Hot Pursuit (M) | gunhak
On the run from a team of assassins when your plan to overlap their leader’s power goes south, you find yourself in a pickle. Left broke and on the side of the road by your own team, Gunhak – a biker on a journey across the country – finds you, and he’s too vengeful to let you go down alone.
DETAILS — [ 18+ | drabble | 10.2k ] PAIRING — biker! gunhak x ex mafia! gender-neutral reader GENRES — mafia! au, romance, thriller, violence, smut, angst WARNINGS — mafia activity, abandonment, high-speed chases, mentions of wanting to kill/end a life, blood, unprotected sex (do not), oral (reader! receiving), hair tugging, nipple-play, cum-eating, dirty talk, physical altercations, riding a bike with no helmet (illegal), death, violence
The sounds of the locks clicking were so vivid. Tired eyes coated with sleep; your pupils fought to help you see your surroundings. Vengeful expressions on your team's faces, only one word came from their mouth. "Inevitable."
Your body was hurled from the moving vehicle, the harsh texture of the road against your skin making you hiss. Two loud thumps came from ahead of you, the bags you were traveling with discarded onto the same road.
The streetlights of the long highway were blinding, impotently laying in the middle of the abandoned thoroughfare as tears rimmed your eyes. Limbs clamoring against the pavement, your knees dug into the ribbed street as you looked up at the stars. Bright, each one flickered, the clearest one at the farthest length beaming you in the direction the car was traveling. You stood, the vague argument your sleepy form had overheard from your team deciding on when to kick you out brutally coming to your mind as you hurled forward and fell back down. Almost too exhausted to move, you found your strength once more, standing to lift the two backpacks from the ground and onto your shoulders as you wobbled down the empty road.
Something important on the ground far behind you, the leather cover's sound as the piece hit the pavement didn't catch your senses. You stumbled to keep up with the illuminating star overhead, watching the colors around the ball of air change from the heat of the stellar and your eyes playing tricks on you from exhaustion. Your heavy lids continued to droop as you walked, the loud sound of an engine revving behind you making you halt and spin on your heels.
A high-powered engine meekly gaining on you, the rider’s stance was focused. Leather jacket paired with gloves, the motor roared in your direction, your feet dancing beneath you. The determined rider lingered forward, shaded helmet so engulfed in the pitch dark that you could nearly see your own reflection spinning around and dashing off.
Building’s passed by your pacing form, the dark streets of the city nothing compared to the nightlife you had seen in the movies. Only enlightened by the dim street lights above, some of the bulbs flickered, some were completely out, but none of them stopped the person on the bike from tailing you. The blocks your feet ran were nothing to the adrenaline pumping through your veins, body ignited by a source you had never felt; but a danger you were all too familiar with.
The alleyways were unwelcoming as you twisted and turned them, the rider keeping up with your form but keeping a distance. Your eyes matched with every corner, every dark space, nothing lighting the match that would keep you safe. In one final pull to Emerald City, you found yourself wound up in a dead end, your body slamming into the wall as the motor behind you halted.
The person’s fingers clenched the clutch, the black and green rimmed vehicle barely screeching as they leapt from the machine and bound towards you. Large frame panting beneath the layers of clothing and thick leather, their gloves fingers pressed into the shaded helmet. The crown of the biker being removed caused your knees to grow weak, falling backwards into the brick wall as you panted.
“Are you alright?” His soft eyes met yours first, the blonde hair on his head blowing from the hollowed breeze of the wind. The same leathered glove stretched out, his fingers elongated and gesturing your own grip to take his. “I am so sorry I chased you-“ The man was almost as startled by himself as you were of him. “-but I saw this on the road, and it matched your face. I thought it might be important.”
The bounded ID in his hold was being returned to you, your form still stationed on the ground nearly weeping at the true sight of your face as he opened the button and showed you the card. Your hands pressed into your face, cold and dirtied palms from the ground now lingering the pigments onto your skin.
He took in your disheveled form but continued to hold out his free hand. The man seemed gentle as he pulled you from the ground, features stern and the opposite of his glare as he offered you a toothless smile. “Long night?”
“No kidding.” Your laughter turned into a somber sob, his hand not leaving yours. You watched his brows knit, his eyes leaving your face to notice he had forgotten to let go.
“O-Oh, I’m sorry.” He apologized a second time, a faint laugh at the end of his words. “Again. U-Uhm – I’m Gunhak.”
The man’s sudden introduction had your stuttering on your words to give him your own name. The lift of his cheeks as his eyes rummaged the skinny puddles of the alleyway bared his next question with hesitation. Gunhak’s helmet had been placed on the handles of his bike when he stood, the second hard breeze of the deadening night seeping through the cracks of the buildings and rutting the sturdy hood against the steel vehicle. Your form hopped at the sound, eyes matching with his silenced bike before his hands rose in the air.
“It’s alright. Why are you so jumpy?” The small flood of questions left his mind and out of his mouth, the confused expression on his face leading you to believe that he wasn’t filtering the curiosity he spoke. “A-And why did you run from me?”
“T-This is a lot, Gunhak.” You mumbled out, the man’s eyes lighting up at his name coming through your hoarse voice. “Please, I didn’t mean any trouble. If anything, I’m more of a nuisance than you would believe.” You wanted to bite down on your tongue, keep from explaining too much, but the man hung off your every word. “Listen, okay? Just, don’t follow me. I can take care of myself, j-just watch your own back.”
Your form made it towards his side until your back was met with the adjoining wall. Eyes glazed over with the bags returned to your grasp and the ID safely in your possession, you slid against the harsh brick wall until your positions had shifted and you were on the outskirts of the alleyway.
