Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Without taking his eyes off what he was looking for in lines upon lines of letters and numbers, Reki reached across his desk for the can that sat at the corner of his keyboard. It was suspiciously light and he shook the aluminum to judge if the remaining liquid would be enough to wet his tongue. The last couple drops of tart carbonation definitely weren't enough to stave off a brewing yawn.

“Damn.” He mumbled after barely getting a taste, really only hearing the hum of his tone underneath the music he was drowning silence with.

The fast rap with loud electronic bits kept his brain bouncing when it'd usually get lost in monotony. Reki blinked rapidly, trying to clear the flash of his main monitor out of his vision. Turning away just printed lines of code on the wall. He slid his headphones off his ears to let them hang around his neck, hoping disconnecting with more than one sense would help sever the connection. It was all too easy to get pulled in, but he thought he had a pretty decent work/life balance.

Reki hadn't had nightmares in like a year, at least.

With a groan, he pushed out from his desk. It was well past time for a break if the back of his eyes were burnt and he needed a refill anyway. Keeping an internal promise, he swiped the can off his desk before he spun himself out of the curve to face his apartment. The small space was only illuminated by the glow behind him but there wasn't much Reki needed to navigate in the dark.

The only thing he had to avoid was the corner of his bed which sat against one wall of the square shape. On the other was his entertainment system, slick enough for the closet doors to open and to create space for a couch in the center of the room but Reki didn't bother. He spent most of his time at his computer, which is why he tried to keep it clean.

Just past the kitchen doorway, he dropped the can into the recycling bin and switched on the light over his sink. One counter with a set of burners was more than enough for the very little cooking Reki did. His small fridge nestled in between the sink and the wall was mostly empty. There was some take out and three energy drinks left. He kicked the door shut behind him after grabbing one, making a plan to run down to the konbini for his next break.

Reki tried not to make it a habit to be such an obvious night owl. He didn't have to work the third shift but he chose to. Daytime was full of distractions and with a perfect nook under the window to put his desk, he preferred not to get blinded by the sun. The blackout curtains behind all four monitors were always closed but light from the surrounding city of Tokyo barely snuck in through the balcony door next to him.

Sometimes Reki propped it open for some fresh air he should really get more of but late October air was a little too chilly for his preference for shorts at home. He flopped down into his high backed chair and immediately brought up one of his bare legs to tuck under him. He should really get some better posture too but he had a couple years yet until he had to worry about back problems. He made it through university sitting like a shrimp just fine and hadn't quite grown out of the rebellion of youth.

Reki liked living like a NEET. He set his own schedule, could do whatever he wanted in his free time, and decorate his place however he wanted. Most of the tech inside was the best money could buy because Reki made money. A lot of it, yet he didn't flash his wealth except in necessities because it wasn't acquired by legal means and the morality of it all was a lot more questionable.

People paid for anything. Anything. The simple hassles of life could be passed off to another person with the right amount of yen, like grocery delivery, maids, nannies. Beyond convenience came desire and that's where life got a lot more twisted. The expanse of the internet put even more at people's finger tips and not all of it was as mundane as hard to find goods from other countries. It was drugs, weapons, sex. Things people wanted desperately and would pay a lot of money to have delivered to them discreetly and that's what Reki did. Hid things in plain sight, made digital connections, and ran a couple scams.

Nothing touched his hands. He was a keyboard and a million digital security walls away. One backdoor job he had enough of an ego to take just led to another and he was very familiar with the dark web, trying to keep his nose out of the more deranged things. There was a lot he'd never even heard of before finding that first wiki and a bunch he wished he never learned but the money. It was enough to get out of a bad situation and even save a couple more people in addition to getting his life started.

So he lived pretty low-key and a little paranoid. His building was relatively nice in an interesting neighborhood. Ikebukuro had less of a nightlife than Shinjuku but was still a little questionable at times with a thriving red light district. Reki didn't get looks for only leaving his apartment at dusk and most everyone kept to themselves, which was beyond fine by him. For as many connections as he made with the websites he helped run and find, he had very few of his own.

The schedule Reki kept, plus his geeky hobbies, weren't exactly attractive. Unless the other person happened to be a fellow misfit but he wasn't looking. Nor was he buying, not for himself anyway. The buried keys he was looking for in the code were for an open pharmaceutical market that moved around more than he found it. Whoever ran it was better than him, which Reki would never admit.

They still had traceable patterns and as Reki was following them in a digital sea like the faintest current of plankton in the ones and zeroes, he found something weird. A link somewhere it shouldn't be, which considering how many he hid himself shouldn't be all that strange but he immediately felt off about it. Unfortunately, for him and his inherent sense of curiosity that should have died by then, the only way to know what it was would be to click on it.

Reki hovered over the URL, considering the odds of the sequence being a trap. Surely the multiple authorities of the world had good tech people on their side, they had to. But Reki had come to learn that there was so much out there that had never been found, nor would it be. He had a lot less faith in the justice system than he used to and he'd developed one of his own over the years.

Some really horrid stuff he took down or sabotaged, no matter how long it took him. Others he left alone, even if it wasn't something he'd touch in a million years. It all depended on safety.

Reki double checked he'd be completely anonymous before clicking the link. If it was a trap, he wasn't catchable and maybe it would get some idiots who didn't belong. The window opened on a side monitor so Reki could just glance and see if it was something he needed to look at. He immediately wished he didn't.

The headphones he'd forgotten to put back on stopped murmuring steady bass, filling with screams piercing over the music. Reki pinched his eyes shut and tore the plastic from around his neck instead of bothering to find a mute button. The sound hit too close to his heart to hear it even a second longer and the moment he took in complete darkness was to remind himself that the woman in distress wasn't actually in his life. But she was in someone else's, so he dragged the window over to his main monitor.

Reki wished he could say it was the first time that he'd seen something like what he was looking at. The video was live. A crystal clear stream giving a terrible view of a woman on her knees. She was clothed, at least, but her light blonde hair was darkened and matted with blood. Two rusty trails were caked under her nose while her makeup ran down her thin cheeks in streaks of black tears.

Even without the audio, it was obvious she was screaming for help. Probably told to look directly at the camera lens too, given the angle. It seemed to be set just inside the bars of a cage, intentionally capturing her desperation while being just out of reach. All a part of the appeal, according to the sick comments flooding in. Reki was much more concerned about the timer counting down above the video.

All of the donations pouring in to a second, rising, number above her were predictable, people were fucked and they'd pay for anything. Torture included and Reki had seen that for sale, but never live. Whoever was broadcasting made a bunch of mistakes. Uploads were some of the easiest things to trace, even filtered, and Reki got right to it.

The first few walls were embarrassingly easy to bypass but things got complicated quick. If Reki had the time, he'd unravel all of the knots and lay them out straight to learn from them. But according to the clock, he found the website late in the game. She had six hours until something he didn't want to think about and Reki was determined to get some kind of cops to wherever she was before the number hit zero.

He was bounced all over the world. Spain to Australia and Reki couldn't go off the idea of what she looked like but he should have known he would end up somewhere in America. Middle of nowhere America in a town he could not pronounce the name of. Reki just hoped he was right or someone was accidentally getting swatted. He knew he didn't get fooled by six other decoys but going off a street view of a relatively normal looking house didn't exactly make him feel comfortable.

If anything, it was a reminder that anyone was capable of horrendous things. Reki detailed them out and pulled up the six programs necessary to make an anonymous call seem legitimate. One skeptical secretary had made him proficient in reporting and an unfortunate follow up he stumbled on made him certain that sometimes just taking things down wasn't enough.

Reki didn't feel good when he made someone's life harder and there was no sense of satisfaction after hanging up with the local police. It all kept happening and would continue to keep happening, especially because people like him existed. Those with a twisted sense of right and wrong, ignoring so much of the world and focusing on what they could control. He had arguably more strings under his hands than the average person but he let them go.

With a half hour left on the clock, Reki closed the window and picked up his headphones from the floor with no hesitation. Not only did he not want to know, he wasn't going to put himself through any kind of punishment. Her fate and his potential failure was better left unsaid. Besides, it's not like they wouldn't cut the feed at the sound of sirens. He wouldn't get to see if police officers busted down the door and saved her in time and he didn't deserve to. He wasn't a hero.

He just did what he could so he could still sleep at night. Metaphorically.

Reki shook out the last couple drops from yet another can onto his tongue with a sigh. He glanced at the clock on his desktop reading three in the morning. He completely missed break number two while he was trying to sort through that mess. The coder who set up that site was better than he thought and he didn't feel very good about anything that happened that night. He'd drained all the money that the stream made but it wasn't a good consolation prize when he couldn't do more than slip it off into someone's account. And he still hadn't found what he was looking for.

Knowing he was going to be up a good chunk of the day, Reki grabbed the zip up hoodie that lived on his closet door and left to go get some breakfast. He tested the handle of his apartment door twice after locking it and turned towards the elevator. The long hallway was well lit but something about it always made a shiver run up his spine, regardless of the time. He was thankful the building didn't have stairs set outside, especially since he was on the seventh of twelve floors, but he always had this irrational fear of getting trapped in the elevator.

Reki smashed the ground floor button with his thumb and stuck his hands back in his pockets to wait for the uncomfortable ride down. A year there and he still hadn't gotten used to the way the elevator jerked on the bottom level. The handprint on pristine stainless steel was from him. Smudges fit the way he had to catch himself. Every. Single. Time.

There was no one around to see it, the cameras in the lobby hadn't worked in months. Just the globe on the ceiling was enough to deter any theft, Reki thought. It was probably for the best, security systems were insanely easy to hack into. People didn't realize the steps they took to protect themselves made them better targets. He thought back on one of his least favorite jobs as he pushed open the door to the street. Spying on people wasn't his thing.

Knowing anyone could be watching anything wasn't exactly comforting information but Reki likened the world into two halves as he walked in the spotlight of a streetlamp with waving shadows of the many electrical wires above him. People who knew and people who didn't. Those who lived their life in the sun, blissfully unaware of the darkest parts of humanity and those who were pushed into them and tried to claw their way out, only to end up much more comfortable in the night time.

