Susceptibility (Laying Low)
Archive
Title: Susceptibility (Laying Low)
The ever-elusive Beta: catchmyambition w/ help from coley_merrin
Length: 1584 words
Rating: PG-13
Genre: backalley!au/punk-crime
Disclaimer: I do not own real people.
Summary: Eunhyuk gets a talking to.
Author’s Note: Part 3 of the back alley!au in which there are alleys and plot (vaguely). Won't make sense without the two previous parts found here. And I deny that this is a multi-chapter work. It is a multi-parter. The difference? ... I feel less obligated to go in order this way. haha.
The room was warm, almost muggy, and the air outside was cooler by about five degrees with a breeze. It wasn't too much of a difference, but in this weather, it meant the difference between feeling just sweaty and sticky, and feeling sweaty, sticky, and unable to breathe.
Even though the outdoors had cooled down considerably from a heat wave the week before, their downtrodden living space was the type that collected warmth during hot weather and held it hostage until it was wanted (then the place became an icebox for the cold season).
The fucked-up thermostat in their apartment had broken down the day before the heat hit, and they still hadn't gotten anyone to fix it. Because of laziness or lack of resources, Eunhyuk didn't know, and he didn't particularly care. He'd been under harder conditions in the streets where enemies had packed heat enough to sear death into his delinquent companions. Heat wasn’t really a problem to him.
A long, slim body dressed in black skinnies and a leather vest - why leather, Eunhyuk wondered - lay stretched lazily across the couch with his eyes closed.
As Eunhyuk walked past, the gleam from a silver belt buckle and the chain hanging around a cross leather band choker caught his eye. His steps slowed, but he kept walking.
"You're late."
An eye slowly opened to see Eunhyuk's back facing him.
"I know," Eunhyuk replied, stopping dead in his tracks and forcing a smile.
"He's not happy," said the still lounging figure.
"I know," he repeated.
"He's waiting for you."
"... I know." Eunhyuk continued towards his room, wondering if the heavy beat of his heart was as loud as he thought it was.
He opened the door to find, not surprisingly, Eeteuk sitting with arms and legs crossed, and eyes closed in contemplation.
"You went to him," he said, opening his eyes to stare directly at Eunhyuk, the statement blank and to the point.
"Yes."
Eeteuk sighed into a hand, and massaged his temples with his thumb and middle finger, saying in a low voice, "I told you specifically not to go to him. Not to tell him the new information. I told you to wait."
He looked up at Eunhyuk and stared directly into his eyes, resting his chin on a propped arm. "We don't have anything concrete to back us up. It's dangerous to meet up with him for a crap feed like this."
Eunhyuk stood like a child being punished, but spoke as if he'd do it all again, "I know."
Of course he knew. But he went because he thought that Tablo deserved to know too, deserved to be kept up to date. He went because he wanted let him know that something might be in the works (because he wanted any excuse to see him, to make sure that nothing had happened to him - Eunhyuk hid these thoughts away even from himself).
But he wasn't going to say any of that aloud.
Eeteuk shook his head, as if he knew exactly why Eunhyuk defied his order. "I... I'd hoped you'd..." He groaned in frustration, pushing himself off the bed and went to look out the water-stained window. "I don't know what I hoped. But could’ve gotten us all shot and then what would all this work be for? Huh? All this sneaking and lying and fucking shitting our lives being lowlifes. We need to be careful, Eunhyuk-ah. Especially now."
His troubled gaze out the window ran a turmoiled jolt through Eunhyuk’s spine. "Hyung, did... something happen?" he asked, tentative.
Eeteuk turned to look at him for a second, and turned back to watch heat exhaust float out of the vents on the neighboring roof. There was a beat of silence before he replied, "They've been keeping tabs on me.”
“What!?” Eunhyuk exclaimed, eyes wide.
“Was going to scope out to see if they'd made a deal on the alliance and instead..."
“Instead… you found somethin’ else?” A small quiver of fear ran through Eunhyuk, but his voice was hard and probing and unlike himself.
“Files. Mine. They weren’t keeping close tabs, but enough to be onto something if they tried a little harder,” Eeteuk blew a tired breath and spun back around. A hand clapped on Eunhyuk’s shoulder. “That’s why.” His stern gaze was plastered on a fatigued face. “No more random meet-ups without the proper precautions. Got it?”
Eunhyuk nodded mutely.
“Good.” Eeteuk breathed relief and gave him one last pat and a smile before leaving the room.
Eunhyuk watched him, then fell back on his bed, a hand landing on the bare skin of his midriff where the edge of his wife beater rode up, and lay there to stare at the specks on his discolored ceiling.