Gunhak’s eyes silently pleaded that you would keep talking; explain it all, fill him in, although he was a stranger. But you found yourself bolting, bags clinking with the items inside, running into the night as the only sounds in your ears were the patters of your shoes against the concrete and the scuffing of his boots as he ceased his following at the edge of the alley, watching you depart from him with tears streaming down your face.
It was a moment where everything shifted. Your life has been tangents of you working for yourself, living for yourself. But as your shoes stomped against the sidewalk, you realized something: Gunhak had seen your identification card. Your real identification card, not the one you gave out to keep your cover on the downlow.
The wind whipping past your face dried the tears into your cheeks, nose sniffling as you slowed your pace. Taking in your surroundings, the thin hoodie over your torso was hardly enough to keep you warm on such a chilled night, the breeze nipping at the skin beneath the fabric. Your eyes watered a second time from the bitter air, a familiar sound of a roaring engine coming up on you again.
Gunhak held a place in your mind you had yet to unlock, even on the first encounter. The man’s hospitality had you reeling to understand him, but the thought of putting him in danger – if he wasn’t in it already – made you want to turn yourself inside out.
“Find something else of mine to return?” You asked as he slowed his bike down. His gloved hand reached up to press into the shield, the pane of glass clicking as it was lifted from the helmet, allowing you to hear him better.
“Where are you headed?” His hand was barely on the gas handle as he reared the vehicle forward with your walking pace. Head turned between watching you tilt your head and to keep an eye on the road at the same time. “y/n!”
The use of your real name brought your body to shudder, the word so unused – so fresh and expired at the same time. Your eyes turned towards him first, watching his legs walk his bike forward and stop to turn off the engine, silence filling the space between you both an additional time.
“Gunhak, please.” You sighed, the exhaustion returning to your bones as you stumbled on your own two feet. The man looked ready to jump from his own bike to catch you, the little sight of his face through the crack of his helmet’s shield letting you see the anxious look in his eyes.
“You’re too tired to be walking.” He read your exact situation so easily, his tongue carrying the conversation faster than your mouth ever could. “At least let me drive you to the nearest motel.”
Your body twisted to face him, the shivering of your limbs lifting him from his seat. Gunhak’s tall form lifted and stood before you a second time, his hands rustling in the bag attached to the back of his bike as he pulled out a second leather jacket. Shaking the article, he pushed out the sleeves as he opened it wide. Inviting eyes gleaming at you from a few feet away, his smile begged you to come forward.
The sight of him being so kind - so considerate - had your knees weak. The straps of your bags slowly released from your shoulders, falling to the ground as you allowed him to guide your arms through the coat and onto your body. Already warming up to the thick fabric and Gunhak, his scent filled your nostrils, the cologne faint but there as he lifted your bags from the ground.
One bag tied down to the back of his bike like his own, the other was pulled back over your shoulders by Gunhak’s focused form. His light tugs at the bag to assure it was secure made you rock forward, his arm traveling around your waist to pull you back and stand you up straight freeing every breath of air stored in your lungs at once.
“S-Sorry. You’re just rocking all over the place. When’s the last time you got some real sleep?”
“When does anyone get real sleep these days?”
You shook of his question, watching as his leg swung over the bike and he kicked on the engine again. His hand rose to gesture you to climb on, your leg swinging over like his own. You felt his arms twist back, his gloved hands taking your own to wrap your hold around his waist. You felt him lightly chuckle at your nervousness, his fingers guiding your own to latch securely together for a strong hold. Head turned against his back, the bike roared to life as he jolted it forward, taking off into the night with you clinging to him.
You believed that the wind lashing by you as you ran was enough, but as you were consumed by the frigid air of the night riding on the back of Gunhak’s bike, you had never felt so awake. The lights of the city still glowed in some places, red beaming closed signs all around lighting up the streets as you moved more inside of the walls of buildings. Designed trees and bushes on the sides of the road, the spectating lights of cars shadowing the motorcycle brought your head to snap around and your firm grip to loosen.
His voice muffled from his helmet, you heard Gunhak call out “Hold on.” The man was unaware of what he had gotten himself into, two black cars closing in on his vehicle. His own head turned to gaze into his rearview mirrors, watching as one of the black SUV’s got outstandingly close.
“What’s going on?” He shouted back at you through the headset of the helmets, your form tightening to hold on to him as tight as you could. Inevitability had caught up to you, the rounding sounds of the covert cars trying to pry Gunhak in between them no match for the man well bounded.
Your words went muffled as he revved the bike, speeding far ahead of the cars. Trees whipped by like lightyears, bushes had leaves pulled from the stems just from the extra wind created by the racing bike, and Gunhak had managed to get the two of you in front of the cars. Dangerous turns made by the man at your mercy, he guided you through green lights until the fourth light turned red and captured the prowlers by surprise. A breakthrough in the speeding chase, Gunhak broke through an alleyway too skinny for the cars to follow, their brakes screeching much like his own had not long ago.
The streets went silent again, the harsh panting of the man in control of the bike bringing tears to your eyes. Cowering behind him as your hands shook against his abs, his knuckles tightened around the handles of the bike as he sped into the parking lot of the motel. A dark space between two of the buildings, he brought your world to a standstill in one quick movement as he parked the vehicle and put down the kickstand at the same time he lifted himself away from you.
“Don’t speak.” He growled as he tossed off the helmet. The shield was on the handles again, his marching form grabbing his bag from the back of the bike as he stomped off up the steps towards the office.