Reki squinted against the neon lights of 7-11 and blinked his way into the sliding doors. He went right for the prepared food and grabbed his second favorite sandwich as a chance of pace. And an onigiri. And a couple more energy drinks. And a strawberry filled bun sounded like a nice dessert for an oddly timed dinner but he really wanted ice cream. He shoved the wrapper of an ice pop between his teeth and went to the register with his arms full.

The guy who worked Tuesdays was always exasperated. Dark bags sagged past his glasses and he rang things up with the pace of a snail. Reki liked the fatter guy, the jollier one. This dude looked at Reki like he was furious for having to do his job. A chimed thanks changed nothing about his expression but Reki added a smile anyway.

He didn't see the need to act as jaded as he was. There was no reason to drag other people down with him. Reki knew it was mostly just his protective personality traits that he couldn't quite seem to rid himself of. They weren't inherited so it was truly a mystery but as he swung the bag he was carrying, Reki was thankful not to know something.

Before he stuffed his hand back in his pockets, Reki peeled open the ice pop and stuck it between his lips. A shiver rippled through him but the bubbly taste of ramune was worth the additional cold. Those pops in particular melted fast, even outside of the nostalgia of summer, and Reki wasted no time taking a bite.

A three minute walk to a convenience store sure was a selling point for his apartment. Although it took Reki more like five. He wasn't behind the pace of public Japan, he just took things at his leisure. With no need to rush back into the elevator he disliked, Reki shuffled his way back home. Licking the ice pop in his hand instead of devouring it.

By the time he had to unlock his door, there was still a substantial amount left. Enough to pop it into his mouth and free his hands. Reki didn't bother flipping the main light on then either. He set his bag in the sink and unzipped his hoodie to pull it off before too much juice gathered on his tongue. The pool was getting cold, starting to sink into his teeth.

Reki pulled the ice out of his mouth with an audible pop as he walked towards his main room to throw his hoodie back on the closet door. He swallowed all the cold in his mouth, wiggling through another shiver, as he looked through the doorway to his main room. All was as he left it and no matter how frequently that was the case, Reki breathed a sigh of relief. Only to immediately suck his breath back in as he passed the threshold.

Just after the doorway, cold steel pressed through the hair on his temple. Transferring the temperature and the threat before he could even register it. The person holding a gun to his head had a low voice that was deadly serious. “Don't move.”

Reki froze, completely. Every inch of him pulled taut and hardened. He couldn't move or even breathe. Despite how badly he must have wanted to, he couldn't even glance. He could only stare straight ahead as everything he possibly could have done to be in this situation flashed in his mind. The glow from his computer started to haze.

“Kyan Reki, right?”

If he was meant to confirm his identity, it certainly wasn't happening. Not with a nod and definitely not with any kind of sound. Reki didn't even swallow when the deadly press lightened. He wasn't safe just because the gun gave him an inch, he knew that even before it was placed between his eyes, followed by the man holding it.

Backlit by the monitors, his light hair looked almost white. In high contrast, blue tones snuck through the strands. The darker shade wasn't nearly as deep as the eyes staring directly into Reki's. They were narrow, pointed, trained and Reki could only assume an incredibly handsome man was hired to kill him. A sharp jaw tightened when he didn't speak.

Without even the slightest shift of focus, the man lifted a phone up into Reki's vision that wasn't entirely consumed by the threat on his life. On the screen was a picture of his university ID, the only portrait of him on the Internet that he knew of. It would have been easy to find at least, student records and all that, but how it got linked to his computer and where he was currently standing was a mystery that sparked just enough to thaw something.

Reki felt the ice pop dripping over his fingers. Sticky, slow drops that seemed to count down like a timer. As soon as he answered, which judging from the man's sharp focus could be as simple as an involuntary reaction, he was dead. And choosing his last breath to satisfy his curiosity seemed fitting, but still very wrong.

“Tell me something.” The man demanded. His Japanese sounded careful but not for Reki's sake, as if it wasn't his first language. “Why did you click that link?”

Reki blinked and expected to lose everything in that moment of darkness but it was another flash of thought. His mind was quick and it jumped to conclusions. He immediately knew he should have trusted his gut feeling. It clearly was a trap, but for what was the question at the tip of his tongue.

Again it felt like everything he worked hard for depended on his answer and the man was giving him a second to find a good one. There were too many options. He could admit to his curiosity and call it morbid. He could lie and say it was an accident. He could lie and say he wanted to save that girl. Reki had no idea what the eyes fixed directly on him were looking for.

So he gave the truth down the barrel. “It felt like a trap and I wanted to know what the catch was.”

The slightest growth in the man's eyes let Reki shakily take in what he'd expended. “How did you know?” Handsome Hitman asked, with the gun completely stable. “From a link, how did you know?”

“The placement.”

The man pulled his arm back, bent at the elbow in a geometric angle. Not removing the threat but giving Reki space to breathe. He couldn't help but feel rewarded for his honesty but his inhale was still stuttered. He was still being studied, weighed, which probably should have made him feel less dense than he did.

Reki swallowed and felt a little sturdier. “Wanna trade secrets? Tell me how you got into my apartment?”

“Balcony door’s unlocked.” He explained with a tilt of his chin in the door’s direction.

“I'm on the seventh floor!” Reki exclaimed in sheer surprise, drawing that gun right back between his eyes.

This time his hands flew up in defense. One still held a rapidly melting popsicle and the other a hoodie he hadn't gotten the chance to throw off. Its spot was previously blocked by an armed intruder with the athletic ability to scale a high rise. His dress certainly didn't show it off, all black and slightly baggy to hide his form. Only his gloves were tight and his finger flexed on the trigger.

“Okay, alright, wait.” Stammers came out before Reki was steady. His mouth moved quicker than his brain but he was still fast in compiling. “Wait, if this- if for some reason this is about the money on that link, I can get it-”

“No.” The man said simply and lowered his arm entirely. Gun at his side, he was still incredibly intimidating. “You’re going to get me something else.”

Reki's voice cracked in his disbelief. “I am?”

“Yes, but first, act normal.”

“Normal?” Shock made him squeak. “You just broke into my house, held a gun to my head-”

“Yeah, act like it's still there or it will be.” The man's threat was even and easy as he tapped on the screen of his phone with his thumb.

Reki's eyes flickered between the soft glow and the face it was illuminating. Not seeing any other options but compliance, he took the phone handed to him. His ID was gone, replaced by an unknown contact with a number that shouldn't exist. The call was set to the speaker and through the uneasy silence, a sanguine voice took command of the room.

“Hello Kyan-san. My name's Adam.”

Reki looked up at the assassin in question and had his glance redirected to the phone with the raise of one brow under a cascade of long bangs. “W-who?”

“Someone you shouldn't have stolen from.”

How easy these threats were pulled at Reki's sense of survival worse than if they were screamed. The most dangerous people were calm, collected. Rage he could handle. Casual he could not. Instead of categorization, he started to spiral.

“Listen.” He pleaded, just like that gun was there and he watched to make sure it wouldn't be. “I don't give a fuck about the money. I'll-”

“You just wanted to save the girl?” A chuckle rang in Reki's ears, it was chiming. Mocking. “Tell me, do you ever trip over your cape?”

Reki bit into his lip as something flared inside of him. The man holding the phone received the glare when it didn't feel safe to defend himself like he wanted to. He was supposed to play scared and he was, but that didn't mean he couldn't be angry.

“I suppose this is such an occasion..” The voice on the line mused and blew his exhale into the phone. “You made a mistake and I'm offering the opportunity for redemption.”

Mistakes didn't happen, Reki made sure of that. Except not locking his balcony door but running through everything he always did, he couldn't find anything he left open. At all. Whoever Adam was, he was good, or had good people as his disposal. Like the man in front of Reki, lifting the gun.

“What is it?” He rushed as his heart started to race harder. “What do you want me to do?”

“I assume the threat is obvious. I cannot express how overjoyed I am that Eve just happened to be in Tokyo right when I needed him.” A ringing giggle from the speaker phone certainly sounded ecstatic, and psychotic. “The universe really does pull threads with just the right amount of pressure, and that's what I need you to do Kyan-san. Touch some very sensitive mechanics for me, and I'll let you live.”

The way Adam spoke twisted Reki's stomach, driving acid up his throat to sit at the back of his tongue. The taste flavored his tone. “What mechanics?”

A hum was sung, although Adam was completely certain. “A certain intelligence agency happens to be in possession of something I consider very valuable. You just need to crack the safe for me, I'll retrieve it.”

“Which one? Do you know how many-”

“The intelligence agency. You know which one.” He said as another threat.

Reki passed the unspoken test with more than enough knowledge on threats to their lifestyle. Or so he hoped. “And you expect me to be able to hack Interpol with a gun to my head?”

“When else? Good bye Kyan-san. I genuinely do hope to receive a call soon.”

The ascending numbers flashed the total time and disappeared and Reki's breath came in sharp. His chest was impossibly tight but he was too full of fire to be frozen in fear again.

“How soon is soon?” Reki asked immediately, directing the question to the person holding his life in gloved hands. “Like your straight out of a movie boss does realize that's not a 'by morning' thing right?”

“Debatable.” The man said as he slipped his phone into his front pocket, completely unphased by the immense gravity of the situation. “But I was told you have 48 hours.”

“Two days?! No way is it even possible in two days.”

Bright blue eyes rolled. “He's being generous because he's in a good mood..”

“That's crazy.” In the back of his mind, Reki knew he was arguing against his life but the words kept tumbling out of him. “If not impossible. I don't know which database of thousands, if it's even a database. I need keys and I'm not just going to find those buried in html. I would have to find someone in Interpol willing to place them in the first place. There's gotta be someone, considering how much shit has to get swept under the rug but that's not doable in two days. It's an intelligence agency, they don't exactly advertise their members.”

“If it was as easy as paying off an agent of Interpol, Adam would have done it.”

Reki threw his hands out to the sides in frustration, noting one of his palms was covered in sticky juice. “Obviously. This is an impossible ask and a waste of your time. Might as well kill me now.”

The man crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Didn’t think you were the type to just give up so easily.”

“You don't know me.” Reki hissed, stupidly. “You have a faint digital footprint, at best. A degree, name, and an address.”

“You have a choice, Reki.”

“Clearly I don't. You kill me if I refuse or you kill me when I can't do it. Just fucking do it now.”

