checkmate ; xdinary heroes

1.

❝it took you longer than usual.❞ 

this was the first thing seungmin heard when he entered the abandoned building, where he and his friends were currently staying at. 

dropping the backpack on the floor, ❝is this a concerned or annoyed statement?❞ the boy looked at the two who were sitting on the old couch beside each other. one seemed to not even hear him coming in as he was reading a book, while the other, who spoke up the moment seungmin entered, had his head slightly tilted to the side, looking at him. 

❝you can say both.❞ he just shrugged. but deep down, both him and seungmin knew, that he was more concerned than annoyed. ❝did something happen?❞ and the question he asked proved it right just in a second. 

they all were like this all the time. bickering, fighting, arguing, quarreling, being annoyed and bothered by each other. but in fact, they were friends. they understood each other the best and they in fact loved each other, a lot. they just didn't show it most of the times. 

personally for seungmin, these people who he called his friends, where the only ones who knew him the best. who understood him the best and with whom he didn't feel different. they may didn't know, what exactly was wrong with him. seungmin himself couldn't tell what it was, but they still made him feel normal. made him feel like being himself. 

❝i had to kill her.❞ seungmin told them, walking to the couch and sitting in between the two of them. ❝i was left with no other choice but to do that. they told me, that was the best option.❞ 

now that, gained attention of the one who was reading a book. slowly closing it and putting it down on the floor, of course after remembering on what page he stopped, ❝don't you think that's a bit too much?❞ 

seungmin shook his head. ❝what do you mean a bit too much, jungsu? i couldn't let her call the police.❞ he faced the said boy, trying to explain his situation. 

jungsu nodded. he knew, he knew what seungmin meant by that. they had to stay safe somehow. they needed each other and they couldn't let the police catch them. they were too young to go to prison, they wanted to live just like everyone else. but because they were called different and people didn't really understand them, they had to hide. and somehow survive with the way they were right now. 

stealing, robbing and killing. 

❝but four murders in two days, don't you think that's a little bit too suspicious? we live in a small city seungmin, the police will definitely suspect something.❞ 

❝jiseok's right.❞ jungsu let out a small sigh, running his fingers through his soft locks. it was true, seungmin wouldn't just murder someone for fun ⸺ unlike their other friend, who wasn't present there now ⸺ but the police would not start thinking of every single death as a suicide, especially if they happened so soon, one after another.