Minutes passed, only silence and your heavy breathing in your ears. You shook with anticipation, the look of boiling blood within Gunhak’s eyes making your view shift upside down. The man had only signed on to help a stranger, and now his life was being threatened by a group of people he didn’t even know existed.
“Come on.” Jaw clenched and teeth gritting, he tossed your second bag over his shoulder, his free hand gripping at your wrist as he tugged you along down the sidewalk to another building. He was fuming, the tight grip on your limb making you wince and stumble behind him – he didn’t even spare you a glance. The tables had turned, the danger you put him in getting to him on the first go, and by the time he had you in the room he paid for, your back was pressed against the wall.
“G-Gunhak, I c-can explain.” You cried out, his body releasing the bags onto the floor as his forearm pressed into your chest, heaving you against the wall.
“Explain? Explain. You’re going to somehow explain why two huge SUVs just attempted to run us off the road? Smash into us? Doing something even worse when the drivers and passengers actually got out? What the fuck was that, y/n?” His nostrils flared in anger, the once fluffy blonde hair on his head stuck to his forehead and temples from the sweat pouring down his body. Anxiety in every nerve - his form read as intrepid, but his eyes read as horrified.
“I told you before! When we were in the alley-“ You broke out, voice cracking as you yelled at him. The man didn’t waver from the rise in your tone or the shattered bits of your voice, his eyes squinted as they stared you down. He wanted answers, and your time was running up to tell him. “You found my ID. You’ve seen my face; you know my name. I was on your bike, so now they’re going to be after you, too.”
“Who?” His eyes finally blew, a mixed expression across his face like he was living in a real-life action movie. Pupils the size of quarters, you watched him finally take in the situation.
“I tried to kill my boss. I got ditched by my group, and now his team of assassins are after me.” You spat it out in the simplest way possible. The man’s grip against your body released your feet back onto the floor as he bit down on his tongue. He was petrified - you could see it in the lines of his face and the pout on his lips – but as his brows knitted, you knew the cogs were turning in his head.
“What did he do to make you want to kill him?” He asked slowly, tongue pressing into the roof of his mouth as he swallowed.
“He was mistreating everyone. My team, his own; I’m surprised he still has anyone on his side.”
“So, you were doing it for a good cause?”
“Do I look like a killer to you, Gunhak?” You asked, lashes batting against your face as his nose crinkled in thought. Your hand reached out while in the process of balling into a fist, playfully hitting his arm as he hissed. A smile was slowly growing on his lips again, his own eyes blinking at you as he caught his breath and let his mind reconnect the dots.
“No.” His head shook lightly, face to face with you. Your eyes glistened in the dim lamp’s bulb of the motel room, Gunhak stepping back from you to give you room. “Good.” His head bobbled in the opposite direction, the nod modest as he pressed his lips into a thin line. “Then I guess we can be roommates for the night.”
Your eyes both shifted to the surrounding room, your eyes falling on the single - but double - bed against the wall before meeting each other’s gaze again. “This is going to be a long night.”
The steam of the shower had released your tense muscles, finally clean of the dirt from the road and the past you had been let go from. The room was freezing as you stepped out of the bathroom, Gunhak’s intense gaze falling on your hardly clothed figure as you pulled on his extra leather coat for warmth. You missed his lips curving upwards, the wrinkles in his forehead when he walked past you to take his shower – you even missed the loud thump of his heart as the door shut to.
Sound of running water filling the void of silence in the motel room, your eyes caught sight of his opened bag. The few layers of clothing sprawled out of the top made you laugh and shake your head, moving over to press the multiple fabrics back inside and zip it up. His scent was resilient, all around you as the lightheaded feeling of smelling his testosterone made you shiver and pull back from the bag. A loud noise echoed as the article turned sideways and released the items inside onto the floor as it fell off the bed, your panicked wheeze bringing a laugh from the man’s throat.
“Looking for something?” he questioned, your form spinning on your knees to see his head tilted down and gaze strongly staring over you. Shirtless body cascaded with drips from the shower not yet dried, he had showered in minutes to assure you weren’t left alone - purposely aware that you would get curious about him.
“I-I was just putting your clothes back in.”
“Mhm~” he nodded. “Not snooping around trying to understand me?”
The thought had exceeded your mind multiple times now, pure curiosity for why the man is the way he is staying in your frontal cortex until you gained answers. Your brows furrowed, staring between him and the remaining clothes on the floor as you lifted them onto the bed. He knew what you were thinking – he had the last time you were talking of him in your own mind, and as his lips moved, you could almost speak his sentence word for word in your own voice.
“You won’t find anything in there.”
“Just as mysterious as me, I guess.” You laughed, placing the last item back into the bag before his arm moved past your peripheral. Veins bulging from his taut arms, your pupils dilated at the sight of his golden skin, watching his limb lift the heavy bag from the bed easily and put it on the floor beside your own.
“You’re not a mystery to me anymore.” He grinned, your eyes squinting in his direction. The thought on the tip of your tongue, the flash memory of his joke came to your mind just as he issued another deep laugh. “I found your ID before I even knew you.”
“Ah— right.” You almost pouted at your mistake.
Your body fell back against the mattress with a huff, Gunhak’s form pressing down into the mattress as he pulled the covers from under you to place above your legs. You sat up to pull off his jacket, placing the thick fabric at the end of the bed as you laid back down, his awkward form lying beside you. Lights diminished in the dark room, the flicker of the red vacancy light from outside made you blink rapidly. You felt him shift, arms going under his head as his eyes shut gently, ignoring your eyes watching him.