“I am your threat. That's where you're completely right. Faint digital footprints take him five minutes and he won't go further because that's all I need. But give me an hour and I have your family.”

To prove his point, the man pulled his phone back out of his pocket and flipped the screen around so Reki could see, but he shut his eyes. Just like he always did, no matter how improbable it was they would be connected to something in front of him.

“So what?” His voice shook as he tried to shake the imagery of anyone finding them from his mind but it came to him in flashes of slamming doors and scared faces. “So.. I get to be a scapegoat? Or the distraction while someone better gets in?”

“No you're doing something for me, remember?”

Reki's eyes flew open in surprise. He searched for the answer as the question flew out of his mouth. “What do you mean?”

The man softened every so slightly. Wide shoulders lowered a little bit as he gestured with his sharp chin to Reki's computer. A low voice was even quieter as he gave his explanation very simply. “You found that girl. Saved her. Right?”

“I don't know.” Reki admitted, under all of the breath he was holding. “I closed the tab.. I have no idea.”

“But you did. You fucked him over by taking more than just the money. He said it saved him some trouble but I know he was lying. Girls might not be his thing but that torture shit is. I need you to find him, and save me.”

“You?!” His eyes couldn't get wider, as if they were trying to take in the full picture of the image of a handsome hitman in front of him. “You want me to save you? How. You're standing right here.”

The man's gaze narrowed again and the difference was striking in such a quick switch. “Are you really that dumb, Reki?”

Reki stammered, and not just because the man was taking the gun out of where it had been tucked behind his bicep.

“Because if you are, I may as well just kill you now.” He said things so simply, as if everything was black and white because he was one of the people that knew. “Why waste my time, eh?”

“I'll do it!” Reki squeaked when the barrel was back between his eyes. “I'll do it. If that's the choice, I'm taking it. Die in 48 hours trying to do something good or something bad, I'm tripping over my cape, okay? But only if you leave my family out of this, regardless.”

“Why would I do that if you think you'll fail? You need motivation.” The gun cocked and Reki's stomach dropped.

“Oi. H-hey now.” Reki tried to reason with someone who didn't make decisions as quickly as he did. “There's other primal desires for people to have, yeah? Uh, greed is a good one. But I'll do it for free. S tier effort for free if you promise.”

“Genuinely thought you were going to say something else and I was going to have to pull this trigger.” The man still looked like he was considering it. His right eye narrowed further, pointed sight following the hard line of his gun.

And although his heart was racing and he was starting to shake, Reki stood firm because he needed to do all that he could. “You can promise and go back on your word for all I fucking know, dude, just tell me you won't or I'm not doing anything to help you.”

His eyes flickered between Reki's, looking for something and his certainty had to be obvious. It was whether or not the hitman trusted it. Reki didn't trust a single thing about the man in front of him. He was just making peace with inevitable death by thinking about “saving him”. There was just too much about the man that screamed confidence in his abilities that Reki couldn't picture him as needing saving.

He wasn't wearing a mask. The gun wasn't silenced. He didn't even toss this phone out of his pocket while planning a coup. This guy was certain his boss trusted him because he had a reason to. Probably multiple, with the way Adam spoke about him. Thinking about his voice and vocabulary twisted all of Reki's insides and suddenly, it made sense.

“I wouldn't actually ask that..” Reki insisted gently to the human being in front of him like he was a beaten animal. Not that it would make much difference, but it felt important to say. “What you thought I was going to say.. you know? That, uh, none of that is how I got where I am.”

“Shame.” He clicked his tongue but his hard expression didn't change. “You're cute.”

“Huh?!”

When the man lowered the gun felt like a bad time to blush, Reki's face flooded with heat anyway. “How you got where you are right now is my mercy.. I promise.”

Reki was too flabbergasted for the weight of what the man was saying to sink in. He met the offer for a short-lived partnership while blinking rapidly, trying to clear a compliment from his mind to focus on what really mattered. His family was out of the picture, at least the immediate view. The screens in front of his face.

“R-right.” He mumbled and let go of the hand he was shaking to wipe his sweat off on his shorts. “Uh.. yeah. Um first things first I need to know how he got in so I can patch it before doing anything else. And throw this away because- uck.”

When Reki flicked his wrist, none of the stickiness came off of his palm. The ice pop was a puddle stuck to his hand and he frowned as he looked for permission granted with a stoic nod. Even though he was clear to turn, Reki didn't. He watched for what parting lips were going to say.

“Well I know fuck all about tech.” The man said and made himself right at home by sitting directly on Reki's bed without taking his eyes off Reki. “But I do know the link was a trap.”

That information didn't feel important enough to wait for but Reki was still hesitant to move even though the desire to wash his hands was becoming more of an urge. “Obviously..”

“Don't you need to wash your hands? You should probably get on it. You're running out of time.” The cold man was so kind to remind Reki as he relaxed back onto his palms.

Looking adamantly away from the gun pressed into his sheets, and the long legs crossing over the edge of his mattress, Reki took a shuddery breath to try and ready himself for something he couldn't picture clearly. It was all a mess, a tangled web but he needed to start somewhere. And the first step was finding whatever spider was planted in his PC, hoping to catch him. Because this time, they wouldn't.

Chapter Text

“I totally could have run.” Reki pointed out as he pressed the hand towel into the space between his middle and ring fingers.

The man lounging on his bed had a blank look, zero concern. “Totally could have.”

“So why didn't you follow me to the bathroom?”

“Did you want me to?” He asked with a tilt of his head that draped the longest pieces of his hair over his shoulder.

“No.” Reki grumbled and balled up the towel to throw it in the general direction of his kitchen sink. “I’m just wondering. I imagine you'd chase me down but shooting me in the hallway would be inconvenient. It'd be loud and the doors are right there. And the stairwell is right by the elevator, so both exits are at the end.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought about running, I don't suggest it.”

“For both of our sakes huh?” Reki teased, for no reason.

Despite his steady steps across his apartment towards his computer, he was rattled. A moment without that ever present threat did nothing to calm him. He never did handle uncertainty well, exploding into a thousand jittery nerves when things were off. As he sat down in his chair, Reki was once again hoping all of this would be over sooner rather than later. Be that by success or death, it didn't matter. It wasn't like he had a lot to live for and what little he did have would be taken care of either way.

Reki couldn't think further than those three bright spots in all the darkness. If he found more, he'd get sad.

“So.” He exhaled, hoping for more smoke to fuel him, as he looked at the hitman. “If you want me to find Adam, you need to tell me everything you know about him. But maybe toss your phone off the balcony first.”

“Why?” Those bright blue eyes narrowed as he sat up with pristine posture, straight spine and squared shoulders.

Reki couldn't believe the thought of being observed had never passed through that pretty head but he did his best to keep any kind of inflection out of his tone. There was still a gun in the guy's lap. “It's really easy to turn on a microphone, especially with the right app. And that's probably a work phone, yeah?”

He just blinked. One long moment of consideration and leaned back to slip his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it his gloved hand and the first hint of emotion flashed across his face when his fingers tightened into a fist. The man ground his teeth and stood with purpose.

“For the record, I don't think it's on.” He said as he held the device out in offering like Reki could do anything but throw it out. “But I admittedly hadn't thought about the fact it may have been at one point. This is routine.”

“Kill a lot of people huh?” Reki hummed as he turned away from yet another job. “Like I said, off the balcony is your best bet. I don't have time to wipe it and a faraday bag will cut it off and be suspicious.”

“I can't just throw it on the street.”

“Then go put it in the fridge or something. I need to get started.”

Reki brought up sixteen different windows, spreading them out over his monitors so multiple things could run at once and he could keep an eye on everything. Still, the shift of weight on his floorboards had his entire focus. The footsteps that hesitated until the man gave into Reki's suggestion with a subtle huff. If the quiet noise didn't tip Reki off that he was annoyed, the slam of the fridge definitely would have.

“He's Japanese.” The man helpfully provided through gritted teeth.

“With a broad Tokyo accent.” Reki noted, as he traced a blocky script with his eyes. Essentially looking for any kind of crack in a solid foundation. “So either from here or is here frequent enough to use it. Unlike you.”

“That obvious huh?”

Reki looked over his shoulder to see the man sit back down on his bed with a slightly less rigid posture. He pushed his bangs out of his eyes with one hand, the other was still holding the gun. Yet his gaze was a lot less sharp when it landed on Reki and glanced over to his monitors and back. He wasn't Japanese, at least not full, and if Reki had to guess, the other half was English speaking.

“No, I'm not from here.” He answered the obvious. “And no, I'm not entirely Japanese either. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is-”

“Adam. Yep.” Reki popped his lips and turned back to the screens.

“He's had me meet him here. Well, in Shibuya once. Edogawa and Adachi. Kyoto too. And Paris, Cologne, Madrid. Everywhere around the world.”

Varied locations weren't a surprise to Reki. He just couldn't help but note the grand scale which implied more money and power than a scuffed stream would suggest. The amount of money he dissipated would be scraps to those kinds of people. Which could mean so very many things and he needed to narrow it down.

“So you're from North America?” Reki asked, as casual as he could because he could already picture the glare.

“Where did you get that?”

“You'd expect New York on a list like that but you didn't mention it. Just like I never used to run through Japanese networks.”

In the following silence, Reki could feel burning eyes on the back of his chair. He needed a shaky breath to steady himself to spin around. Sure enough, hitman was not very happy about Reki's pattern recognition and he probably wouldn't accept the explanation but Reki needed to try. He needed more than scraps to work with.

“You're the only connection I have to him right now. You can't just go out into the ocean, hoping to find a specific fish with absolutely no knowledge of its habitat.”

“Don't even think about bait.” He snapped.

Reki raised his hands in defense but promptly pushed his palms into the arms of his chair so he could bring both of his legs up on the seat with him. He tucked his hands in the space created, hoping to show that he'd wait patiently for something else to go on, if the man could provide it.

He seemed to search with the way his eyes flickered around the dark room, but came up empty. Very subtly, his shoulders slumped and his thumb rubbed along the grip of his pistol. “He has security and collateral. That's why I haven't done it myself... I know you were wondering.”

“I wasn't.” Reki admitted. “Hadn’t even thought about it to be honest.”

