-"¡callarse la boca!" -"Hazme."

SunSun: detention

"Ni-ki, I really think we shouldn't do this," whispers Sunoo, and is met with a cheeky smirk.

The item is hidden under Ni-ki's hoodie before he has the chance to protest further.

Sunoo tags along in his boyfriend's new risqué hobby, but he doesn't understand it, much less enjoys it. It's not like Ni-ki needs it, neither the stealing nor the box of screwdrivers he's smuggling out of the shop, and the thrill of stealing feels like earth splitting open inside Sunoo's ribcage, not a single pang of enjoyment cutting a pause on the anxiety that's chewing him from the inside out.

"Hyung, lets go," Ni-ki tugs at his sleeve and smiles his way, like he wasn't potentially getting them into very serious trouble over a rush of adrenaline that's gonna last an incredibly short amount of time.

Sunoo indulges, like he always does when it comes to Ni-ki, partly because of the heated make out sessions that usually succeeded their little shoplifting tours, always leaving them half dressed on Ni-ki's car, panting I love yous into each other's lips, and partly because he feels responsible for Ni-ki's newfound urge to steal.

The younger is an estimulation junkie, to put it mildly. Sunoo suggests him they go shopping together after he lets him sulk for over a week post the ban his father imposed on him to practise any kind of extreme sport (somehow unfair in Ni-ki's eyes, who genuinely believes that sneaking into an advanced and closed-due-to-dangerous-weather ski piste just to try something new, and nearly getting himself killed in the process, was not something for his father to get that mad about).

But like with everything else, Ni-ki takes it up a notch. Buying a new wardrobe every week loses its appeal quickly, and so does playing dress up with Sunoo as his personal doll, covered from head to toe in gifts and clothes of his own choosing.

The first time is an accident: he puts away the necklace he was holding for Sunoo to try on when he sees a set of skirts he really wants his boyfriend to try on, and forgets entirely about it until they're outside and he slids his hand into his pocket. They're in the middle of an argument over decorum and how inappropriate those skirts are to actually being worn in public, when his fingers slide over the delicate shape of the forgotten jewelry laying in there.

That's all it takes to bring the initial spark back.

Sunoo indulges, and indulges, and indulges, because he loves Ni-ki with all his might, and the look in his face whenever he holds his hand after having slipped piddly things inside his clothes, racing heart and thoughts running wild, was something he'd never wish for the younger to lose.

But luck doesn't last forever.

In retrospective, Sunoo feels like he should have known. Why on earth would he find familiar looking a guy over 6 feet that's being loitering near the register, checking them both out more than it'd be acceptable for a man of his age to check on teenagers?

They had a fight that morning, and Sunoo initially voted against returning to the same mall after so little time had gone by. Spacing out their targets, as the younger liked to call the stores they stole from, was their golden rule, the one that had kept Ni-ki high on something relatively unharmful, and both of them out of trouble.

But Ni-ki's highs were coming low, apparently, and he finally talked Sunoo into agreeing with him, like he always did.

Everything happens in slow motion. The guy shouts at them to stop, and Ni-ki kisses him dead on the lips muttering for him to go get the car and meet him back at his place.

Sunoo figures the guy must have seen them through the CCTVs, like most shoplifters in the online forums he checked said they were caught, and makes the logical assumption that the security guy was going to go after Ni-ki, who's the one with actual stolen goods.