“Gunhak-“ Your voice rose faintly, a slight hum coming from the man in response. “Why are you alone?”
“I like being alone.”
A simple response, you couldn’t have expected him to say more. Witty and down to the bone, Gunhak’s face held two forms just like his personality. He seemed to be cutting in certain ways, his hunger for a purpose guiding him on his bike like a boat floating in whatever direction the water took it. But at the same time – he seemed compassionate. He was too quick to help you for you to believe him wrong or disconsolate, the beads in his eyes like small light bulbs illuminating his path, and now your own.
“But why are you?”
“I’m just on a road trip, y/n.” Your name falling from his lips was still new to you, your eyes opening wide as you hardly turned to face him. He seemed entranced with what was behind his eyelids, his chest rising and descending in a way that you knew he was still conscious – still listening.
“What are you running from?”
His eye closest to you peeled open, his frame swiveling on the bed until he was facing you with his head propped up from his bent elbow. So rapt by what you had just said, he ignored the filter in his mind – the same one as your own that you had destroyed when you told him about yourself and your past – sucking on his bottom lip as the muffled words came out.
“I like running from nothing and everything at the same time. Makes life worth living and gets me into a lot of trouble. A lot like my new acquaintance with you.” His free hand was in the air as he spoke, the padding of his index finger coming down onto your nose with a little pat in the same moment he mentioned you.
You had been so unhinged when he met you, so lost – and then found. Gunhak had pulled you off the road in enough time to give you the chance to run. Had he not been there, those cars would have managed to find you in a moment’s time – you’d be roadkill instead of lying beside your knight in shining armor as his eyes leered over you.
In tandem with the light, you caught his body rocking back and forth. Another mental debate between the man and his morals, you were the first to break the filter again. Body curving to match his, your form slid against him as your lips sealed a kiss. Just as the sun meets the moon when it sets, you finally felt the beat of his rapid heart. Your mouths were as attached as the beating organs, his arm gliding around your back as his lips merged and deepened between your own. He was guiding – just as he had been – allowing you to fall back into the mattress. Keeping his bearings, not rushing the moment, he lingered over you as he broke the kiss, your eyes matching for the first full time.
Seeing him - not just the person that had found and returned your identity, not just the biker that had trailed you down the road out of concern about if you had a roof over your head to sleep under that night, not just the man that willingly pulled out his second and only other jacket to place over your shoulders - you saw Gunhak for who he was. A man on a journey for a life worth asking for, he was filling a void – one that included pressing his lips so gently against yours that he was trapping a moan at the back of his throat.
The silked lips diverged from yours to litter your neck with light kisses, the softness of his mouth like a new paint brush on a canvas. His hand moved to hold the side of your face, index finger grazing the shell of your ear as his thumb pressed into your cheek. Gently, he ran the rough pads of his digits down your neck on the opposite side where his kisses lingered.
You were in a new state of mind, purely relaxed below the safe aura of Gunhak. His eyes fluttered shut as the kisses moved lower, your own opening to watch him take his sweet time with you. One hand following the frame of your body, the other bent at the side of your head for leverage - Gunhak's body vibrated with anticipation.
Unable to hide the fact that your face was on fire, the moment his palm molded over your chest to reencounter the hold on your face, he lifted his head from you to peer into your eyes.
"You don't get kissed often, do you?" His voice deeper than what you were used to, your head could hardly shake in response to his words. So filled with life and lust, the man was creating butterflies in your stomach just from hovering above you. His scent is so strong in your nostrils, clean and refreshing. You finally allowed your eyes to close again when his hand met the trim of your shirt, raising the fabric to cover the skin in more kisses. "I find that charming." he laughed.
"I find you charming." The sentence that left your mouth was purely your mind on autopilot from the rush of sparks running through your every limb, his mouth stretching in a smile. A single second, you allowed your gaze to accompany him. His irises were glistening - not with just lust from the friction of your body against him, but the quick pace of his heart in his chest from the compliment.
"I'm not used to being told these things."
"You should be." Your words almost startled him, your hands gripping at the tight t-shirt on his torso as you tugged at him. He rose back upwards until he was aligned with your face again, the second call for your lips to kiss at his bringing a whisper from your mouth. "I'll be the one to say them from now on."
"I quite like that." The toothless smile that made your head fuzzy regained in your vision, his head tilting to match your lips as his hips grinded down into you. Not forceful, the weight of his body guided him down skillfully like he knew where to be, your body reacting accordingly by jerking up into him. "Ah~" his hiss was melted with the buildup of his face falling into the crook of your neck, your hands clamping around his shoulders in time to pick at his shirt.
Gunhak didn't have to ask, prying from your arms to pull the tight shirt off his body and into the floor beside the double bed. Your eyes found the ripples of his abs - the same ones you had clung to when the chase ensued - lifting your hand to scope out the size of the muscles. He took into account that you had felt them before, his cocked brow in your peripheral almost comedic when he gripped at your wrist and pulled your hand to meet his abdomen.
Your eyes felt like they could roll into the back of your head, mind counting each divot and taut muscle as he smirked down at you. So allured, his back arched to recount his position above you, your shirt going higher and higher as his hand traveled to meet your body. Nipples hard and just as solidified to his touch as the rest of you, your mouth fell open at the feeling of his lips attaching to one of the sensitive buds. So delicate, light sucks were given to the erect spot, his mouth matching the other one as muffled moans of his name fell from your lips. Syllables unintelligible, he continued to move his mouth down lower, index fingers tracing your skin until they were met with the waistband of your pants.