“Why not? Should be simple, eh?”

“Nothing is ever simple, I know that. I’m not even questioning why you want to find him. I just need more to do it. I'm not a detective. The phone, is it a burner? Something you keep on you?”

“Burner. New one every job.”

“See, that's helpful.”

“Where I'm from is irrelevant.” He warned, in continuous monotone.

“I beg to differ but it's fine.”

Reki waved off the threat of prying and held the edge of his desk to turn himself back around. Falsifying cell signals was a broad starting point but it was one all the same. A step in the right direction but he needed to make sure it was safe for his system to move forward.

Everything he was running came back clean and it was entirely possible he wasn't checking something in particular that he just hadn't thought of. After all, not all backdoors were so obviously unlocked but Reki couldn't help but wonder if his university ID had more to do with him being found than his actions did. The connection just seemed too coincidental to write them off as separate. The first thing the man asked about was the link.

But Reki's computer was secure. It had to be.

“Unless.” Reki realized audibly and walked himself backwards through his own process.

Hiding in plain sight was the name of the game and all things considered, the trace should have been obvious. Six different programs to fool law enforcement, not people that thought like he did. In the update for one of the cell service applications laid a tiny little bug. A very specific set of eyes that couldn't see much or it would have set off every alarm bell Reki had. Just enough for an extremely faint footprint, like down to the second and only that a call was made not where from at all.

Which meant he was right and completely wrong. The link was a trap for him, for the curious coder with a habit of playing hero. The rest was assumptions, good lies backed up the only confirmation Adam could make and Reki's own confession.

Reki mouthed a curse, hyper aware there was a man behind him as his head started to spin. His grip on his mouse got a little sweaty as he tried to make sense of the connection. The job probably would have been simpler if he didn't admit to being proficient but there was always one going to be demanded.

“The universe really does pull threads with the right amount of pressure.”

“What?”

After hitting an emergency key combo, Reki spun around. Furious with such a massive omission from someone who wanted his trust. A man with the audacity to look a little surprised over a quote from his own boss.

“How'd you know?” Reki demanded to know with the same amount of tenacity as he would with a gun in his hand. There was a powerful weapon behind him. “Adam made a damn good assumption because of you so how did you know it was me?”

Thin lips shifted, a clenched jaw debated pulling tighter but it wasn't the time to keep silent. Even someone so foolish realized that. “I didn't. I hoped..”

“Thats some fucked up universe alignment you're placing your life on.”

“Is it? I could have shot you if you said you didn't know what I was talking about.”

“Adam would be mad, I assume. He clearly wanted something from Kyan Reki and you walked me right into an even bigger threat. You gave him more collateral on me! Like my family wasn't enough. Fuck you.”

“Wouldn't be the first time Adam got mad at me.” He said, nonchalant in the face of Reki's spat frustration. “And you know as well as I do that your computer is key to both pieces of collateral so delete it now if you want it gone. It's as simple as that.”

Reki gave no indication he'd started the countdown to wipe everything. He couldn't, because it was connected to the much more important failsafe. A money transfer. “Right ‘cause the gun in your hand just gets deleted too.”

The man raised his hand, giving Reki a clear and obvious view of the first time he took his finger off the trigger. Casual movements did nothing to make Reki feel any safer, he knew it could be as quick as a blink. That's how fast he kept getting caught off guard, and the next moment was no different.

“My name is Langa.” He spoke the truth slightly softer than the edge he held, because he knew. “I was born and raised in Canada and I was bought in Japan.”

Reki hated that his bleeding heart was predictably struck by sincerity. He would have audibly cursed empathy if his breath wasn't caught in his throat. Fingers flexed on the rough mesh of his arm rests as he willed himself to not be affected. To just let it end before he truly got caught up.

“Yeah, it's a fucked up, extremely precarious, line to be placing myself on but have you ever been desperate Reki?”

In ocean blue eyes, Reki saw himself like he was looking at a rippled reflection. Not everything had hardened against the world, just enough for survival. It was tiring, as so loudly told by the subtle bags under Langa's eyes and the massive ones beneath Reki's. Sacrifices had to be made to start living and even though it didn't work out the best, there were still good things.

“You..” Reki exhaled, trying to find where he was going only to get caught glancing back when he tried to look away. “You kill people.”

“And you presumably turn your head. Considering Adam hadn't mentioned his actual business in his list of potential grievances with you.”

“His actual business is international assassination? And the torture shit is just.. for pleasure?”

“Exactly.” Langa confirmed with a sharp bob of his head. “I'm an unfortunate overlap.”

Reki's eyes shot to the weapon when it moved. Langa noticed and lowered his arm slower than he had yet to set the gun on Reki's comforter. The placement didn't make him feel much more comfortable and he was already feeling twisted. When Langa lifted his long sleeves, Reki felt like his insides were being wrung out of every ounce of compassion he was capable of.

Faded circular scars dotted his skin and Reki could not look at them, knowing exactly where burnt shapes came from. The second time he made the decision, it came just as quickly from behind pinched shut eyes. “Fuck, fine. But for the record, I'm not happy with you.”

“It would be weird if you were.”

“Yeah well..” Reki sighed and spun his chair around to face the edge he was about to jump off of, for a handsome stranger shaking his sleeve back down. He paused the failsafe and set it back up to run if he didn't tell it not to every hour. “This whole thing is weird, if not absolutely fucking crazy.”

Langa hummed in acknowledgement, neither denial or agreement.

“And you're aware that stuff like this is cutting the head off a hydra. Even if we find him- I mean when.” The correction was made with vigor as Reki cut open that bug.

“Yes I am aware. Finding him is giving me the opportunity-”

“Saving you is erasing your collateral.. I getcha.”

“Getting a name off a list. I can handle the rest.”

Reki understood, more than Langa knew. Well if he knew just how encrypted the information about Reki's family was, he probably did know. There was only so much Reki could do legally to remove a connection and the fact he still kept one was always going to be a risk bigger than his surname. If only he never planned on turning his hobby into a job…

Real life just wasn't for him. Reki gave it a good shot just after leaving only to find the two halves of the universe were blindingly different and most people didn't like to be reminded of the potential existence of anything but their own bubble. There was no compassion for pieces that didn't quite fit and Reki really should have dropped out entirely instead of finishing his degree online.

If his internet persona was ever sought after, an Information and Communications Engineering diploma would be a mark in the “stupidly obvious” column, even to law enforcement. Adam had done exactly that. Which made focusing on tiny details difficult when Reki was worrying about the bigger picture. He desperately wanted to know what he was originally found for, even if it didn't matter.

Langa changed the plan drastically, throwing a job in Reki's lap with the same amount of difficulty and risk. Only it wasn't just Reki hanging over the edge, Langa was too. Which may have been comforting if Reki's brain wasn't bouncing between sympathy and dehumanization. Thinking about a cold blooded killer, someone comfortable in the dark but only because they were pushed there in the first place. Presumably. The word bought was sitting heavily in Reki's mind.

The weight was immense, not to mention the pressure. Langa may have said he'd take care of the rest but Reki had deflating faith, no matter how sure it was said. He knew from experience that he could dissect code and trace it back for a line to cut only for a similar one to pop up just after. And Adam was proving to be protective over what he considered his. Saving Langa was not going to be easy and finding Adam was looking to be difficult.

Reki's best bet was reviving what he'd reduced to a corpse and even that was a shot in the dark. He knew what the bug’s eyes could see and he needed to make everything that he was doing look legitimate. Setting a stage while something else was going on behind the scenes. The main problem was, cardboard cut outs weren't going to do it. Reki needed to do both jobs, at once.

The main issue was, he was at the bottom of the stairs on hacking into a government agency and a phone call could only realistically be near the top. Unless, he went really stupid with his attempt to get that bug running and transmitting his data back to somewhere. To make that move, Reki needed to wait until sunrise at the very least. He glanced at the balcony door and back to the clock on his desktop.

An hour had passed in silence and he had forty seven left to go or both of them died. Reki did not feel good when he turned away from the curve of his desk. His chest was tight and his hands were shaky but caffeine helped with that, sometimes. Langa didn't immediately move from his position lounging on Reki's bed with his back against the wall and it only felt right to clue him in on why the promised S Tier Effort was about to look like nothing.

“I don't have a personal cell.” Reki explained and realized at the twitch of one perfectly shaped brow that he'd started in the middle of his plan. “No, what I mean is I would use the program the bug is in to make a call anyway. Not that I've ever ordered delivery before but it's a relatively not suspicious way of reactivating it.”

Langa just blinked. “Would you like me to pretend I know what you're talking about? Would validation help get it done?”

“No.” Reki sneered and stood up.

“Because I'm fine complimenting you. From the way Adam was talking, even before the connection, there was something promising.”

“I'm not a dog, dude, I don't need praise. I just thought you'd want a heads up.”

Walking away and not thinking about Langa's potential compliments was easy when Reki was wondering what could possibly be promising about Kyan Reki. He grabbed both energy drinks he bought out of the bag in the sink and momentarily froze, despite the two room temperature pieces of aluminum in his hands. Curiosity sparked, again, and he hurried back into the main room before Langa got the wrong idea.

Reki offered a can when he asked. “So is Adam just a straight up groomer or what?”

Langa huffed something that almost sounded like a laugh. Almost, his face was still expressionless but Reki took the nod as appreciation as well as agreement. Langa leaned forward to take the can and Reki adamantly did not think about brushing against gloved fingers. The situation was weird enough, his body didn't need to make it worse by being so attracted to the man repeatedly threatening to kill him.

“I wasn't a kid.” Langa said simply before the tab popped open as Reki sat back down.

“Well neither am I, and I assume he saw something in my university files. Like had a panic attack in a classroom, screamed at his teacher. Online school recommended because he's clearly fucked up by a childhood we can't even access and can't be a productive member of society.”

The vague picture of Reki's life didn't phase Langa in the slightest. He took a sip and scrunched his face because of the taste, which made Reki smile. And he hid that with a quick spin back to his monitors and the job at hand. Even though there wasn't much else he could do at that second except open his own energy drink and savor his favorite watermelon flavor.

“Maybe.” Langa mused from behind him as tart fizz sat on Reki's tongue. “Probably, actually. I don't know much more than he wanted you and I was to force you there.”

