back 2 back

Caught in a lie

The sun peeks its hot head over the horizon before Till is able to calm himself.

Each breath drags against his throat, and every now and then, a stray tear rolls down his cheek, but between Tai-ge's warm embrace and his comforting words, Till's heartbeat slows and he's able to think clearly. They part as the first morning bird sings from the eaves of Zechuan Manor.

Tai-ge makes sure he's okay before carefully telling him to head toward the bikes for maintenance; they're to ride back to the Org. at noon, and the bikes definitely need a fuel top-up.

Till nods, swiping the back of his hand across his face, cheeks flaming with color. He tries to remind himself that this isn't the first time Tai-ge's seen him cry, nor will it probably be the last, but he can't make heads or tails of that information and settles for vigorously taking care of his bike— head empty, no thoughts.

Hyuna and Mizi give a word to Taiga before they ride out of the city first, something about the status of the campaign and driving safely. Taiga laughs in her face and tells her to fuck off. Till worries over Hyuna's reaction, but when she bursts out into a fit of laughter, his shoulders relax.

They set out at noon, as planned, and the ride back is miserable.

The midday sun beats down on their backs mercilessly and they have to stop for water so often Till fears he'll become water-logged. He ends up questioning Tai-ge about their poor departure choices and his response is simple.

"Aliens hate the sun."

For once, Till doesn't need one of Tai-ge's long-drawn out tangents to figure out what he means— back at the Stage, when the aliens gave them their one day per month to play outside, there were never any aliens that actually went out with them. If he did see aliens, they were mostly decked out in over the top protection gear, heavy armor like they were preparing for war. The absence of a weapon made it clear that though they weren't guards, they had to watch them. But they also couldn't tolerate sunlight.

Till had noticed ages ago that the walls were fake, the horizon simply a screen meant to keep them inside, but the sunlight was real.

He may have taken advantage of their weakness on more than one occasion, to Mizi's abject horror.

"Ah." Till replies, a few beats late.

"Sun got ya beat?" Tai-ge chuckles. "Come on, kid. Le's get ya home."

[. . .]

Though Till's world has been thoroughly rocked during his journey, life at the Org. is very much the same as it always is, not a single thing out of place.

Till and his big brother drift into the motor pool, severely worse for the wear, and the mechs taking care of all the machines shove cans of water at them, give them a few hearty slaps on the back with wide, blindingly grateful smiles.

"Hope those city folk didn' give ya too much trouble on yer way!"

'Thanks again for yet another great campaign! You won't find a soul in this pool that didn't watch it."

"Aiyou, with such handsome young men like you two running around, we needn't worry about a thing!'

Till barely manages to escape with his life, his heart squirming around comfortably in his chest, and spends the next hour attempting to get the color in his cheeks to fade.

Taiga seems amused by this but after glancing around the throwing lanes, his face hardens as he turns to Till, soft eyes suddenly sharp and business-like.

"No time ta waste, kid. Le's go throw some knives; we'll make a warrior ov'ya yet."

Till is unable to protest as Tai-ge turns to leave, a commanding air filling in the space he leaves behind. He simply heaves a sigh and follows.