Technically, Kieran Sun is dead.
He didn’t fake his own death. More like his siblings were intent on killing him– but Kieran was given a way out. When Kieran first expressed wanting leave to the Sun family, everyone just laughed. The Sun family has been the leading *kkangpae in South Korea for decades, and play a key role in the East Asian organized crime network. Kieran’s father is the Sun family’s boss. Nobody just leaves a kkangpae– especially if you were born into it.
Their father was too disgusted and ashamed to deal with Kieran anymore. So, Kasia and Kazic took matters into their own hands. His siblings tortured him– Kasia was very professional and detached about it whereas Kazic was just having the time of his life. The grand finale being taking Kieran out into the middle of fucking nowhere woods, forcing him to dig a ditch while bloody and broken, and throwing him into said ditch. He never realized how terrifying being buried alive could be until it was happening.
But for whatever reason– his siblings chose to do this in a place where the dirt was soft. Giving Kieran a chance to climb out. To live. To fight for survival in the woods, finding his way back to civilization. As he had entered a small town, the nearest phone booth rang. It was his sister:
“ You’re dead to all of us. Leave Korea.
If you step foot in this country ever again,
we won’t bury you next time.
We’ll burn you. “
Kieran left. And he hasn’t been in Korea ever since. He seized the opportunity to live freely– as a ghost. Never on the grid. It meant always being on the move. Never making any true real life connections. But all that changed when he met Torin. Since then, they’ve been inseparable. Kieran will go where ever Torin goes.
“ Okay. Good. “ He exhales softly. Being reassured by Torin eases his shaking nerves. Kieran’s about to protest when he sees Torin shifting, wanting to tell him to lie still as to not aggravate his injuries– but stops when his partner touches his face. Kieran leans into Torin’s touch, letting his eyes close. This is all he ever wants. Just them. Together. But when he hears Torin implying retaliation, Kieran’s eyes open, brows furrowing as he shakes his head. “ We don’t need to go after anyone. The rest of the team is already going after them. You don’t need to go chasing after revenge. All I want is you by my side, Tor. “
This time, Kieran moves to sit up. He gently eases Torin onto his back while hovering over him. “ Thank you, ” he whispers. As his hand brushes back Torin’s hair, he returns the promise by saying, “ I’m with you to the end. ” Kieran leans down, closing the space between them with another kiss. He just wants to anchor Torin. Just wants Torin to know that more blood doesn’t need to be spilled. His lips trail from across Torin’s jawline, then to his throat before he breathes out softly. “ Have you ever thought about … retiring? “
Torin knows that there are people that Kieran is afriad of, even know but he just hopes that his boyfriend’s family never find him. Torin doesn’t know too much about Kieran’s past, he doesn’t want to ever pry because he knows it was too traumatic for him ad those kinds of memories were things he didn’t want his boyfriend to go through remembering anything like that. He knows that sometimes Kieran suffers and it’s something that may all be there in years to come but Torin isn’t going to give up. He’s not going to leave him, not ever. Things will always be complicated and they would always be in danger but Torin would never leave Kieran’s side and he was never, ever let him suffer like he had done when he was younger. Protecting Kieran was what his life was all about now. The last fight had almost cost both of them their lives and the fact that he was still able to hold Kieran in his arms after all that they had both just faced. It was what he lived for. It was what he had to live for.
A cheeky smile makes its way onto his lips as he glances at Kieran, nodding his head slightly at his words. Shifting slightly, in fact any movement at all, hurt but this movement was worth it. He smiled as Kieran leant into his hand, Torin’s eyes tracing over his boyfriend’s face as he did. He never tired of the moments they shared like this, ever. It was important that they remembered to indulge in moments like their current one often. Things were often so dangerous that they never knew what was going to happen and lately, tradgedy had been following them all around. Torin himself had been pretty badly injured previously but as usual, Kieran had been by his side constantly and that was the best thing he could have ever wished for.
He was about to lean down and kiss Kieran again when he felt his boyfriend shift after he’d finished speaking. He looked down at him and tilted his head to the side, wondering what he’d said that had caused that reaction. “They could have killed you. They would have killed you.....and they are not getting away with that.” He knew that the others were going after the people that had done this but he needed to be there. Torin needed to get that revenge. He would have thought that Torin would have understood.
For a few moments he doesn’t say anything, deciding that this was a conversation for another time, all he wantes then was to rest and just be there wth Kieran. He moved slowly as Kieran guided him over on to his back and ran his hands down his boyfriend’s back, leaning into the kiss with a small smile on his lips as he did. As Kieran’s lips changed course, Torin bit his lip and closed his eyes, smiling as he began to get lost in the kisses however, he snapped both eyes wide open at the word ‘retiring’ and propped himself up a little, “......retiring?” He asked, needing the clarification that was what he’d just heard. “.....have you?” Torin asked when he realised he had in fact heard his boyfriend correctly.