Reki swallowed and something got caught in his throat despite the liquid going down smooth. “So in a way, you're saving me too.”

“If you help me.”

“Right..” The hand hovering over his mouse flexed in indecision to grip. “I could have just poisoned you.”

“I watched you walk out with these from the seven eleven and you weren't in the kitchen longer than forty five seconds. So if you did, you'd have to have been extremely quick about it. And somehow punctured the can without carbonation leaking out. It popped, I'm fine.”

Reki didn't know why he laughed, but he did. It bubbled out of all the tension pulling him taut and felt good to release. Why he shared his smile that time was an even bigger mystery. Part of the reason he turned his head might have been because he was genuinely impressed with how quick Langa ran through the scenario. He took the can with no hesitation, he was that fast.

“We both have our specialities huh?” Reki teased as he chuckled. “You don't realize your phone could be spying on you and I don't get the finer details of murder.”

Langa almost looked amused. There was a bit of brightness in his eyes that could have come from the same place releasing a bit of constriction inside of Reki. “I actively avoid thinking about it, to be completely fair. I'm not a fan of surveillance.”

Reki hummed, closing his lips firmly so none of the horrendous assumptions he made came out of his mouth. He drummed his fingers on his mouse, looking for something else to say to keep that lightened feeling. Looking at the clock on his desktop brought him back to the original idea.

“So, fan of anything food wise?” He asked, opening a new tab for local browsing. “Not that I can promise much considering the time but might as well order something that'll actually get eaten.”

“You're ordering food?”

The sheer confusion and sarcastic stress were warranted, and giving Reki a good understanding of Langa's honesty. “Pretty soon here, yeah, need to reactivate that bug Adam planted. And I'm giving it a little more information than last time.”

“Giving him anything isn't a good idea.. and I don't think he plants things, just to be clear. He's only hands on with certain things.”

“Well yeah. I assumed he needs someone for the tech side of things otherwise why look for someone to push into the underground. My guess is it's for his personal business and I'm hoping not to have to sift through torture. So it looks like there's a place with those fluffy pancakes, how's that sound?”

When Reki looked for an answer, he was met with a blank face and an empty tone. “..torture right to fluffy pancakes.”

“Hey it's not my preferred last meal either but there's not a lot of breakfast places that deliver and we are kinda on a time limit.”

“Fluffy pancakes are fine. I just don't know how you have an appetite.”

“I don't, most of the time.”

Reki sat down one of the culprits on the corner of his keyboard and got to work setting everything up to place an order for delivery. Hopefully, an edited script would have enough data to trace through the web. Like injecting plankton with a little bit of growth hormone so it was easier to follow through the sea. He just had to pray it would go unnoticed and thanks to Langa's explanation, he had a good idea.

The can had to pop and it also had to fizz, but not overflow. Reki was very, very careful with the injection but bold by actually ordering food to be delivered to his apartment. Old habits weren't so easily broken and he instructed the generated voice to insist the food be left outside the lobby.

“There.” Reki dusted his hands off the task but was quick to reach for his computer to tab over to the window following the stream of data coming through. “Half an hour for the food, not sure how long this is gonna take. Whoever sets up Adam's networks is fond of decoys and it took me six hours last time.”

“Six hours to find the girl?” Langa asked, lighter than all of his other words.

“Yeah and I have to be more careful trying to find him.. Things tend to be easier the lower down on the chain you aim, but I don't think Adam's at the top to be honest.”

“I know he isn't. Why bother with me then?”

Reki chose his tone very carefully, setting a bit more sincerity in how casually he was speaking. He didn't want to give Langa the impression, again, that he was making light of the situation. Even if it was the easiest way to survive. “Outside of personal interest is a really good question. Sounds like he's your handler, like in the movies.”

“No, that's someone else, but you're close.”

“Really?” Reki spun around to see Langa holding the can in his lap with both hands. The glance at the gun still laying on his bed was instinctual as he pried. “So it's like someone else, then just above that someone else is Adam you think?”

“I know. The ‘handler’ is also security, directly under Adam for all of the overlap.”

As Reki was trying to picture it all, he pinched his eyes shut when it was something he'd rather not imagine. “That's so fucked..”

Langa's brows raised slightly when Reki tried to blink away the image of him being hurt by someone while another stood there with a gun. An unspoken way of saying ‘you think?’

“Sorry.” He exhaled, sincerely, and tried to shake off the sinking of his stomach. “Do you get your jobs on that phone? Like just in case we need a back up plan?”

“No, they are all hand delivered on paper.”

“By this same guy? He just knows where you are at all times?”

Langa nodded. “Why do you think I chose a time he knew where I'd be for 48 hours to make a drastic move?”

“Smart…”

“I'm not stupid.”

Reki only raised one hand in defense that time. “Never said you were. I imagine there's a lot of cleverness that goes into what you do. It's really not all that different from what I do. It's all just weak points I guess.”

“People have a lot of them.”

On that gruesome reminder, Reki turned back around to look at much less fragile systems. Even his own had weak points that with the right amount of pressure, could crack. It was just far less likely from far away but not downright impossible. That's what he was holding on to as he found the first of many sequences.

Sorting through decoys was as simple as following patterns and as difficult as remembering randomly generated ones. He always pictured it like a ring of doors. One would eventually lead to the end but there were like eighty different options each time. Go through one, you were faced with another eighty. Manage to guess right again, you could move on but if you were wrong the entire process would start over.

At least he was familiar with the process. Reki put on music, but not his headphones. He wasn't just careful with the volume for his neighbor's sake. He wanted to be able to hear if Langa said anything. He didn't, for an entire half hour when he reminded Reki it was right around the time the restaurant gave.

Going to grab the food was a discussion. Reki didn't want to leave Langa unsupervised in his apartment and Langa would not let Reki out of his metaphorical sight. Fluffy pancakes were not worth a fight.

“It can just sit there. I really don't care.” Reki gave up easily when it was pointed out neither of them were good to send. “I'll really only care about sustenance if I run out of caffeine because I am usually going to bed right now.”

“Why?” Langa asked with another tilt of his head that Reki couldn't help but read as genuine curiosity. Especially with how his firm glare had widened.

Reki shrugged, wishing he was a little bit more interesting to warrant the interest. “I dunno. Just prefer night time.”

The answer wasn't great, but Langa looked at him like it was beyond unsatisfactory. His eyes narrowed and Reki couldn't tell if it was because of the night owl concept or maybe the realization caffeine would need to be acquired considering Reki bought three and two were used up. Langa set his can to lean against Reki's pillows and sat forward ever so slightly to seemingly look at the sunshine starting to peek through the balcony door.

“Don't move.” He commanded coldly and a full shiver rippled through Reki as he was brought right back to the threshold with the gun against his head. Langa picked it back up and cocked it before standing up slowly.

Without moving, Reki looked for a reason and caught a flash of red. Faint and filtered through the dawning light but visible regardless. A laser Langa noticed before it even swept the walls where it could reach. Reki realized his windows were visible with a sharp breath, curtains may have stopped light but they wouldn't stop a bullet. Langa knew that much better, faster.

In that inhale, Reki's chair was being pushed over with strength Reki really should have expected. He was wholly unprepared to be pushed to the floor and even less ready for Langa to follow him. There wasn't even a chance to flail in the fall before Reki's limbs were pinned in place by the body above him. As if he knew involuntary noises well, Langa had slapped a glove-covered hand over Reki's mouth before one could escape.

“Don't make a single sound. Just roll over so I can pick your chair up before that scope focuses in on the window.”

Reki nodded in wide eyed understanding, though he felt like he was sixty steps behind. His heart was immediately racing, pounding in his head so loud he couldn't even hear the clatter of plastic against the floorboards. He barely could process how Langa had gotten the chair back to standing, Reki wasn't even caught back up when they ended in a different position from all the scrambling.

His back was against the thin wall of the nook his desk sat in and Langa was crouched over his lap, leaning a bit of his body weight on Reki's bent knee. The ice cold glare was closer than it ever had been before and his hissed words were low enough to splash Reki's face in contrasting warmth. “Whatever you gave him tipped him off.”

“It shouldn't have.” He squeaked and was silenced again. The muffled noise he made under Langa's palm was incriminating. Hopefully unnoticed in immediate anger that should not have been enticing.

“Why else would he send someone else? The only reason would be because something broke his trust in me.”

Reki thought beyond what he'd allowed the bug to see. It couldn't have been the call, he didn't even let the number go through in fear of coming across as cocky. He glanced right to the next best idea. The kitchen. Adam must have listened in on Langa more than he thought and maybe he tuned into silence. Langa followed his eyes and came to the same conclusion.

“Fuck.” Fingers tightened into Reki's cheeks. “Fucking voyeur. We need to get out of here.”

Frantic points to the desk above them hopefully conveyed what Reki could not, still being rightfully silenced because he was making an argument and a half under the leather of Langa's glove. He couldn't leave his computer, not when it had their only lead.

Langa was truly quick. His eyes pierced into Reki's after just a brief flicker. “Do you have a laptop?”

Reki nodded eagerly and pointed to his bed where a back up lived in a faraday bag beneath his mattress.

“How long do you need to get it ready?”

When the firm hand was removed, he had to gulp in air like a flustered fish to be able to answer. Reki held his chest to hopefully get it together as he tried his very best not to blush, and also match Langa's low volume level. “Two minutes tops, but I'll have to start over.”

“You have one. Long hallways, remember? And there's two of them to factor into planning.”

“Two?!”

Chapter Text

Reki pushed up his mattress like he imagined moms lifted mini vans off their kids. The thick futon crumpled in half thanks to wholly unnecessary strength but he was rightfully freaking out. Sure he'd prepared for a scenario that warranted having a go bag of electronics but arguing with anxiety must have let realistic probability sink in somewhere in his subconscious. He wasn't expecting to be confronted with progress on his mental health while a shot went through the back of his computer chair.

His wide blown eyes lifted to the neat hole in the wall above him then snapped to the blown out headrest that could have been his brains if it wasn't for Langa. He was crouched on the floor with the gun dangling in his open lap, looking a little more annoyed than blank but nowhere near the anger of just moments before. Ice seemed to be his specialty.