He knew Eeteuk had a point, but could not bring himself to believe that just this was enough to peg them. The confrontation with his hyung went better than he had thought it would, and even with this new knowledge, Eunhyuk would still have gone to Tablo. If Teuk was right, Eunhyuk needed to keep in contact closer than ever. He just needed to be more guarded, and proper precautions did have to be taken. Plans needed to be set and carried out. And Tablo would definitely be key in making sure everything would go right. And that the story would be told right. Eunhyuk had every reason to make sure he did his job well to ensure that Tablo could do his.
Because Tablo was important… to the cause. Yes, to the cause.
Gunfire reverberated all around him, his left arm already a bleeding mess from two rounds aimed for something more critical.
Eunhyuk had lost his own pack three minutes earlier to an ass that knocked it out of his grip, but payback came in the form of a stray bullet. Sadly, his baby was lost forever when shots came at him with no remorse and he ducked behind a wood panel fence.
This fight had gotten out of hand and Eunhyuk knew better than to stay for a losing battle for a gang he didn’t give a rat’s ass about. The blazing pain emanating throughout his upper arm was more than enough to prove his trying, so he did the smart thing. He ran.
He ran and he ran until the sounds of cocking guns and bullet-pierced, gushing flesh was far, far behind. The pain was too much. His coordination was shot, tripping over himself and into cold, unrelenting brick. Letting himself slide down to rest, Eunhyuk sat there pathetically and wondered if he’d have the strength to get to a hospital. He’d get arrested, but what did he care? There would be pain meds. And food. And pain meds.
But he needed to get back. To finish. Teukie-hyung, Yesung-hyung, Sungmin-hyung. They’d already come this far, and they weren’t even close to the goal.
“What the fuck? Kid, you okay?” A vague voice muddily made its way to Eunhyuk’s ears.
The sight of the stranger’s face appeared, fading in and out in the same rhythm of his voice, and Eunhyuk immediately used his good arm to reach out and take hold of him.
“Please!” he said with pleading abrupt tears. “Please don’t leave! P-Please!” he half yelled in a shuddering cry.
“D-Do you need a hospital or-“
“No! No hospital! No!” Panic struck in every chord. No hospital by any means.
The stranger understood.
“Alright, alright. Geez, kid. Your arm is fucked up,” he said, half in concerned amazement, half in hysterical laughter.
“Don’t leave. Don’t leave. Don’t leave,” Eunhyuk repeated, clinging to the stranger’s jacket, and taking short gasps of the faintly comforting scent of stale cigarette smoke mixed with… something else as he let himself be carried to a safer place.
Which ended up being Tablo’s apartment, Eunhyuk smiled remembering.
Tablo had called a doctor friend for a favor and had saved Eunhyuk’s life so simply and easily, without question.
Or not without question, since Tablo managed to find out that he had gotten injured in a gun fight involving one of the (then) four most powerful gangs in the country and from there, secrets had come out.
Small details, little things slipped out over the time it took for Eunhyuk’s arm to heal, after having contacted Eeteuk and being told to lay low for a while, with the other gang still on the offense.
In that time, little things became big things, important things like Eunhyuk’s underground mutinous involvement with a criminal powerhouse, and Tablo as a reporter in need of a correspondent. In search of real, front page stories. Far from his days as the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young rookie, he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to get it.
A partnership was born.
Eunhyuk stared vacantly at a shadow on the edge where the wall met the ceiling.
Thinking back, he thought it all worked out perfectly. A little too perfectly.
“Hyuk-ah.”
He sat up at the call and looked towards the door. The reflective light off the silver buckle shined past his eyes.
“Me and Teuk are heading out for a walk. Stay inside.”
Eunhyuk scoffed, “I got it, I got it.”
A scowl. “I’m serious.”
“Yesung-hyung. I know,” Eunhyuk sighed. He was the youngest of them, but he wasn’t five.
Yesung left wordlessly, irritation twitching at his brow.
Well, things wouldn’t stay perfect for long, Eunhyuk thought, eyes going back to the smutted texture of the ceiling.
More troubles with titling means more "OH, LOOK AT MY FAIL"s. D:
Ideas for a subtitle before coming up with the actual title:
Me whining - _____, or so much ninja blohyuk ust, my lil heart can't stand it
Sad - _____, OR UST-UST-UST-UST-UST UNFUNFUNF -CRIES-
Me (trying to make the title catchy): Susceptibility, or the plot twist we've all (or I've) been waiting for.
