyeon is smoldering coals, but most of all Hakyeon is home. He worms his way into the cracks in Sanghyuk’s exterior and burns holes in his lungs to cease his breathing whenever he’s around and Sanghyuk loves it, loves Hakyeon, and loves his crew.
When Hakyeon is snuffed out Sanghyuk is not expecting it. It feels like just the day before they’d been joking in the living room with everyone, chest a hearth with how bright the elder burns (“I still think we should have named the crew VIXX.” “That is the stupidest name I have ever heard, Hakyeon, we don’t even have voice, value, and visual, let alone do we have it in excelsis.”), but he steps into the safehouse and the atmosphere is so cold it’s hard to move.
“Hyung,” he murmurs, squinting in the near darkness until his eyes adjust to the minimal lighting and his breath all but disappears.
“Hyung,” repeats Sanghyuk, his voice even quieter as he steps over corpses, hesitant, toes sinking into the crimson on the floor before he crouches down next to his friend, hand just hovering over his back.
Hakyeon is on his knees and curled into himself, his flame smothered into nothingness and he radiates nothing at all, the air still around him even as he shakes with silent sobs. They rest like that a moment before he throws himself at Sanghyuk, skin cool to the touch and streaked with blood that is both his own and not his own.
He falls apart right there, his smile and his intensity and his great big heart all failing at keeping his edges taped together any longer and Sanghyuk has to hold all the pieces in his palms. He doesn’t think he has the fervor for this, doesn’t think his touch is searing enough to seal the glue holding Hakyeon together back into place, but he hugs the elder as hard as he can anyways, nose pressing into the smaller’s hair and arms circling him so tight it’s a surprise his circulation doesn’t cut off.
It’s unsure how long they sit there like that but by the time Hakyeon begins to warm and his breath starts to hiccup a little less, the light inside the warehouse has dimmed even further and it’s near impossible to see. They’re both covered in slowly drying blood but Sanghyuk helps Hakyeon into the car anyways and doesn’t bother thinking about the cleaning costs as he drives them home, slippery hands threaded tight together over the armrest.
They get home and everyone jumps up from the living room, expressions wound in worry and mouths opening to express the concern but Sanghyuk waves them off, feeling the elder tense beneath his arm and knowing he’s not quite ready yet. He knows they’re worrying where he disappeared to after their heist and he knows that at least two of them will have to be dispatched to clean up the mess left behind in the warehouse but now isn’t the time, isn’t the place to do it.
Hakyeon looks even smaller than usual sat in the bathroom and Sanghyuk is extra careful as he cleans the both of them, extra cautious when he slips the elder into bed, extra guarded when he sits at the edge of the mattress. He’s pulled down to lie beside and he holds his leader carefully around the shoulders even from beneath the blankets, lips pressed together.
It’s reminiscent of the first time they’d met, of him staying the night on the floor, and back then Sanghyuk had no idea of how much Hakyeon would come to mean to him. He thinks about the years they’ve worked together, been together, lived together, and he knows this was due. Hongbin breaks into bouts of carnage monthly and Wonsik often follows along and Taekwoon has been admittedly strung out to yell at one or all of them at some point and Jaehwan can disappear for weeks at a time and even Sanghyuk loses it sometimes, kills someone he shouldn’t, but Hakyeon has always remained steadfast and it’s only now Sanghyuk can see how bad that is.
Hakyeon is his light, his life, his love, but he takes him so for granted sometimes it’s hard to remember that they’re all part of the business, the crew, that they’re all affected by the death and the crime and the havoc. Hakyeon has burnt for so long and now only his ashes are left behind and really, they’re all left to blame for not noticing the lack of explosion beforehand and letting the fire churn and sizzle without climax but Sanghyuk refuses to believe that anyone is at fault but himself.
They’ve ran alongside each other for so long that he should have noticed, he should have known, he should have been able to do something to prevent the unneeded deaths of rival crew members. The blood is still caked beneath the other’s fingernails from where his hands wind into Sanghyuk’s jacket, the scent still in the air around them.
He’s not sure how long it’ll take for the drive within Hakyeon to spark again, for the look of loss in his eyes to curl back up into the flames he’s come to admire so much, but he presses his nose to the elder’s and he murmurs solid promises, cups his cheeks and tries to warm him the best he can, because Hakyeon does so much for so many people and it’s the least he can do to try and do the same for him.