“Tick tock.” Langa mocked in monotone, completely unphased by the bullet ringing in between Reki's ears. “She'll either be slipping in right now or waiting for the neighbor's reaction to die down, depending on how safe this neighborhood is.”

“You already know what's more likely.” Reki retorted with a glare and tried to gather more than just himself as his neighbors would not care.

The laptop bag wasn't incredibly inconspicuous, something slim and sleek would have fit in much better in public. Reki ducked under the strap and settled the cargo bag on his hip while trying to keep as low to the floor as possible. His bare knees scraped against the hardwood floor as he scrambled to grab the secondary wallet he kept as well as the backpack full of electronics. To anyone else the bits and pieces would look like a bunch of junk and even without seeing inside, Langa gave him a raise of one brow that was all doubt.

Reki had no idea what he'd need in this pursuit of Adam and he tried to convey that with a frustrated flap of his hand. He was stepping past the wrongful assumption of time wasted with something much more pressing, putting him ahead in the plan. There was something they truly couldn't leave without and Langa was not going to like it.

“We gotta get to the roof.” Reki insisted with a preemptive wince as his second bag settled against his back.

“What?”

A predictable hiss didn't slow a crawl to the front door. There wasn't even time to feel ridiculous on all fours. Reki didn't even note his cleaning regiment could have been much better until he was reaching for the handle of the door with a dusty palm. Langa's glove-covered hand stopped him from wrenching the metal down and Reki immediately turned to see why.

Langa shook his head adamantly from the compromising position of practically draped over Reki. “Before we leave, we need to be on the exact same page.”

“I'm not gonna escape the first chance I get dude, you just saved my life.”

“I stopped my chance at freedom from getting shot in the head.”

“Wow, way to make a guy feel necessary in the worst possible way.”

“I'm not going to be able to do that on the roof.” Langa bit and his grip around Reki's hand tightened hard enough, leather squeaked against skin. “We are not-”

“We have to. My Ispy Clown three thousand is up there.”

Langa just blinked again. Not expectantly, in disbelief that faded by the third flutter of pale blue lashes and Reki met the blank stare of immense annoyance with a rushed explanation.

“My crucial box. A router with extra steps. Anonymity.”

Langa grumbled a concession as he pushed Reki's hand down to open the door. “That's a really fucking stupid name.”

Reki scoffed and slipped through the space by scraping his backpack and shoulder across every possible surface in the genkan until he was free to spring up to his feet. The long hall looked even more foreboding, knowing anyone could come out of those doors at any time and there could be a killer coming up the stairs. Or the elevator. He didn't have a chance to be scared of uncertainty, Langa pushed him in the direction they needed to go. The only way they could.

“Run” didn't need to be said. Socked feet stumbled but caught slick tile as quickly as they could. With an impending countdown at the forefront of his mind, Reki passed by neighbors that he'd never seen and never would. He essentially set off a bomb behind him and with the way his heart was racing, nothing felt metaphorical. He'd always heard life could change in the blink of an eye but he didn't believe the quote until the moment his hands landed on the cold metal handle of the stairwell. Everything he'd worked hard for was going up in smoke behind him but the haze was ahead of him. Drab, gray, and a daunting five flights of stairs.

The first step was easy to make but Reki lost count somewhere in the spin. His hand was sliding along the railing as his lungs started to burn. The weight of his backpack felt heavier and heavier which kept throwing off his balance. Over compensating with his grip left him in a perpetual state of wobbling that he tried to fix on the next landing.

Langa passed him swinging the laptop bag onto his other hip. “Faster, Kyan, move it.”

“What are you, a physical education teacher?” Reki looked above him to see the vaguest hint of a smirk on Langa's lips as he climbed a mountain effortlessly. “The fuck do you expect?”

“A little haste when your life is on the line.”

“Not just mine, asshole.” He snapped and pulled himself right back into the most physical activity he’d done in years.

The echo of their hurried footsteps rang down concrete and metal, along with the pant of Reki's breath. It was honestly a wonder he didn't pass out at the final floor. Reki felt like he might, all lightheaded with his chest on the verge of collapse when the door reading “Roof Access" was wrenched open by a gloved hand. Langa squinted against the sunlight and took in the scenery Reki knew to be pebbled and dotted with boxes of all shapes and sizes. Cover, if he was thinking like an assassin trying to avoid another shot.

The trained one had the same idea. “Stay low, behind anything you can find.”

“What side?” Reki asked, lifting to his tip toes to look for the hub he'd broken into over a year ago.

“Western. As in stay on the we-”

“I don't know directions!”

“The sun is-” Langa cut off his exasperation to direct it at Reki’s squeak with a glare. “Left.”

“Got it.”

Thankfully Langa went first, giving Reki an example to follow by. A crouch walk towards the nearest air conditioning unit was just as uncomfortable as it looked to be. Even more so, as Reki only had the thin layer of his socks protecting him from jagged stones he'd never understand the purpose of. Their crunch beneath his feet was barely audible over the pound of his heart and the hum of electricity. He didn't even hear Langa's question until he turned around and Reki bumped right into him on this survival instinct to keep moving.

“Where is your crucial box?” He asked again, bordering on a full thaw in his tone.

“The hub was like.. third from the right?” Reki blinked, trying to pinch his eyes shut and remember a visual of the grid they were hiding in. “We have to go over a row.”

“That would have been helpful to know beforehand.” He said as he leaned around the edge, presumably making sure it was safe.

Reki didn't know what he was expecting but a hand signal should have been obvious from someone so professional. He watched the back of Langa's palm while his already sharp breath became stabbing when it was held. Upon the point of a long finger, an exhale let loose just as they did. Rushing around the corner to the nearest metal box that just so happened to be the one engraved with a little gear to distinguish it in architectural symmetry.

They had to trade places so Reki could get at the lock and in the shuffle, he swung around his backpack off his back. The heavy bag landed in the rocks with a splash and the zipper sounded like a huge rip. Langa's head snapped in the opposite direction as he must have heard something Reki couldn't over a cacophony of noise. Internal and external.

“Gotta be quick.” Langa reminded him, as if Reki hadn't already gathered that.

He didn't bother biting back, his sole focus was on rummaging through his bag for a set of screwdrivers that must've slipped down to the bottom. The case was open and he pushed the empty box off to the side, bumping his fingers into every texture possible aside from the one he was looking for. Slick plastic, smooth metal, the stab of something jagged all before he felt ridges and snuck his hand back out of the trap to pick the lock.

A skill that didn't get much practice was rusty. Reki was fumbling in his haste to open the door and the sound of Langa's gun cocking was not helping. He was trying to produce a much different click and the right amount of pressure kept slipping through his sweaty fingers. Frustration started to ramble out of his mouth as Reki talked himself through most everything.

“Guns not even to my head and I crack under pressure what the actual-” A pop cut him off and Reki was quick to dig his short nails in-between thick strips of steel to get the door open. “Just needed to complain, I guess.”

“Tends to work that way, yeah.” Langa agreed with an all too casual tone before he got out of the way.

Reki couldn't look to make sure he was still close. His eyes were on the prize, a mass of wires and circuit boards. His tangle of technology had to be hidden from any technicians that could possibly stumble on it but apparently he'd chosen his building perfectly. The internet service was incredibly reliable, nothing had been tampered with and he was able to get his small black box out much quicker than he had put it in.

Even though he'd never set foot in his apartment again, Reki still had to be careful not to cut off internet access to the building. His failsafe could have been completed or it could have had thirty seconds left, he had no way of knowing. Time was a blur when he focused, the concept was impossible to figure out when he was in such a rush. He slammed the door shut and looked for Langa.

In the shadow of a tall air conditioner, stunning blue eyes flickered between Reki and the door they'd come through. Langa's question didn't have a chance to pass his parted lips before Reki was nodding to signal he was ready. Ready being a relative term as he still had to zip up his bag, fumble to shove the tiny plastic piece into the pocket of his shorts, and get his backpack on. All without standing up too high. Surely the slam of metal was indicative of suspicious rooftop activity, which was such a helpful thought to have after the fact.

They made their way back the way they came, exactly how they went. Only this time with a lot more pausing behind the sun that obscured any chance of seeing a laser, and Langa was faster. A crouch run instead of a walk that Reki was having a hard time keeping up with. Not only because of the awkwardness of it but because he still hadn't caught his breath from the rapid ascent.

The door opening in a rush caught the sweat on his face, bringing a cool nausea with it he had to push past. It was a wonder they weren't greeted at the top of the stairs by a gun and Reki was growing increasingly sure he was going to throw up while his mind was churning with suspicion. They really should have been greeted by a gun.

“What the fuck?” He asked, panting his lungs out as Langa slid to a stop at the very first landing.

Just after looking through the thin sheet of glass to the hallway beyond, Langa barely explained over his shoulder. “Elevator.”

“No, I mean, two. You said there was two.”

“Yep.” He confirmed nonchalantly and pulled the door open. “The roof was actually a good idea.”

“What?” Reki exhaled as he tried to keep up.

Langa didn't hold the door so Reki's backpack got pinched as he tried to slip out into the hallway just like him. Only to end up flailing momentarily until he managed to free himself with a painful jab into his hips. By the time he scrambled after him, Langa was jamming his thumb into the down arrow which didn't seem like a good idea at all. In the frazzle of Reki's brain, primal warning signs were flashing.

“Why are we taking the elevator? It's a death trap if you're telling the truth.”

“If I'm telling the truth?” Langa parroted sarcastically with a huff of a laugh. When he looked over at Reki, there was no hint of amusement anywhere on his face. “You think I make up a pair of highly trained killers for fun?”

“I don't know?! Maybe! Something in my subconscious is screaming at me about a second location and I really don't wanna get in the fucking elevator.”

“You're gonna get in the fucking elevator because she's gonna take the stairs.”

“Why would she take the stairs?”

Langa's answer was to push Reki through slowly opening doors, catching him yet again on any surface possible and sending him stumbling into the back wall. He caught it with his face and a sting shot through his nose. Reki turned, holding the round of it, to glare at the unnecessary use of force only to make eye contact with Langa's back as he hit the next button for the ground floor.