WHO DO I HAFTA BRIBE TO THINK OF TITLES FOR ME _-----_
Title: Susceptibility (Laying Low)
The ever-elusive Beta: catchmyambition w/ help from coley_merrin
Length: 1584 words
Rating: PG-13
Genre: backalley!au/punk-crime
Disclaimer: I do not own real people.
Summary: Eunhyuk gets a talking to.
Author’s Note: Part 3 of the back alley!au in which there are alleys and plot (vaguely). Won't make sense without the two previous parts found here. And I deny that this is a multi-chapter work. It is a multi-parter. The difference? ... I feel less obligated to go in order this way. haha.
The room was warm, almost muggy, and the air outside was cooler by about five degrees with a breeze. It wasn't too much of a difference, but in this weather, it meant the difference between feeling just sweaty and sticky, and feeling sweaty, sticky, and unable to breathe.
Even though the outdoors had cooled down considerably from a heat wave the week before, their downtrodden living space was the type that collected warmth during hot weather and held it hostage until it was wanted (then the place became an icebox for the cold season).
The fucked-up thermostat in their apartment had broken down the day before the heat hit, and they still hadn't gotten anyone to fix it. Because of laziness or lack of resources, Eunhyuk didn't know, and he didn't particularly care. He'd been under harder conditions in the streets where enemies had packed heat enough to sear death into his delinquent companions. Heat wasn’t really a problem to him.
A long, slim body dressed in black skinnies and a leather vest - why leather, Eunhyuk wondered - lay stretched lazily across the couch with his eyes closed.
As Eunhyuk walked past, the gleam from a silver belt buckle and the chain hanging around a cross leather band choker caught his eye. His steps slowed, but he kept walking.
"You're late."
An eye slowly opened to see Eunhyuk's back facing him.
"I know," Eunhyuk replied, stopping dead in his tracks and forcing a smile.
"He's not happy," said the still lounging figure.
"I know," he repeated.
"He's waiting for you."
"... I know." Eunhyuk continued towards his room, wondering if the heavy beat of his heart was as loud as he thought it was.
He opened the door to find, not surprisingly, Eeteuk sitting with arms and legs crossed, and eyes closed in contemplation.
"You went to him," he said, opening his eyes to stare directly at Eunhyuk, the statement blank and to the point.
"Yes."
Eeteuk sighed into a hand, and massaged his temples with his thumb and middle finger, saying in a low voice, "I told you specifically not to go to him. Not to tell him the new information. I told you to wait."
He looked up at Eunhyuk and stared directly into his eyes, resting his chin on a propped arm. "We don't have anything concrete to back us up. It's dangerous to meet up with him for a crap feed like this."
Eunhyuk stood like a child being punished, but spoke as if he'd do it all again, "I know."
Of course he knew. But he went because he thought that Tablo deserved to know too, deserved to be kept up to date. He went because he wanted let him know that something might be in the works (because he wanted any excuse to see him, to make sure that nothing had happened to him - Eunhyuk hid these thoughts away even from himself).
But he wasn't going to say any of that aloud.
Eeteuk shook his head, as if he knew exactly why Eunhyuk defied his order. "I... I'd hoped you'd..." He groaned in frustration, pushing himself off the bed and went to look out the water-stained window. "I don't know what I hoped. But could’ve gotten us all shot and then what would all this work be for? Huh? All this sneaking and lying and fucking shitting our lives being lowlifes. We need to be careful, Eunhyuk-ah. Especially now."
His troubled gaze out the window ran a turmoiled jolt through Eunhyuk’s spine. "Hyung, did... something happen?" he asked, tentative.
Eeteuk turned to look at him for a second, and turned back to watch heat exhaust float out of the vents on the neighboring roof. There was a beat of silence before he replied, "They've been keeping tabs on me.”
“What!?” Eunhyuk exclaimed, eyes wide.
“Was going to scope out to see if they'd made a deal on the alliance and instead..."
“Instead… you found somethin’ else?” A small quiver of fear ran through Eunhyuk, but his voice was hard and probing and unlike himself.
“Files. Mine. They weren’t keeping close tabs, but enough to be onto something if they tried a little harder,” Eeteuk blew a tired breath and spun back around. A hand clapped on Eunhyuk’s shoulder. “That’s why.” His stern gaze was plastered on a fatigued face. “No more random meet-ups without the proper precautions. Got it?”
Eunhyuk nodded mutely.
“Good.” Eeteuk breathed relief and gave him one last pat and a smile before leaving the room.
Eunhyuk watched him, then fell back on his bed, a hand landing on the bare skin of his midriff where the edge of his wife beater rode up, and lay there to stare at the specks on his discolored ceiling.
