A Fox That Tricks The Wolf

TWELVE

he sat next to shuyang, gently wrapping a comforting arm around the boys shoulders, "what're you thinking about?" he didnt bother greeting the youngest, they'd already had far too many heart-to-heart talks to worry about that. shuyang stayed quiet, pulling the plushie in his hands close to his chest and leaning into xinlongs side, the elders heart softening at the actions. he watched as shuyang slowly collected his thoughts, something he did often, before speaking.

"i just.. i guess it was scary." shuyang mumbled, xinlong nodding at the whispered words. he didnt doubt it was absolutely horrifying for shuyang, no one should be put in such a situation. but he didnt say anything, he only rubbed shuyangs shoulder, leaning his cheek onto the youngers head as he waited for the boy to continue. "it didnt even feel real.. just, really slow." shuyang tried to explain, but unfortunately his mind wasnt exactly in the right place to put anything together.

xinlong nodded again, before moving his head to get a good look at shuyang, "are you hurt at all?" he questioned, shuyang only shaking his head lightly. xinlong sighed, knowing it would take a while for shuyang to go back to being himself. he knew he was scared, but he didnt know what to do. there was another few seconds of silence, before xinlong spoke again. "so hanyu threw it, im assuming." shuyang nodded, fingers idly picking at the toy in his hands. "where?"

"at them." xinlongs eyes widened at the bluntness, before shuyang was rapidly shaking his head to correct himself. "well, no. more at the ground by them, but it was pretty close." shuyang explained, xinlong still a bit shaken up. the elder blinked a few times, before once again looking towards his friend.

"did they.." he left the question open ended, hoping shuyang would understand. unfortunately, shuyang gave him a confused look, tilting his head to the side and causing the elder to sigh. "die. did anyone die?" he hated having to spit the words out, but eventually brought himself to. shuyang seemed to think for a minute, before once again shaking his head.

"no, i dont think so. we heard them run away." shuyang responded, xinlong letting out a small breath of relief before they were once again sat in silence, shuyang still wrapped in his friends arm. xinlong didnt move to say anything, appreciating the moment with shuyang, considering they hadn't really had any time to just be together for a while. shuyang let out a sigh a few seconds later, picking his head up off xinlongs shoulder. "it just felt weird, i didnt expect something like this to ever happen."

"because it hasnt." a voice was suddenly heard in the doorway, causing shuyang and xinlong to jump at the sound. zihao stood in the doorway, silently watching the two boys talk as he leaned against the doorway. xinlong let out a sigh, lightly rubbing his chest over his heart before zihao walked in with a grin. "zeyus alright, by the way. we gave him painkillers and hes doing alright." xinlong felt himself relax at the news, zeyu having been occupying his mind since they'd burst through the door.

"nothing like this has happened?" shuyang questioned, curious eyes looking up towards zihao. the elder nodded, sitting himself down on the edge of mingruis bed along with the other boys.

"nope. we've had small accidents before but.. no ones ever gotten shot. we've never had anyone get injured like this." zihao mumbled, spacing out a bit as he spoke. xinlong stared at the boy, quietly observing him. it seemed everyone in the house had the same reaction. pure shock. they were all moving, but no one was quite in their minds.

"thats why everyones.. like that?" xinlong asked, not specifying exactly what he meant, but knowing it would get across to zihao. said boy nodded, looking over at xinlong with a distant look in his eyes.

"i dont.. really know what we'd do if something worse happened." zihao voiced out loud, though it felt almost rhetorical. it clicked for xinlong then, something he forgot even happened to them. they were scared. he hadn't realized that even if they were in a gang, however long they were, they were still kids. they were still scared of being hurt. xinlong leaned himself against zihaos shoulder, which wasnt an uncommon occurence at all between the two. "everyone just.. panicked. i think." xinlong nodded at the elder boys words, cheek pressed to the boys arm.

"you dont need to explain anything, i know its a lot." zihao nodded, giving xinlong a comforted smile. shuyang held zihaos hand gently, the eldest smiling towards the boy. they were all scared, and perhaps that was why they had each other.

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five boys sat surrounding zeyus bed, figuring it was best for them all to simply spend some time around each other to collect themselves. the room was silent for the most part, zihao gently rubbing zeyus back while xinlong played with the boys fingers. very few words were occasionally shared around the room, until mingrui spoke suddenly, after his odd prolonged silence.

"they were looking for a reason to shoot." the boy had blurted, capturing the other boys attention quickly. all heads turned towards mingrui, whose eyes were still cast onto the ground.

"what?" hanyu questioned the boy, shuffling from his spot leaded against a desk to get closer to the younger.

"NCT. they were looking for an excuse to shoot him." mingrui repeated, this time finally looking up towards the others. the boys shared a confused look, before their gaze returned to mingrui. "when they accused us of not filling our part of the deal, he wanted to shoot someone. i mean, hell he pretty much already had his gun out. they're whole plan was to shoot one of us." the boys looked around at each other in shock, the realization hitting all six of them. "and with where they shot him?"

"they were trying to hit around his tailbone." zihao finished what mingrui was saying, "they could have immobilized him.. they would have ended up killing him." fear ran through the group, the boys falling back into silence as they all considered what had been said.

"but.. why? we didnt even do anything to them." xinlong asked shakily, failing to calm his nerves. the question was likely more in the air, considering it was hard for anyone to know.

"to hurt our group, i assume. theres no other reason they would want to kill one of our members." mingrui shook his head with furrowed brows, attempting to understand any of what has come up. zeyu sat up seconds later, face scrunching in slight discomfort before he turned to mingrui.

"that doesnt make sense though. if they wanted to impair the group, they would have killed the leader, not some hacker." the boy pointed out, turning to look at hanyu. the eldest had been particularily guilty after zeyu sustained the injuries, regretting not protecting him more, and the new found information made hanyu shiver as he considered what could have been.

"because that wouldnt just impair the group, we cant function without a leader. that would fuck us over for good. they probably thought if just one of us had died, we'd need to take some time before getting back to our normal buisness. remember, we're the only people who can modify weapons." mingrui explained, earning a nod from zeyu.

the boys entered another while of silence, still shocked to the bone after realizing the possiblity of loosing zeyu for good. xinlong didnt realize, but his hand had been clenching zeyus tightly, though not enough to hurt him. the idea of any of them getting hurt killed the third oldest on the inside, and the fact that it could have been reality was too much for him to handle.

finally, hanyu stood up tall and took in a deep breath, crossing his arms, "alright, we lay low for a while." he earned five nods in response. "try not to leave if you dont need to, dont interact with other gangs and dont take any missions or runs, understood?" a few words in agreement and some more nods later, and the boys slowly filed out of the room, going to do their own things (or maybe simply contemplate the last 72 hours of their lives). xinlong stayed in the room with zeyu, allowing the injured boy to gently place his head against the elders chest as he tried to relax, xinlong holding the boy as close as possible for the next while.

//huu i havent updated in a while i hope you enjoy this❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️