Diligently, his eyes paired with your own. The respect he held for you didn't abate his arousal or obedience to your comfort zone, your nod in his direction guiding the fabric off of your body. He didn't waste a moment before his mouth was attached to you, licking stripes in the form of patterns with your fingers gripping at his hair.
You couldn't hold in your noises, the vibrations of his mouth moaning your name while pressed against you leering you into one of the hardest orgasms you had ever had in your life. Sight white and hands scratching at his bare shoulders, his tongue pushed flat against you to lap at your juices, moans pornographic from the both of you. Finally pulling from your body to let you catch your breath, you watched the back of his hand move before his mouth, tongue taking the last of your orgasm from his lips before licking at the liquid.
His nose flared - the second time you had witnessed the sexy habit of his, except this time he wasn't livid. Face dipping to press a kiss to your cheek, your hands found his lower back. Your eyes clenched at the feeling of his hardened length below the thin fabric of his pants, gasping at the sensation that ruptured your sensitive crotch as he rutted against you. The dimples of his back fit your fingers as you traced the spots, his hands matching the waistband of his pants to glide them down.
Every subtle motion he created made you see stars, your lips finding the skin of his jawline to nibble with your teeth. He didn't hiss, a groan muffled by the tilt of his head to allow you the space to keep going - a distraction to keep himself from exploding. His cock was throbbing as his hand wrapped around the base, your head nuzzling against his neck when you felt him press against your entrance. Your body lubricated from his tongue and actions, he glided into you with ease, his forearms shaking. He felt heavy over you, your hand rushing to lift his chin to catch his attention.
"Was this your plan all along?" Your question mulled in his brain until he released a chuckle, filling you deep - almost to the brim as your words were nothing but a joke.
"Yeah, actually. I enjoy getting pretty people into bed, boosts the ego."
The taunting was halting as he bottomed out in you at the pull of his length and pushed in a second time. Your mouth fell open with only his name escaping your vocal cords, the ruffled sound of him gripping at the pillow below your head brought your hips to suck him inside of you deeper.
"I think you're doing a good job." Vague praise brought sparkles to his eyes, the same brow as before cocking as he pulled out and slammed into you.
"Am I? You're not whining yet. Not even screaming my name." Your head jolted back with his thrust, his cock coating your walls with sheer pleasure as his gut went tight. You could see him losing his grip, the floating feeling he once gave you growing in his own gaze.
Eyes squinted up at the man, your hand met his hips, pulling him to wrap your legs around his waist. So filled into you, captivated and pleasured - his head fell against your shoulder as he pumped small thrusts into you.
The whisper of your voice in his ear had his body not only relaxing his muscles, but his cock throbbing as you clenched down on him. Milking him of his orgasm, the man shivered, bare skin pricking with chills for the first time the entire night. You watched his cum leak from his tip as he pulled out of you, the sheets becoming absent-mindedly stained from your hand jerking him off until completion. "I don't need to scream to make you cum, Gunhak."
"Fuck-" The thick, white liquid left spots on your shirt as it spewed from his cock, his body falling forward until you were pinned between his light-coated, sweaty body and the mattress.
A light squeak of his name had his body lifted from you, spinning to lay on his back next to your form as your eyes went heavy. His body left you for a moment to retrieve a towel, cleaning you of the mess he made.
The strong-minded man you were admittedly falling in love with spared the heat of his body from you, all except his arm that masked over your stomach. Hardly held in his embrace, your mind began to drift into a slumber, the feeling of his fingers tracing your scalp through the strands of hair soothing you into a sleep in an instant.
"Sleep well, for once." He cooed quietly. "I'm here."
Tranquility in all directions of the room, your shut off mind awoke to his form pressing into the air. Your face didn’t have time to contort in confusion as your head turned to meet the sound at the door, Gunhak’s index finger pressing against his closed lips. A signal to stay silent, he pulled at your wrist to follow him up before he handed you your clothes. One limb at a time, your body reconnected with the once discarded fabric, his movements at an expeditious rate alarming you.
His ears were used to this, your bags lifted from the ground and over your shoulder. The lightest jingle of the keys moving into your fingers rang in the dark space, the click of the motel room’s door knob startling you. Gunhak was quick to push you in the direction of the bathroom, your body racing towards the window over the toilet in the same moment that the door came barreling open.
“Go!” Gunhak’s eyes went wide as he yelled, three of the four assassins that had been trailing you breaking into the room with him now in their sights. You shook as the pane of the window tilted open, his bike’s keys rocking against the frame as you tossed out the bags and made a leap out yourself.
You didn’t look back – you couldn’t, but the sounds of the fists pummeling into Gunhak was enough to have you shrieking. One harsh punch to the face, and he was on the ground – your eyes matching the blood on his head as you fell down the wall. Collecting the bags, your feet stomped against the cement pathway towards the parking lot. Gunhak’s bike sat untouched, the door of your room still open wide as you heard a loud cry come from within it.
Seconds after you darted for his bike, one of the assassins gripped a pen from the nightstand of the bedroom. Little effort was necessary to launch the staked item into Gunhak’s leg, the man that had once stood barreling back to the ground. Nothing like in defeat, his head lifted – making sure his eyes paired with each of the men.
“I can do what you want.” He gritted at them, eyes barely watered as he hissed at the sharp pain in his leg. Fist clenching around the blue-inked writing utensil, he pulled it from his thigh muscle. Wincing from the blood, he tossed the pen to the ground. “Just give me time.”
