Fear and Fate(poly)(bxb)

Four

Hyun lights a cigarette in response to Von's animosity but ultimately agrees to deliver a detailed list. As we leave, I let my eyes linger on him for too long and end up getting lost in his tattoos. He has the same menacingly dejected look on his face that Von wears.

"How bad is it?" Seven asks as we join him in the car. He scoots over in the backseat to allow Kimori to get in beside him.

"They think one of us is the rat," Romero says bluntly from the passenger's seat.

They think I'm the rat. I feel hot, like an ant under a magnifying glass in the middle of a heatwave. Out the window, cars race beside us on the highway so fast they're impossible to follow.

"Of course the bullets are going to gang up and start suspecting us first chance they get. They already hated us," Seven starts. "They're jealous–"

"They didn't hate me," Kimori interjects.

He was one of them a season ago. I'm sure they loved him. Who wouldn't? But a lot of them don't even respect me. Von isn't exactly the most likable character either.

"Who cares what they think? Someone is fucking with the shipment and that's gonna take food out of a lot of mouths," Von says with his grip tightening on the wheel. "In the end she's going to have the final say."

I almost forgot about his mother. Her sharp nails and sharp words cut their way through any conversation. Diana probably has enough suspicions on her own.

"She already has it out for some of us too." I stare at my reflection in the window as I speak. Because I'm still waiting on her to run her nails across my face like I know she's capable of.

"¡Puta madre! It's always something in this pinche pandilla callejera," Romero goes off in his Spanish tongue. I can tell from here that Von and him are seeing red through the window, through blue and hazel eyes.

When we get back home the air is just as tense. After discussing things with L, we anticipate Diana's inevitable arrival in complete silence. It's the vibration of my phone that disturbs it.

I don't check it because nothing there can be as important as right now.

I don't check it but it goes off again.

"Mia." L's voice is frantic and his face is too shocked for the familiar situation we're in right now. "Is this your phone?" he asks while holding my glittery pink cellphone with his human hand.

"Yeah, it's new," I say. "My dad bought it for me as a graduation gift."

"Ha! He thinks you graduated," Kimori laughs.

"Does he buy all of your phones? W-what about your last one?" L is still holding it like it's going to explode and I've never heard him stutter.

"He's my dad so of course. What's wrong?" I'm starting to worry a little as well. Seeing him like this puts a rock in the pit of my stomach.

"Uh, nothing." He puts it back down gently and begins towards his laptop. "It's just a nice model."

I notice the way he exchanges a glance with Von. The two have their own language. Right now I need a translator.

"Why are you still living with your father anyway?" The younger shifts his blue gaze to me, suddenly taking on his older brother's same solemn demeanor. "If he thinks you graduated already then you can move out."

"What?" I scoff at him and his flawed logic. Then again he had nothing to base it off of. "Why do I have to move out?"

L is typing furiously on his laptop while the rest of the gang exchanges glances. I'm on the outs as usual no matter how much I give myself to them. They'll never fully trust me.