His chin lifted and Langa looked around the shiny ceiling as he took a deep breath. When broad shoulders settled back into a straight line, he turned towards Reki. The clear view of him tucking the gun away in a tight waistband pulled on senses that were already taut. A peek at the pale skin of his incredibly toned stomach was not what Reki needed at that moment.

“Cameras are everywhere in Japan. Less likely in the stairwells, especially when they are so dimly lit like that.” Langa explained calmly, with a collection on himself that Reki could only mirror by being the exact opposite.

Reki's chest was heaving when he nodded in silent understanding. Pointing out the cameras in his building were faulty seemed pointless and he couldn't have managed sound when he was so focused on breathing himself through this experience. A task and a half, considering his heart was intent on racing no matter how hard he gripped into his t-shirt trying to stop it. At least the feeling of faint was passing as the elevator descended, by the time it dinged softly, he was back to blushing profusely.

More than a couple of steps behind, Reki readied to run and Langa stopped him from bursting out of the elevator with a strong arm across his chest. “We walk out of here and right onto the street.”

The stern instruction rattled Reki enough to pay attention to it. He watched Langa toss the hood of his dark sweatshirt over his hair and turn expectantly. Reki had followed every example thus far but his hands flew off his face and chest to make an immediately frustrated gesture.

He could only hiss an excuse. “My hoodie is on my floor. And my shoes,” He looked down to his wiggling toes in tight black fabric and back up to see Langa roll his eyes as he turned to face the lobby. “Are in the genkan. That's a little suspicious don't you think?”

“Any focus is gonna be your hair, no one will notice your lack of shoes.” Langa stepped out of the elevator as casually as his plan to blend in would assume, meanwhile Reki rushed to follow him.

“Well shouldn't I cover it or something?”

“No time.”

Reki's elbow was grabbed roughly and he was pulled along. In an instinctual glance to the stairs, he caught sight of something behind the glass. The window had perfectly framed a mask, blank white with hollowed eyes and mouth. Reki's wide eyes shot to Langa but no answers were being given as they rushed through the lobby. A lock apparently didn't matter either way. Langa pushed open the glass door and they passed the bag of takeout sitting right next to it.

The immediate street wasn't busy enough and Reki kept pace to get them around the corner of the high rise. The sidewalk next to the park he lived across from was a direct route to the train station and Ikebukuro was waking up. The working class was on their way to dead end jobs in a sea of suits the two misfits of society wouldn't blend with, but Reki didn't think that really mattered. It was all about the density of the crowd.

As soon as they got near someone else, Reki wrenched his arm out of Langa's grip and sighed. The exhale was nowhere close to relief but it did loosen a bit of the constriction in his chest. He stuck his thumbs under the straps of his backpack and fought his head not to turn over his shoulder to check if they were being followed. He had to assume they were.

“So.” He huffed under his still uneven breath and kept his eyes ahead of them as he tried to envision an escape plan. “The station then?”

Langa hummed in agreement. “But we don't get on a train.”

Reki's head snapped to the man at his side in surprise. He was squinting against the sunlight, even under the cover of his baggy hood. Still, that sliver of blue showed so much in flickers. All the rapid processing Reki might have been capable of if he wasn't so thoroughly rattled and trying to recover from running.

“We don't get on a train?” He repeated to be sure he was understanding whispers correctly. “We should probably get on a train.”

Langa's head shook softly. “Well we get on the train but we get right back off and head to the east side.”

Reki refocused on the sidewalk ahead of them as he tried to make sense of what sounded like a really stupid plan. Already fighting the urge to run with a masked individual chasing them down, it was really hard not to want to go further than the station. He wanted to take an airplane, fly off to some corner of the world where no one would ever find him again. Knowing he thought the same thing when he moved to the mainland wasn’t very comforting. That thought only added to a rapid descent as reality started to sink in.

They walked in the path of a life Reki was never meant to lead as the one he crafted for himself was actively burning. Their pace was a little rushed as they wove in and out of work day routines because they were pretending they weren’t walking away from an explosion. An inherent and buried sense of optimism was blinding Reki in flashes, little pictures of hope vastly different from the faces he wanted to see. Instead, he kept thinking of golden coins raining from a mushroom cloud, catching the sunlight at an angle that pointed to a charred body in the rubble where his soul was stuck.

Even though they had somehow managed to get into Ikebukuro Station and out the other side without another glimpse of that haunting mask, there was no guaranteeing Reki was making it out alive. His brain was being useless by wondering what he could possibly do after, he needed to be focusing on the next 45 or so hours. That detonation of his life was definitely large but he wasn’t going out without trying to set off a much larger bomb and this time, he only had one person’s safety to worry about.

Langa could handle himself, as so aptly proven when he kept the two of them on the path of escape without Reki even really noticing. The next step he took brought him back into himself, and right into a puddle. He cringed as cold, soaking wet started to seep in between his toes. His chin lifted with a stifled whine that came out anyway, sounding like a pitiful sob as he looked up at the reflective glass of much nicer high rises. The other side of the train tracks wasn’t glaringly different but the sunlight was trying its best.

“Wha- oh.” Langa answered his own question by looking down at Reki’s feet as they kept walking. “Well, there should be a store right around here.”

“Duh, dude. We are right by the station, these are all stores.”

Reki’s wide-armed gesture ahead of them was unnecessary. The wide crosswalk they were walking in was packed with people headed right for eye-catching billboards lining every building. Bits of English were settled into kanji and characters, advertising everything from cafes to department stores. Arrows pointed a hundred different ways to a hundred different things, Reki was starting to see how clever the choice was when running for their lives was expected, but he didn’t feel comfortable stopping somewhere.

Even waiting for traffic in the planted median had him bouncing on his wet socks. The rush of wind from short boxy trucks and sleek cars was cooling his sweat and reminding him that he was out of place wearing a t-shirt and shorts against the falling temperatures of autumn. His lack of a puffer jacket or sharp peacoat really didn’t matter except to him. His bright red hair was a neon sign he’d rather get out of view sooner rather than later. Preferably by getting somewhere they could stay for longer than a minute.

“Donki right there.” He pointed out the well known discount store that would surely have shoes and a hoodie with that stupid penguin mascot on it. “But tick tock. What’s next?”

“My idea was internet cafe-”

“Stupid.” Reki cut Langa off with a sharp, shivered, hiss just as the pedestrian light went green.

“Okay..”

Crossing the street gave them both time to think. Reki was making a pros and cons list of all the options as he kept them straight in their course. Between two buildings was a packed path and keeping to side streets felt safer. They could stick to them until the city opened up but hopefully they found somewhere to hide out before then. Preferably someplace that didn't have a receptionist, everywhere had internet access.

“I mean maybe not that dumb.” Reki said his consideration out loud as they passed by a shop that had brought its sale outside. “They have private rooms and anonymous check in half the time. My access is about the same anywhere in public, but wouldn’t that be where you’d check?”

Langa shook his head when Reki looked for the answer. His pretty pursed lips parted, readying to give one but the opportunity was interrupted by a stumble. Black high tops caught Reki's toes as Langa ran into him, knocking him entirely off balance and sending him colliding with a rack of discounted clothing. Before the shape of Langa's body could register beyond its warmth, Reki was being steadied and rerouted with an apology.

“I'm sorry, excuse me.” Langa said in perfectly polite Japanese complete with a couple of flustered bows and everything.

Reki’s face flushed as looked over his shoulder for the reason for the contact that set his already frazzled nerves alight only to find no obstacle that would have made Langa trip. His gaze shot to Langa for an explanation but he was wiped clean, wearing no expression at all. Bright eyes were focused ahead of them, where he was directing Reki just as a hat settled onto his hair.

“You were saying?” Langa asked with some immaculate side-eye and the most subtle smirk.

Reki barked a laugh born from bubbling in his stomach as if he'd just taken a huge swig of an energy drink. He fought another urge to turn around and check the immediate assumption bringing him so much amusement, he could confirm it verbally anyway. His words just came out snickered as he adjusted the visor to sit properly like the stolen baseball cap had always been there. “Being pushed is so much less probable here.”

Langa's flat handed gesture to the late business man in front of him was easily understood but the casual way he shoved his hands back into the pockets of his hoodie said more. The proud little swing of his leg as he shot Reki a wink was damn near endearing. Langa may have been able to keep the pace they were walking at but Reki stuttered, trying to drown the sensation of electricity inside of him by swallowing hard.

“S-so, where would you check?”

“If I didn't see you hit that fail safe and smooth out your mattress, I'd assume you would double back for your PC.”

“Right.” Reki nodded, trying to simultaneously retrace his steps and continue on. “But I'm not alone.”

Langa hummed in affirmation and Reki looked for more explanation only to follow his eyes to the side. “There's shoes.”

The prompt was regrettably effective and Reki's head snapped to the display they were walking past only to rubberband right back to Langa. “Don't push me into them, I'll suffer in my wet socks. Also, lemme just say, you're way too chill.”

“Yeah well.” He shrugged his shoulders, proving the point. “I planned my own getaway through the station and it worked out better since it's a couple hours later. She's off to Shibuya with the same idea, density and hiding in plain sight, while he's waiting for you to go back to your apartment.”

“There's no going back.” Saying the hard truth out loud solidified something in Reki and gave him an idea. “But there's more options on the west side...”

“To answer your original question, I would assume you'd need internet access so that would be the first place I'd start, yes. Looking for exactly what you listed.”

“Yeah but an internet cafe isn't the only thing to offer those amenities.”

Langa raised one brow in question and tilted his head ever so slightly, giving Reki all the more reason to push him. A shove in the right direction was really just an assumption that put them on the main road again. Reki scanned the advertisements, hoping for a familiar string of kanji that decorated every inch of a block near where he lived. The kind of street where people waited around on the curbs.

“Gotta be one over there.” He pointed to another dense set of buildings that would put them back nearer the station.

A tight cluster around the train lines was meant for convenience. Walking times were always the biggest advertisement and not just for apartments. Retail and restaurants prized proximity equally and Reki and Langa passed plenty as they stuck to as many side streets as possible. Each wrong turn made Langa sigh a little heavier but Reki was looking for something in particular without the luxury of being able to bring up a map on his phone, an hourly rate, and he found just the place.