Strands clung to the back of his bike, you placed the bags under the ropes such as Gunhak had them, your main focus on putting the key into the ignition. The metal screw clicked into the bike, your fingers turning it and fists meeting the handles. A rush of air came towards your side, eyes illuminated in the hopes of finding Gunhak at your side again – but it was a larger man. His form was gaining on you, a rush of adrenaline in your veins as you pressed at the gas handle and sent yourself off.
You had watched Gunhak guide the bike attentively, even felt his muscles contract as he controlled the vehicle. With the help of your memory, you allowed the bike to guide you – riding in circles as the man attempted to keep up with you. Gunhak’s form left out of the motel room, stumbling down the steps in time to reach his bike. He looked disheveled, hair sweating down the strands and his skin as he panted to catch his breath. From the race of the man tailing his bike, you hardly had enough time to notice the hole through his jeans was leaking blood – your mind set on getting out of the lot.
But the man was too close to give you time to swap places, Gunhak’s injured leg swung over the running motor as he held onto your waist. Your eyes pleaded that he not go through with this, tongue almost unable to form words. “I hardly know how to drive one of these things!” You called out over the roar of the engine, his eyes clamping as he shook his head.
“Just get us out of here! You’ll figure it out.” He gritted, eyes pulling back at their cold glare in order to give you the confidence you needed to step on it. His actions were the right ones, your fingers gripping at the handles just as he had in a moment of danger. Mind on pure auto-pilot, you let the star above guide you from danger, Gunhak’s arms wrapped tightly around your waist causing you to focus.
Your hands worked accordingly, rushing the vehicle out of the parking lot and too far from the assassin on his feet. Parting in a bolt, the darkened night all around was instructing you in the direction you were meant to be in, Gunhak’s form clinging to you as the wind whipped past. Grip tight but balance unsteady, his arms layered over your own to grasp over your hands, his own arms guiding you in the direction you were going. No helmets, no belt, you were nearly out of your mind driving the bike of a man you had only met hours prior – but as his arms tightened around you and his head laid on your shoulder, you couldn’t find yourself to care.
This was what he had gone on about. The rush of running from danger and being within it all at the same time, the freedom of his bike and the long roads ahead dark or lit – but he never mentioned the hold of someone.
The engine of the bike slowed in your grasp as you turned into a dark alleyway. Your heart beating out of your chest, all that was in your ears was Gunhak’s laughter. Your head tilted to see him in your peripheral, the wide grin on your face making your blood boil until your own body laughed.
“What?” You questioned, shaking your head at him. “What’s so funny?”
“You make a good get away driver.” His teeth broke through his lips in a Cheshire grin, his eyes rising with his smile and chest puffing with his cackle.
Your laughter fell when you rose from the bike, sight of the hole in his jeans frightening as you crouched down towards his thigh. Prying the helmet from your head, he lifted the shield on his own to give you his full attention, breathing in the cold air with tight breaths.
“It’s hardly even a puncture.” His head shook as you gave him an uneasy glare, his hand running over the spot as he winced. “Not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Your poor leg has a hole in it.” Your voice was cold towards his careless tone. His arms reached backwards to undo the zipper of his bag, another one of his tight shirts pulled from the black carrier. The fabric was placed between his teeth, a clean rip and tear giving him a long piece to wrap around his thigh. You were apprehensive at his actions, the feeling that he’s done this a few times way too noticeable. The curve in the apples of his cheeks made heat gather in your face, a single wink of his eye making you roll your own.
His head tilted up towards the sky, the shining stars above dictated by the brightness of the star that had guided you down the road. “So, what now, boss?” He was toying with you, mind elsewhere until his eyes found your face again. “What’s the next move?”
“I need to take care of this once and for all.” Your voice was small but confidence large, the rise of his lips bringing a deep cackle to bounce around in his chest. “My team made a mistake for throwing me out. We’re not too far from the base now.”
“I say we pay your boss a visit.” Gunhak’s face was bright with colors under the gleaming stars, the signs of the businesses and shops along the road lighting up his face even in the dark alleyway.
Gunhak’s gaze was deeply staring into your own as a passing engine roared. One of the large cars from before sped past the alleyway, your form leaping against the bike and into his arms. His hold was so instinctively wrapped around you – just as it had been – but it changed. A sparkle in his eyes when you pulled from his chest to peer down at him, his lips didn’t have a moment to react before you lifted his helmet and collided them together in a chaste kiss.
“Does danger turn you on, y/n?” Slick, Gunhak’s arms pulled you back towards the bike the moment you moved away, your form clambering on the back as he started the motor up again. Your helmet went over your head within a second as you heard his shield click back down, your hiss into the headset within the hood making him laugh.
“You kinky bastard.” You hissed in his ears, arms back around his abdomen as he started off. The same sensation of butterflies regathered in your stomach at the feeling of his abs, his smirk gone unnoticed as he let the bike run and the two of you rush off towards the road once more.
The air was more of a shriek as the wind picked up, the leather jacket bound around your body and the shield on your face protecting you from all things headed your way – all except Gunhak, himself. He had pried his way into your situation so effortlessly that it almost made you laugh, but at the same time – it pained you to know he cared so much. An innocent person on a trip doing who-knows-what finding another troubled person in their path – the man had a knack for woe with a plastic shield over his face.
The main road was still just as lit as before, the sidewalk you once ran down to escape the same man driving the vehicle you now rode on the back of taking the breath from your lungs. Harrowed irony, the block of the sidewalk brought a smile to your face as you cradled his form tighter, warmed by his trilled laugh in your ears. Orange light after yellow, it was as if the road was turning skinnier, two black masses on either side of the motorcycle capturing your attention from the sentimental place.
