SKZ Writing prompts

Promise? - Changmin

What is a promise but words?
It is the action that comes after the promise that means something.

~

Changbin shrinks in on himself in the kitchen. In this tiny house, in an ordinary town, lived him and his family. Or rather brothers linked through the art of borrowing and never returning. Without permission, of course.

Technically, he has never actively volunteered to go any of these night scavenging, but peer pressure does things to Changbin. He never had a very strong mental fortitude. Especially when it came to Felix.

His closest friend would always persuade him to join the rest and at the end of the successful looting, Changbin would go to bed feeling like the worst person in the world. He wondered if any of his other friends felt the crushing weight on their hearts and shoulders after committing such deeds.

None of them ever gave any indication of that, continually going out and even coming back home some days cheering, whooping and hauling the bag of precious possessions. It made bile rush up to his mouth, the sour taste made him recoil every time. 

~

Their little band of thieves included:

Leader - Jeongin (he makes the decisions and his authority is the highest)

Sub-leader - Christopher (he goes by Chan sometimes and he handles the team when Jeongin is indisposed)

Weapons Master - Lee Know (he handles the weaponry and overlooks the training of each member)

Brute - Changbin (as the one with the biggest frame, he's expected to be the muscleman)

Seducer/[Hail] - Hyunjin (he will be the first to go if the victim is present, luring the victim away with his charms) [known for his cold-heartedness, though most of the members joke that he's more like 'Hell']

Filler/[Shadow] - Han (he fills in the roles of each member if they are indisposed with the exception of the leader and the Voice in your head) [he is the member who swipes the most possessions]

The Voice in your head - Felix (he makes use of his deep voice to petrify the victim, paralysing them or at least unnerving them)

~

"Hey~" A hand slithers from his hip to his shoulders, the long slender fingers probing. It took all of Changbin's effort to not flinch away. 

"H-Hyunjin..." Changbin braced himself against the counter, "What's up?"

Hyunjin removes his hand and whirls to Changbin's side, leaning his back against the counter edge. He leaned backwards to meet Changbin's gaze, his eyes narrowed and his smirk reaching his eyes, "Jeongin said we're going to capture a stray guy on the streets tonight."

"How do you know...there's a stray guy on the streets tonight?" Changbin's thoughts were racing. Every single time one of the members broke news to him, the surprising news always left him reeling. How were they getting their information?

Since he was the newest addition to this band, their leader hadn't wanted him privy to the classified information. Therefore, one of the members would relay the bare minimum to make sure he was aware of the plans.

Hyunjin's smirk widened into a grin, licking his teeth and biting his lip, "Oh Binnie, I'm not allowed to share that with you. Jeongin said you have a weak stomach for this kind of thing," his drawl sent sparks through Changbin's brain.

What the fuck had they done?

"If you must know, I made sure to dispose the body and kn-"

Changbin blanched. Of course. His alias was literally Hail. Changbin should've seen it coming. But that knowledge didn't make it easier for him to swallow. Instead, it had him imagining all sorts of grotesque scenarios.

"Stop, stop, stop..." There was the bile again, rising up his throat in a trail of fire. He swallowed rapidly. He took a few breaths to calm himself down. He'd associated himself with this group and he should bear the consequences that came with that decision.

There was that laugh. A bubbling laugh but there was nothing light about it. The sound snaked around him and Changbin's eyes stung from its widened state. Out of all the members, Changbin dreaded interacting with Hyunjin specifically for this reason.

Hyunjin's whole demeanour, the way he carries himself, the way he scoffs, his degrading laugh that was void of humour and full of sick glee. He was the sickest member to Changbin. How could a human possibly lack a conscious. Or at least act like they didn't have one.

In fact, Hyunjin rarely gave off humane vibes. He was more akin to snakes and cunning creatures. Particularly charming yet venomous ones. Pretty on the exterior and completely rotten on the inside. His words rarely did good and when it did, it benefited Hyunjin and only Hyunjin.

The one person Hyunjin didn't dare to mess around with was Jeongin. Their equally sly leader would always see through Hyunjin's ploys and call him out in a silent way that only one cunning person could tell another. The only time Hyunjin cowed was before Jeongin and Changbin was genuinely in awe of Jeongin.

Being the youngest usually came with doubt, that leadership rarely was taken up by younger folks. Jeongin, however, proved himself to the rest in such a way that there was no way you could attest that he was unfit for the role. He delegated assignments and dealt out various instructions with ease.

And with Chan as his co-leader, he often looked to Chan as a voice of approval or otherwise. All in all, Changbin was pretty scared by their leaders. Both were just a sliver more humane than Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin smacking his lips interrupted Changbin's brooding. "Anyway, do you want to join? Jeongin doesn't want to force you."

Changbin blinked. Well that was what he meant by slightly better. "I- no. Uhm you guys can go- go ahead without me."

"Sure," Hyunjin drawled and pushed off the counter. His fingers find Changbin's shoulder and caressed it before slinking away.

Changbin shuddered again, more gross possibilities of Hyunjin's act flashing through his mind.

~ Night arrived ~

Jeongin gathered the members going for the mission, which was everyone except for Changbin. They all settled in the hall going over the operation.

In a brief few minutes, they all huddled out of the door in casual clothing. Changbin got reminded yet again that criminals usually dressed as ordinary people rather than full black outfits that definitely implicated they were shady.

For the poor person's sake, he hoped they had a gut feeling and turned around because even though his teammates were a bunch of relatively innocent-looking guys, they were dangerously lethal.