Tomorrow they’ll shower (separately) and Sanghyuk will send Jaehwan and Wonsik to dispose of the bodies and bleach away the blood and then they’re going to talk, all of them, because he knows that they all care just as much and that Hakyeon needs all the support possible. He needs the reassurance that it’s ok to let go, to leave the responsibility elsewhere, to scream and yell and wave his fists and get his anger out before it builds up to a point where he loses control like this because there are going to be consequences for all those people turning up missing and he knows Hakyeon hates dealing with stuff like this.
But for now, he finds solace in the fact that Hakyeon is sleeping, snuffling quietly from within his arms, and when Sanghyuk presses his lips to the other’s forehead he knows that they’ll work through this together, because they’re family,
and that’s what family’s for.
pairings: sanghyuk/hakyeon (nhyuk), wonsik/hongbin (rabin)
rating: pg-13 probably
summary: Hakyeon is the light of their lives, the warmth in their chests, the soul of their work, and sometimes it's hard to remember he's human too.
length: ~2.5k
warnings: blood, gang violence, guns
a/n: i honestly just wrote this in an hour but i have a lot of muse for this gta au and im??? probably gonna write more bc i want to explore more things.........starts screamin softly.. thanks @ appia for screaming at me in my doc
Sanghyuk is no stranger to violence.
Of course that isn’t so surprising, considering his current place in life -- the youngest counterpart of the biggest crew in all of Haert, South Korea doesn’t just get brought in on looks and potential skill alone. His experience extends beyond the reach of the Black Stars, stretching even into the alleyways and crevices of the city and its outskirts, bathed in crimson and black and bodies stacked way too high to count on two hands.
He’d been picked up in the middle of a drug store robbery, both cold shaky hands wound around the pistol he trained on the cashier and mask off kilter with how quick he’d thrown it on from behind the stacks of chocolate bars. He was only halfway into his demand for the cash when there was a loud, strained groan from behind him, casual enough that he turned his head just slightly to see its source, completely befuddled.
The stranger was masked as well, reaching up to bring the white skull just up enough so his mouth was visible, teeth surprisingly white against the contrast of his tanned skin as he grinned and Sanghyuk’s hands stilled at the sight, “Guess I never thought to check with customers before to make sure they weren’t planning to rob the place, too. Wanna split the money?”
The situation was odd enough and Sanghyuk was thankful enough to not have gotten a bullet right in the back of his head right when he pulled his own gun that he agreed, and the cashier kicked into second gear to try and get everything in the bag even quicker, two barrels aimed at their head seemingly enough motivation to want things over quicker. Sanghyuk’d been planning on running on foot into the darkness and wait out the cops but his newfound partner had the bag of cash in hand and he seemed to have a different idea, climbing into a completely conspicuous, tricked out supercar and roaring the engine loud enough to drown out the gaining sirens.
Sanghyuk only stared for a few moments in unsurety before the man rolled down the window and shouted, amusement audible in his voice, “Hurry up and get in, kid, before I leave you here!” He didn’t need to be told twice.
It wasn’t so much his own decision to stick around as it was Hakyeon’s himself, because after losing the authorities they stopped at his apartment and the elder flopped right into bed with the cash in his arms, refusing to get up no matter how hard Sanghyuk shook him. He ended up having to stay the night on the floor and never really spent a night anywhere else afterwards, something stirring in him that told him shooting the person who’d given him a roof for the night was unethical, wrong, that someone who’s smile was so warm didn’t deserve the coldness of a bullet between the eyes..
Hakyeon was simultaneously like a parent and a child, bringing Sanghyuk in under his wing and teaching him the ins and outs of how he managed his crime and contacts and how he managed to keep alive and safe and advising the younger on how to do the same with himself. Yet at the same time he teased and responded to the jabs Sanghyuk gave him in the most childish way possible, the amount of jars Sanghyuk had to open for him and the number of ‘your moms’ he dropped piling into double digits within the first few days alone.
They worked well together, despite their difference in age, Sanghyuk generally being the collected and organized one during their small scale heists and Hakyeon taking the loose cannon end of things and often putting them in extra danger just for the sake of some stupid joke. Yet it put a bit of fun into things and Sanghyuk loved it, loved spending time with Hakyeon, loved the look in his eyes he got when they went on a beer run and the elder decided on the spot he wanted to rob them blind, loved the way his laugh rang loud over police sirens (and Sanghyuk’s screams) when he recklessly drove against the flow of traffic, loved the way he practically glowed when they got home safe and sound and celebrated, just the two of them, his warmth burning deep into Sanghyuk’s bones.