All things circle around, and if they didn’t – you’d never have anything to learn from. Or in your case, run from – the two black cars approaching you getting closer than what could ever comfort you. The phrase was cut short even in your own mind, the scraping of the painted cars on either side of Gunhak’s bike exploiting a squeal from you.
How the two cars of assassins had managed to recuperate and configure your movements, you’d never know. But as they trailed you too close and bashed into your riding forms a second time, you felt the heat of your body rise and your mind let go.
There are so few moments in life that push adrenaline through a human’s veins: stepping out in front of traffic on accident, missing a step, almost drinking or eating something too hot – all because you weren’t paying attention. So what are the moments where your full attention was on the circumstance, and yet you still managed to have a close call with death called? Fate.
The brush of the heavy cars at your sides held you closer to Gunhak, his loud cries of pain as his injured leg was bolted to the bike making you wince. His calls out to you saying it would all be okay were only muffled words to you, his hand closing in on the clutch to run the bike forward not enough to escape the death grip the cars had on you. You could feel the energy of the men inside of the vehicles, see their smiles through the windows – but you all but feared them.
There are three types of people in the world – that of which you are sure of in life. The Sleepers: those who allow others to do all their dirty deeds for them. The Wakers: those that recount all that life can throw at you until you finally awaken and see the light. And the worse of the worst, the Dealers: those sentenced to make anyone and everyone’s lives a living hell for the sake of their own tolls. Things they’ve done that they can never repay or regain, their only purpose now to take and take.
The Dealers, in your case, were the assassins. Assigned to kill you off, pull and throw you back with your mouth on the same hook – they forgot the most important part. The Wakers know their weaknesses, and they are fighters who are a hell of a lot more prone to getting what they want over what they need.
The wedged space between the two cars was hardly a break to make any moves, Gunhak’s fingers so tight around the handles that his knuckles were white. They requested a battle, but he answered with a rebuttal. High speed down the road gave a kick to their vehicles, only half a second for gameplay as the bike was removed from between them. Gravity had its causes for bringing things down to the ground, and just as their wheels were connected with the sides of the bike, the two cars collided with one another when the barrier between them escaped.
Flashing lights not at all sirens or medical transportation, it was the cars spinning on the roads. A game of chicken you never signed up for – a death wish written by the man controlling the bike. “What are the odds that these guys are just as bad as your boss?” Gunhak asked over the microphones within the helmets, your choking voice hardly a reply.
“You can’t play a puppet without using your hands.”
The analogy was enough to have him nodding, the pull of his fist around the handles sending the bike back towards the two cars. Now head to head, the blinding lights made you clamp to Gunhak like he was your life source, the two cars speeding in your direction enough to make your heart stop beating in your chest. Tempo faster than electricity through a wire, the silence of your body allowed you to hear the man who had single-handedly taken and caressed the organ in a short amount of time.
“I swear, if you let go and I never get the chance to tell you how hard I’m falling for you!”
Your blood boiled, teeth gritted and voice high-pitched. “Not the time, Gunhak!”
Inch by inch turned even thinner as you neared the lights of the heads of the cars, Gunhak’s body not shivering a single bit. You could feel him take in a breath, every motion and atom surrounding you turning the situation into a movie scene. Gunhak’s words were specific to his silent plan, the tilting of his body dragging his foot against the ground as he pulled at the clutch and allowed the bike to swivel bringing your soul back to its carcass.
The skillful man has spun the template into a new pattern, a new form, and you were now ahead. Unlike the chases you had experienced within the same night, the cars chasing after you didn’t feel like you were their prey – but their ally.
Keeping their distance, Gunhak’s eyes would meet the vehicles every so often, the large building of the corporation coming up sooner than you had expected. He was in over your head, just as you, and by the very second you pulled up the driveway of the same building you had spun away from with your team just as the sun was setting – something clicked.
Even with your team at your sides, it didn’t feel the same as Gunhak lifting his form from the body. They never offered you their hand, pulled a helmet off your head, or even sent death glares towards those trying to kill you. The double cars of those trying to hurt you leaped out in a quick pace, Gunhak’s eyes blazing in their direction as they all halted on sight.
“W-What do I do, Gunhak?”
The temptation to keep moving brought your arms to swing around him, his hands at your shoulders leering you backwards. Head in the game, heart next to his – a nod of his head guided you in the direction you had wanted to go for years.
“You take care of your business now, baby.” His lips pressed into your temple so delicately. “I’m right here.”
The same halls you had walked down many times – sometimes bleeding, crying, wailing, but now they were only memories. The fixation of a Sleeper in command had consequences, the man almost cowering the moment your form pressed through his door. He couldn’t form words to back you down, to lighten your gaze – he knew he had gone too far, and that this was the end.
“Why did you do it? Why go to this extent?”
He shook too much to respond, the man that had oftentimes sent you out on a mission like a starving, rabid dog now as pale as a ghost at the sight of your poise. You had lost so much to him - to the lifestyle of following another’s orders - that you had even been blinded by what was right in front of you. No battle is truly fought alone, and as one of the assassins broke from Gunhak’s fight – the elapsed sound of more fists pummeling into the man brought a wretched expression across your face – someone finally had the upper-hand, but it wasn’t you.
How many times do you have to see a face to have it etched into your mind? Once – maybe a hundred? You never even recognized the same partner to the boss being lowered from his position and sent out to do the deeds you left blank. You never took notice of the pain in his own partner’s eyes – and up until the gun was lifted at your head, you never knew the true meaning of love. The feeling of just wanting Gunhak’s arms around you before the bullet flew through your skull was thick enough to have you quivering. The man’s eyes were dull as the gun clicked, his wrist popping as the limb snapped in a separate direction from your form. Missing you by almost a centimeter, justice had been served – your boss was dead.