Sandwiched between a soba shop and a maid cafe was a smooth white building with swirly black accents and chrome lettering in English. Although Reki didn't really know why considering he didn't expect tourists to understand the purpose of it. Maybe they'd see the cheap yen rate and think they were getting a deal on an overnight stay only to get a knock three hours later by someone with tattoos who would insist politely that their time was up unless they paid for more. The extension times were a little ridiculous, it had to be a predatory tactic.

Actually, Reki understood exactly why. He'd do the same and he wouldn't even put the translation in a fancy font.

“A hotel.” Langa said flatly. “We were wandering around looking for a hotel.”

“Yep.” Reki swayed back on the scuffed heels of his socks then rounded the privacy wall serving as a “classy” information board in comparison to folding signs.

The hotel was a lot less seedy than some others he'd wandered right past but similar enough that he got the gist of the process. On a half tiled wall, right beside an old monitor playing poorly edited views of the different rooms and their options, was the check in tablet. Luxury, moderate, and noticeably more smudged with fingerprints, standard.

Reki pressed the pad of his fingertip into luxury first, hoping the higher price made it a less attractive option. He didn't want to be running around Ikebukuro unless he had to be but unfortunately, it seemed the fact it was only seven in the morning had nothing to do with a first come first serve system. The biggest options were all booked so he settled for the moderate, hoping the house keepers didn't differentiate between the two. He was really only losing out on rose petals and champagne by the looks of it.

“Is this what I think it is?” Langa questioned, his eyes glued to the screen reflecting silent sparkles of showcase onto an icy stare.

Reki dug into the pocket of his shorts for his secondary wallet to pay the overnight rate. “Yeah but hopefully by now you'll understand that it's exactly what you think it is while simultaneously not being what you're thinking it is.”

Langa was unamused by his rambling and slowly directed that glare towards him. “I swear to God, Reki, you're cute but if I walk into a room full of sex toys, I might kill you.”

“Relax.” Reki rolled his eyes and pressed a card belonging to an Aragaki-san against the payment processor. “Also, noting your use of the word might and taking it as intended.”

“Will. Quicker. Immediately.” Langa corrected as a slip of paper appeared just under the tablet from a hole cut to size.

The threats didn't exactly roll off Reki but as a gentle beep was followed by the heavy click of a lock disengaging, a sense of relative safety was settling inside of him. He pulled open the door and held it with a gentlemanly gesture for Langa to lead the way that would probably rush the timeline of “immediately.” But Langa just snatched the receipt out of Reki's outstretched hand as he passed with a scoff. Smartly looking for the room number and key code that had only flashed momentarily on the screen.

Before Reki followed behind the handsome hitman yet again, he looked for a security camera. Sure enough, the fat globe with a blinking red light wasn't even subtle but he didn't mind being caught on surveillance. Having a clear first task would be just the thing he needed to get back on track. Luckily, security systems tended to be kept on the cloud. Ease of access just destroyed privacy but they happened to be in a country that still valued it. In appearance, at least.

The lobby was well lit, almost too bright as sunken ceiling lights caught every bit of glitter in the sparkly black and white theme. Langa walked right around a three tiered shelving system sat in the middle. Reki glanced as he followed along and all the bottles and little packages looked to be the usual hotel stuff. Toiletries not toys. There was a sense of fake luxury to abide by of course which made the empty front desk a little weird.

There had to be cameras serving in place of employees and Reki noted the next one he would need to wipe right above the elevator. This death trap was tiny with barely enough room for the two of them, let alone Reki's backpack. After they stepped in, Reki pulled in on himself with a shaky breath, thankful his comparatively ridiculous fear of confined spaces could come across like he was giving Langa space.

Their shoulders were bumping together as Langa hit the button for the second floor. Reki stared out at the lobby, relieved it was still empty as the stainless steel doors closed. What little serenity he found by the fact they were alone again was ripped away from him as the elevator cables struggled to lift the box. The jerk of movement wrapped his arms around his chest and the loud rattle of suspicious machinery clenched his jaw.

“You really don't like elevators eh?” Langa asked with a glance as they literally hit their floor.

The whole thing shook and Reki's hands flew out to instinctively catch himself. It was a good thing he wasn't worried about leaving fingerprints. One sweaty palm left an obvious print on the streaky wall while the other had wrapped around a strong bicep. When Reki realized he'd grabbed Langa, he let go like any second longer would give him a third degree burn. The one flashing across his nose was already so damaging.

“It's fine.” Reki insisted and tried to walk away from fear and the fluster of such obvious muscle by leading the way out of the elevator.

One of those things was easily understandable, the other was incredibly confusing but reasoning with his reactions was something Reki was used to. His body was almost never on the same page as his head and even that was divided into multiple systems trying to run at the same time. Processing power was diminishing the longer he was awake, as proven by Langa having to grab him from walking right past their rented room.

The taller man paused Reki's auto-pilot by holding onto his backpack with one hand while he punched in the code above the handle of room 201. A flighty string of notes disengaged the lock and the room popped open. Like the rest of the place, the space was a strange mix of elegant and modern that didn't mesh well.

Short walls of a rectangular room were divided by mirrors. Fake marble was plastered on the bottom, what looked to be smoked stained swirly wallpaper reached the ceiling. One massive white panel hid the lights but only the shape. Again, it was so bright that even Reki was blinking against the harsh glow. He noted the double bed that took up nearly the whole space but his eyes were on the black leather couch and the sleek glass coffee table in front of it. A perfect place to set up shop that Reki went right to.

“This is. Wow.” Langa scoffed softly as the door shut behind them.

“Hideous.” Reki gave his first thought as he wiggled his arms out of the straps of his backpack so leaning back let it fall on the couch. “Yeah, but not full of sex toys.”

He didn't bother checking Langa's reaction or seeing why he was hesitant to step up into the room. Reki ducked under the strap of his laptop bag and was much more careful setting that on the low table. He plopped down on a squeaky cushion and pinched a little bit, only to shiver his discomfort away as he tried to refocus away from the thought of sex. At least the room was clean.

“I really hate the mirrors..” Langa mumbled under his breath, drawing Reki's eyes up from his next step.

His finger hesitated on the ankle band of his sock, dragging along the curve as he watched blue eyes pinch shut. Reki hated that he understood exactly what Langa was trying to do when he forced his eyes open. It was like a hard reset, pausing memory from bringing up unwanted images that Reki didn't want to imagine. He didn't need to piece together anything else to know that Adam was a sick fuck. And that was all he needed to know as he ripped his wet socks off his feet.

“We are gonna be here for a bit.” Reki warned, hoping the empathy he genuinely had snuck into his tone. “Do what you need to be comfortable. I'm sorry it was the best option.”

Langa exhaled heavy enough to drop his shoulders slightly but his eyes wouldn't meet Reki's as he stepped further into the room. “You're right. Unless he runs with his assumption.”

“You think he assumed..” A swirling hand gesture that pointed back and forth between the two of them said what Reki literally could not. The idea was tying his tongue and stomach into knots, as told by the poorly timed blush that thankfully Langa didn't look at.

He nodded, understanding the unspoken, as he flipped one of three light switches. Lowering the lights and reducing how reflective the room was. “He jumps to conclusions. This one was a big enough leap to send in a plan b to make sure I'm still his property.”

“That's why there were two.” Reki realized. “Not just to kill me but to take you.”

“Yep. It's my bad for threatening him pretty recently.”

An idea came like a flash and Reki hurried up to dig out his laptop. “How recent is pretty recent?”

Langa set his back against the wall directly opposite the door. The view he had was with the least mirrors unless he sat next to Reki. Along one wall was a mounted TV set on more of that god awful wallpaper and the door to the private bathroom. Reki made the other wall by getting comfortable cross-legged on the couch, keeping the conversation to the front of the room and far away from the bed. After he watched strong arms cross a broad chest, he put his focus on a boot up screen he hadn't seen in a couple of years that he brought into his lap.

“I just saw him last week in Madrid. I came to Tokyo to try and find him.”

“Okay, and then the handler guy found you here and gave you the job to find me. When was that?”

“Yesterday evening.”

“Where?” Reki asked as he mourned the loss of his monitors. Bringing up a bunch of necessary windows to run things simultaneously was turning into Tetris while trying to fit it all on his screen.

“A bar called uh..” Langa huffed a chuckle, drawing Reki's attention to the soft shake of his head. “New York.”

A smile twitched up Reki's lips at the irony but he didn't bother commenting on it. Thanks to a previous job, he had exactly what he needed to find a new starting point. At the time, dissecting the system to know how it worked seemed pointless when he had the keys but Reki had thought access to Tokyo's CCTV might come in handy one day and he was right.

“So I'm erasing the data of us here first.” Reki informed Langa of the steps he was taking after he got his laptop truly up and running. Keeping him in the loop felt right, they were in it together after all. “But before I get on finding him on one of Japan's very many cameras, I'll have to adjust the Ispy Clown for wifi, which might be a bit but I've got all the parts.”

“Can I do anything?” Langa asked.

The slight lift of his shoulders off the wall stopped Reki's hand from patting his backpack next to him in emphasis. He grabbed it by the handle at the top and brought it over his lap instead. He let the bag fall to the wooden floor with a clunk and gestured to the cushion next to him. To really accept the offer and invite Langa into the space, he needed to clear his throat.

“Sure.” Reki adjusted the way he was sitting, shifting against the leather his skin was sticking to. “Um, I can set up some stuff for you to keep an eye on while I fuck with electronics.”

“Doubt that'll actually be helpful. There was a vending machine in the lobby. You're gonna need caffeine, eh?”

Reki swallowed against the hard pound of his heart and tried to trust the nice gesture for what it was. He didn't need to worry about Langa leaving the room. He had kept them alive and well so far. Well, as alive as a dead man could be.

“Yeah probably.” He answered honestly and fought his gaze to stay where it needed to be. “I’m used to low light and all nighters, but it's usually with copious amounts of caffeine.”

“Kay. I'll be back soon then.”

“Don't leave the hotel.” He insisted as calmly as he could while he put force into keeping his attention on his laptop. “I don't feel like scrubbing the entire city, yeah?”

“Like I don't know how to avoid cameras.”

“Right.” Reki mumbled, feeling like an idiot as his stomach started to churn again. Like a handler wouldn't know how to avoid cameras either..