He knew Eeteuk had a point, but could not bring himself to believe that just this was enough to peg them. The confrontation with his hyung went better than he had thought it would, and even with this new knowledge, Eunhyuk would still have gone to Tablo. If Teuk was right, Eunhyuk needed to keep in contact closer than ever. He just needed to be more guarded, and proper precautions did have to be taken. Plans needed to be set and carried out. And Tablo would definitely be key in making sure everything would go right. And that the story would be told right. Eunhyuk had every reason to make sure he did his job well to ensure that Tablo could do his.
Because Tablo was important… to the cause. Yes, to the cause.
Gunfire reverberated all around him, his left arm already a bleeding mess from two rounds aimed for something more critical.
Eunhyuk had lost his own pack three minutes earlier to an ass that knocked it out of his grip, but payback came in the form of a stray bullet. Sadly, his baby was lost forever when shots came at him with no remorse and he ducked behind a wood panel fence.
This fight had gotten out of hand and Eunhyuk knew better than to stay for a losing battle for a gang he didn’t give a rat’s ass about. The blazing pain emanating throughout his upper arm was more than enough to prove his trying, so he did the smart thing. He ran.
He ran and he ran until the sounds of cocking guns and bullet-pierced, gushing flesh was far, far behind. The pain was too much. His coordination was shot, tripping over himself and into cold, unrelenting brick. Letting himself slide down to rest, Eunhyuk sat there pathetically and wondered if he’d have the strength to get to a hospital. He’d get arrested, but what did he care? There would be pain meds. And food. And pain meds.
But he needed to get back. To finish. Teukie-hyung, Yesung-hyung, Sungmin-hyung. They’d already come this far, and they weren’t even close to the goal.
“What the fuck? Kid, you okay?” A vague voice muddily made its way to Eunhyuk’s ears.
The sight of the stranger’s face appeared, fading in and out in the same rhythm of his voice, and Eunhyuk immediately used his good arm to reach out and take hold of him.
“Please!” he said with pleading abrupt tears. “Please don’t leave! P-Please!” he half yelled in a shuddering cry.
“D-Do you need a hospital or-“
“No! No hospital! No!” Panic struck in every chord. No hospital by any means.
The stranger understood.
“Alright, alright. Geez, kid. Your arm is fucked up,” he said, half in concerned amazement, half in hysterical laughter.
“Don’t leave. Don’t leave. Don’t leave,” Eunhyuk repeated, clinging to the stranger’s jacket, and taking short gasps of the faintly comforting scent of stale cigarette smoke mixed with… something else as he let himself be carried to a safer place.
Which ended up being Tablo’s apartment, Eunhyuk smiled remembering.
Tablo had called a doctor friend for a favor and had saved Eunhyuk’s life so simply and easily, without question.
Or not without question, since Tablo managed to find out that he had gotten injured in a gun fight involving one of the (then) four most powerful gangs in the country and from there, secrets had come out.
Small details, little things slipped out over the time it took for Eunhyuk’s arm to heal, after having contacted Eeteuk and being told to lay low for a while, with the other gang still on the offense.
In that time, little things became big things, important things like Eunhyuk’s underground mutinous involvement with a criminal powerhouse, and Tablo as a reporter in need of a correspondent. In search of real, front page stories. Far from his days as the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young rookie, he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to get it.
A partnership was born.
Eunhyuk stared vacantly at a shadow on the edge where the wall met the ceiling.
Thinking back, he thought it all worked out perfectly. A little too perfectly.
“Hyuk-ah.”
He sat up at the call and looked towards the door. The reflective light off the silver buckle shined past his eyes.
“Me and Teuk are heading out for a walk. Stay inside.”
Eunhyuk scoffed, “I got it, I got it.”
A scowl. “I’m serious.”
“Yesung-hyung. I know,” Eunhyuk sighed. He was the youngest of them, but he wasn’t five.
Yesung left wordlessly, irritation twitching at his brow.
Well, things wouldn’t stay perfect for long, Eunhyuk thought, eyes going back to the smutted texture of the ceiling.
More troubles with titling means more "OH, LOOK AT MY FAIL"s. D:
Ideas for a subtitle before coming up with the actual title:
Me whining - _____, or so much ninja blohyuk ust, my lil heart can't stand it
Sad - _____, OR UST-UST-UST-UST-UST UNFUNFUNF -CRIES-
Me (trying to make the title catchy): Susceptibility, or the plot twist we've all (or I've) been waiting for.
WHO DO I HAFTA BRIBE TO THINK OF TITLES FOR ME _-----_