paranoia / gyuricky

10: one last moment

Blood is taken from the wound that was created on Ricky's hand earlier and patted on the clothes of the others by Gyuvin. They were going to be used as distractions to make sure that Ricky had enough time to not only die, but also come back to life.

"You sure you're okay with doing this?" Gyuvin asks Taerae, using his fingers to draw an X on the older's chest with Ricky's blood.

Taerae just chuckles, nodding his head. "I'm already here, aren't I? Let's end this."

Gyuvin, beaming, pulls Taerae into a tight hug, patting his back gently. "Thanks, man. I mean it."

Ricky is approached by Gunwook and Matthew while he bandages his hand back up once more. "Remember when you guys wanted to kill me, like, half an hour ago?" he chuckles. "You don't have to do this. You can leave."

"Remember when you decided to sacrifice yourself for us?" Gunwook asks in return, a soft smile on his face. "We're ending this together, man." He nudges Ricky's arm with his elbow.

"You've got this," Matthew encouraged, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Die well, my friend."

Gunwook points at Yujin as he approaches him. "We've got back door patrol." He wraps an arm around his younger brother. "Good luck, guys," is the last thing Gunwook says before the two walk away. "Okay, Yujin, listen to me," Gunwook says, stopping in front of the seafood section. "I'll take the stock room and you can do the emergency exit."

"What?" Yujin exclaimed, grabbing onto his brother's arm, clearly alarmed by the suggestion. "Splitting up isn't a good idea."

Gunwook pouts at the way Yujin was acting, bringing a hand up to pat the younger's head. "I know this is fucked, but we gotta do this. Ricky is sacrificing himself for us, so we should help him, yeah? Be strong, Yujinnie. We'll get through this even if we end up dying. Let's keep those psychos away from Ricky."

"Okay, okay," Yujin finally agrees after a beat of silence, tears welling up in his eyes. He wasn't sure how he managed to find a place in this situation, but if Gunwook cares about the people in this group, then so does Yujin. "Fuck the witch. Tell those weirdos to come at me."

With a proud smile, Gunwook wipes a stray tear rolling down Yujin's cheek with his thumb. "That's the spirit. You're a good kid—the best brother I could ever ask for. Now go keep watch at that exit, okay?"

Yujin let out a shaky breath, pulling Gunwook into a final hug. He was scared, but his brother brought him confidence. After all, he'd played enough video games to know how to defend himself.

Near the front of the store, Matthew grabs onto Taerae's hand. "You scared?" he asks.

"Barely," Taerae scoffed.

Matthew couldn't help but laugh at Taerae's painfully obvious lie; he knew the younger too well to ever be fooled by what came out of his mouth. "It's okay to be scared, man. I think all of us are a little spooked."

"Little is an understatement," Taerae chuckled, giving Matthew's hand a squeeze. "I was always someone who reads stories—I'm not built for action."

Nodding in understanding, Matthew uses his free hand to pat Taerae on the shoulder. "Well, there's a first time for everything, right?"

"I guess so," the younger replied in hesitation, adjusting his glasses (it's a known habit, anyone could tell). "Do you want the entrance or exit?"

After putting a little too much thought into it, like he always did, Matthew settled on a decision he supposed would keep Taerae safe for a longer amount of time. "I'll take the entrance, you can have the exit."

Taerae nodded, a determined smile on his face. "Okay, then. Let's do this."

Ricky and Gyuvin sat in a random aisle in the middle of the grocery store, pills placed carefully on the lid of a container, along with an absurd amount of EpiPens sprawled on the floor.

"Gyuvin," Ricky whispers, his breathing shallow. "What if we fuck up and just kill me? What if you can't bring me back?" he asked, sniffling as his eyes began to brim with tears. Ricky had always been realistic—he accepted death as a part of reality, but especially since it wasn't his time to go yet, he was terrified. Things he didn't have the chance to do yet raced through Ricky's mind, the realization that everything could be taken away in a single moment finally settling in.

"Listen to me," Gyuvin said, a firm grip on either of Ricky's shoulders. "I'm never gonna let that happen to you. Never ever ever. When this is all over, we're gonna hang out like we used to; not a care in the world, just having a good time, alright? I'm going to bring you back, Ricky. I can't lose you now." With the emotions welling up inside him, Gyuvin cups Ricky's cheeks with his hands, leaning in quickly to finally press a kiss to his lips. It's short, leaving Gyuvin dissatisfied, however, he knew better than to deviate  from what they were really there to do.

Ricky chuckled, an intense blush clearly visible on his cheeks. "What was that for?"

"Just something I've been meaning to do," replied Gyuvin under his breath, but loud enough for Ricky to hear; it wasn't intentional, but it was too late to take it back. He holds the first pile of pills in his hand, dropping them carefully into Ricky's trembling one.

Breathing heavily, Ricky gave Gyuvin one last look of hesitation, before sucking up all his nerves and dumping the pills into his mouth, swallowing them harshly.