warm like a gun | ot23 nct; ot5 red velvet

Chapter 5

"There's another kid at the door!" Yuta's dad calls from the kitchen. "How many people can you even fit in that room?"

"That'll be Mark, just let him in!" Yuta yells back. "And we're just about at capacity, thank you for asking!"

Shotaro giggles from beside him, while Renjun, on his other side, rolls his eyes. "We could totally fit, like, one more person in here after Mark," he says. "We just wouldn't be able to open the door."

"Hi guys!" Mark appears in the doorway, shuffling in and shutting it behind him. "I have snacks."

"Ooh," Yuta says, sitting up straighter to see inside his bag. "What illegal fruit do you carry today?"

"This is actually completely legal," Mark says, amused but a little exasperated, as he produces a bag of chips. "The blueberries were a special occasion."

"That's what you said about the strawberries," Shotaro points out, and Renjun and Yuta laugh as Mark rolls his eyes.

"You're all ungrateful," Mark says, taking a seat on the floor next to the door and passing the chips to Renjun.

"How is school, though?" Yuta asks.

"Oh, very good," Mark says. "My professors love me. I'm learning a lot. Right now, I'm working with a professor to purify a new batch of soil..."

Yuta turns back to the project he has in his lap as he listens to him talk. Yuta's father is a low-ranking member of the Sundews, a local gang, named after the carnivorous plant. They have an agreement with one of the large pharmaceutical companies—his father won't tell him which one, though Yuta has his suspicions—and as a result they get access to a lot of drugs. Some, they make for the company, but they get to keep some, which they turn into a variety of recreational drugs, from hallucinogens to dangerous stimulants. Yuta's dad taught him a little bit, and Yuta's found a talent in creating new drugs. He's also pretty adept with poisons, and has even built up a tolerance to a few over the years. Right now, though, he's just packaging some things they've already made, carefully measuring out portions to be distributed later.

He tunes back in to hear Renjun mid-sentence. "...I'd never seen it before, and he almost looked relieved when I said so," he's saying. "He didn't really stay long, but I wonder what it was about. I don't usually see him around the parlor often."

"He did just quit his job," Shotaro says. "Well, not quit, technically, yet, but he sounds like he's planning to, right?"

"Yeah." Mark nods. "Jaemin told me he's not doing very well. He won't leave his apartment, except to get groceries, and when Jaemin went to visit him yesterday, he made up some excuse to get Jaemin out the door as soon as possible."

"It's really not like him," Renjun says, frowning. "The Jaehyun I know is really sociable. Sure, he's not, like, insane about company but he likes hanging out with people. Especially if it's Jaemin. He'd never turn him away."

"What was the tattoo?" Yuta pipes up. "Do you remember? I can ask my dad; maybe it's related to a gang."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Renjun reaches up for a piece of paper and starts sketching. "Anyway," he continues as he draws, "I really hope he's okay."

"Sicheng and I can go check on him this evening," Yuta offers. "We didn't really have solid plans, so we'll swing by when I'm done with this." He gestures to the drugs in his lap.

"Here." Renjun holds up the finished drawing. It looks like a half sun, filled in, with a couple of horizontal lines underneath. "I've been tattooing for a couple of years now, and I basically grew up in the parlor. I've never seen anything like it."