It was only when Sanghyuk asked why Hakyeon paid for such a big apartment that previously only held him that he brought someone else in, though the younger didn’t regret it at all. Taekwoon fit in just fine with the two of them and it helped having an extra eye on things in the field, a second gun out the window when they were fleeing. He never really asked where Taekwoon come from because it didn’t really matter too much to him, as long as he stayed loyal and didn’t hurt either of them, though Hakyeon did once tell him that the other had no other place to go.
The two of them still went out alone, still spent the most time together in the living room with their PS3, as Taekwoon tended to keep to himself just enough to give them enough privacy. (Though that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t come out often either, as part of the reason for Sanghyuk’s abs’ existence has to be how hard he laughed at the quips that came out of that quiet, devilish mouth. Hakyeon brought out more smiles in him than he seemed to realize and soon it wasn’t as hard to hold a proper conversation, wasn’t so rare to hear him speak even without being spoken to first.)
Wonsik and Hongbin showed up on the doorstep together and the place crowded quickly despite the fact that they stayed in in the same room, more voices and more laughter filling the empty corners of the apartment. By then the three of them had already considered trying to make an actual name for themselves, assert themselves as a proper crew and a force to be reckoned with in Haert, but the addition of the two newcomers had them holding off just a little bit.
Hongbin and Wonsik brought more destruction than Sanghyuk had ever seen before. If Hakyeon was fire then they were the matches, the lighters, the gasoline that had the three of them igniting together in a blaze so large Taekwoon and Sanghyuk often had their work cut out for them trying to douse the flames into something manageable.
Wonsik looked at Hongbin like he was the entire world and Hongbin looked the same way at destruction, demolition, the extra C4 he strapped to his belt, but when he looked at Wonsik his fire dimmed and softened the slightest bit but his smile only grew three sizes larger. They fit together nearly like puzzle pieces and entropy filled the spaces that didn’t quite fit, leading them into such disorder they sometimes lost track of it themselves.
Hakyeon was always there to pick up the pieces when Hongbin dipped too far into chaos and Wonsik too far into harmony and they clashed, always helped them meld back into the cohesive duo they’d arrived as. They were only the catalyst and he was the reaction and Sanghyuk watched as they branched away from each other, into further individuality, watched as Wonsik’s look of adoration spread from not only Hongbin but to Hakyeon, Taekwoon, even himself, watched as Hongbin’s attention diverted from his explosions to way they reflected off the faces of his friends.
Jaehwan was the last to join, walking right through the door without even knocking and right into Hakyeon’s outstretched hands. They’d known each other from pre-Sanghyuk days and the youngest couldn’t help it, jealousy dousing the flames Hakyeon usually left in his wake and ice creeping in from the corners every time he saw the two together.
It’s not until weeks later when he actually spends a day with Jaehwan, albeit reluctantly, that he sees his resentment is unfounded. The way the elder talks about Hakyeon is fond, he doesn’t say anything truly negative, but he describes the time they’d spent in their childhood and the things Hakyeon did for him Sanghyuk warms yet again. They’re friends but the years Sanghyuk has known Hakyeon hold merit just as much as the ones he’d spent with Jaehwan and when he breathes out into the cold air on the balcony his breath does not steam, the frost of his envy escaping in a fell swoop.
Hakyeon is crackling fire, Hakyeon is gentle heat, Hakyeon is smoldering coals, but most of all Hakyeon is home. He worms his way into the cracks in Sanghyuk’s exterior and burns holes in his lungs to cease his breathing whenever he’s around and Sanghyuk loves it, loves Hakyeon, and loves his crew.
When Hakyeon is snuffed out Sanghyuk is not expecting it. It feels like just the day before they’d been joking in the living room with everyone, chest a hearth with how bright the elder burns (“I still think we should have named the crew VIXX.” “That is the stupidest name I have ever heard, Hakyeon, we don’t even have voice, value, and visual, let alone do we have it in excelsis.”), but he steps into the safehouse and the atmosphere is so cold it’s hard to move.
“Hyung,” he murmurs, squinting in the near darkness until his eyes adjust to the minimal lighting and his breath all but disappears.
“Hyung,” repeats Sanghyuk, his voice even quieter as he steps over corpses, hesitant, toes sinking into the crimson on the floor before he crouches down next to his friend, hand just hovering over his back.
Hakyeon is on his knees and curled into himself, his flame smothered into nothingness and he radiates nothing at all, the air still around him even as he shakes with silent sobs. They rest like that a moment before he throws himself at Sanghyuk, skin cool to the touch and streaked with blood that is both his own and not his own.
He falls apart right there, his smile and his intensity and his great big heart all failing at keeping his edges taped together any longer and Sanghyuk has to hold all the pieces in his palms. He doesn’t think he has the fervor for this, doesn’t think his touch is searing enough to seal the glue holding Hakyeon together back into place, but he hugs the elder as hard as he can anyways, nose pressing into the smaller’s hair and arms circling him so tight it’s a surprise his circulation doesn’t cut off.
It’s unsure how long they sit there like that but by the time Hakyeon begins to warm and his breath starts to hiccup a little less, the light inside the warehouse has dimmed even further and it’s near impossible to see. They’re both covered in slowly drying blood but Sanghyuk helps Hakyeon into the car anyways and doesn’t bother thinking about the cleaning costs as he drives them home, slippery hands threaded tight together over the armrest.
They get home and everyone jumps up from the living room, expressions wound in worry and mouths opening to express the concern but Sanghyuk waves them off, feeling the elder tense beneath his arm and knowing he’s not quite ready yet. He knows they’re worrying where he disappeared to after their heist and he knows that at least two of them will have to be dispatched to clean up the mess left behind in the warehouse but now isn’t the time, isn’t the place to do it.
Hakyeon looks even smaller than usual sat in the bathroom and Sanghyuk is extra careful as he cleans the both of them, extra cautious when he slips the elder into bed, extra guarded when he sits at the edge of the mattress. He’s pulled down to lie beside and he holds his leader carefully around the shoulders even from beneath the blankets, lips pressed together.
It’s reminiscent of the first time they’d met, of him staying the night on the floor, and back then Sanghyuk had no idea of how much Hakyeon would come to mean to him. He thinks about the years they’ve worked together, been together, lived together, and he knows this was due. Hongbin breaks into bouts of carnage monthly and Wonsik often follows along and Taekwoon has been admittedly strung out to yell at one or all of them at some point and Jaehwan can disappear for weeks at a time and even Sanghyuk loses it sometimes, kills someone he shouldn’t, but Hakyeon has always remained steadfast and it’s only now Sanghyuk can see how bad that is.
Hakyeon is his light, his life, his love, but he takes him so for granted sometimes it’s hard to remember that they’re all part of the business, the crew, that they’re all affected by the death and the crime and the havoc. Hakyeon has burnt for so long and now only his ashes are left behind and really, they’re all left to blame for not noticing the lack of explosion beforehand and letting the fire churn and sizzle without climax but Sanghyuk refuses to believe that anyone is at fault but himself.
They’ve ran alongside each other for so long that he should have noticed, he should have known, he should have been able to do something to prevent the unneeded deaths of rival crew members. The blood is still caked beneath the other’s fingernails from where his hands wind into Sanghyuk’s jacket, the scent still in the air around them.
He’s not sure how long it’ll take for the drive within Hakyeon to spark again, for the look of loss in his eyes to curl back up into the flames he’s come to admire so much, but he presses his nose to the elder’s and he murmurs solid promises, cups his cheeks and tries to warm him the best he can, because Hakyeon does so much for so many people and it’s the least he can do to try and do the same for him.
Tomorrow they’ll shower (separately) and Sanghyuk will send Jaehwan and Wonsik to dispose of the bodies and bleach away the blood and then they’re going to talk, all of them, because he knows that they all care just as much and that Hakyeon needs all the support possible. He needs the reassurance that it’s ok to let go, to leave the responsibility elsewhere, to scream and yell and wave his fists and get his anger out before it builds up to a point where he loses control like this because there are going to be consequences for all those people turning up missing and he knows Hakyeon hates dealing with stuff like this.
But for now, he finds solace in the fact that Hakyeon is sleeping, snuffling quietly from within his arms, and when Sanghyuk presses his lips to the other’s forehead he knows that they’ll work through this together, because they’re family,
and that’s what family’s for.