“I-I don’t understand.” Your head shook back and forth in dismay, the assassin's gaze following the floor to the door. Even evil can’t bear to witness some sights, that is how you know how cruel the world can be.
You left out of the building with chills across your skin and a single word on your tongue. Gunhak — a word you could repeat again and again, a name you couldn’t fathom being the same man stood before you completely unharmed the moment you made it out the door.
A Waker in his prime, completely neutral, Gunhak had long found his place in the world. “Y-You?”
“Me.” He nodded, lips forming a thin line until a pout overtook his mouth. A two-timed man in love, what a coincidence.
“Your mistake was my gain. I thought I had lost you at one point, but you were right below the brightest star in the sky.” He was speaking in riddles. Although you knew it was a setup, that he had been employed with getting to you first, every ounce of your body still wanted to run into his arms. “Do you still trust me?”
“Explain all of this to me, Gunhak.” You barked gently. A woof of the smallest dog with the bite of the biggest – he knew better than to shade over his identity any longer.
“I was hired by your boss to find you before they did.” He claimed, pointing towards the three assassins – the fourth still within the walls of the building. “Like I said, coincidence. I lost you when you disappeared from your team’s car, but found you when I noticed your identification was in the middle of the road.”
“Lucky me – my killer found my ID instead of a normal person.” You hissed. “What the hell was all of this, a game?”
“When I am hired for these jobs, no one tells me the details. They tell me who to take care of, and they send me on my way.” His eyes never let the sparkles go, the tone in his voice sounding genuine. “I never know how bad things are until I hear them for myself. You told me at the motel about how horrible your boss was, and it clicked.”
“What clicked?”
“That I was about to get my ass kicked by the same guys after you because they don’t know why I am here, either.” His words were layered, lips moving frantically to explain it all to you. Even without him speaking it directly, you could see the pain in his face – you knew he hated seeing you frustrated with him. “y/n, I got away from those guys because I told them I was on their side. Not to kill you, but I saw what was in you in them.”
“Where the problem lied.”
“Your boss has taken more lives than I ever will, and he was only serviced by your team for the last few years. I’ve been riding on my bike being hired by strangers since I was in high school. You don’t mess around with all of this, but the emotions are so much worse. They wanted him dead more than you and I combined.”
“And it’s over.” You nodded, staring down at the paved driveway as you kicked at a lone rock. The Waker had found you – a Sleeper – and awoken you. Protecting the Dealers from a terrible fate, he had been in three places at once – and you only knew him to be a stranger that wanted to help.
“Everything you’ve said-“ Tears pricked your ducts, threatening to pour from your eyes from the lightest blow of wind as Gunhak rocked on his heels in front of you. “-you meant, right?”
“I don’t know about you-“ His lips rose into a smile, body taking a step forward to close the gap between the two of you.”-but I’ve never attempted to say ‘I love you’ to another human being while racing head first into two cars.”
His hand cupped your cheek to pull you into him, lips pressing so hard against one another that the skin burned. Teeth almost against teeth, you heard the chatter of the other men as they broke from the two of you, disappearing into the building to go to the missing man. Finally giving you peace, you had what you had been hoping in your arms – Gunhak holding onto you so tight like he was convinced you’d leave him. Seeing a man that held his fist up for you - that fought by your side while meant to be on the opposite - react so intensely, you couldn’t hold your emotions in any longer.
“I care about you too much.” He whispered.
The tears broke from your eyes, hot streaks running down your face as he pulled from your lips. The same gentle touch he held from the beginning, you knew he was never a threat by the way the pad of his thumb brushed away the tears only to let the liquid sink into his own skin. The motion done through the kiss, you pulled back to catch your breath. Eyes clenched shut, you felt his paced breaths begin to relax your muscles, your face in his chest listening to the quick thumps of his heart. Nothing had changed between the two of you despite the quarrel and different positions – Gunhak was still the same man that offered you a ride to somewhere safe, the same one who took you with passion and fire in his loins and soft kisses pressed to your lips, the same one that held you in his arms like you would escape in a mist.
Bestowed by the situation, you had to give credit where credit was due. Not every person on Earth would travel to replenish concord to the world, but that was just what Gunhak’s journey was about. Routed in every direction at once, fate had brought him to cross paths with someone he was meant to kill – but he found love and resentment in that same person. Like a fairytale, the knight had replenished a commoner to see the bigger picture, his chin resting against your head as you breathed him in.
“Hey y/n?”
“Yes, Gunhak?”
“I’m still on my road trip.” He grinned, face meeting yours as the tips of your noses collided. A gentle moment of skin on skin, you brought your cheek to his cheek to express that you knew where you were in the moment.
Alone on his journey, he, too, had never experienced this moment. No one had matched his tale enough to connect with him like you, the sparkle in his eyes like a memory in your mind you couldn’t put your finger on. The accuracy of the glow, the joy of the flicker, the lights that united the spot to be the leader.
“Yes.”
“And there’s room on the back of my bike for a passenger.”
Your eyes left his face for a moment in thought, the bike receiving hardly a glance. Eyes drilling to the sky, the gleaming, deep blue color was fading into a light purple as dawn awakened. Memory of hobbling down the road with your bags barely grasped on your back floated into your mind, the vague image of what had guided you giving you a moment of true tranquility. The star in the sky was the same shape of the sparkle in Gunhak’s eyes – it wasn’t the star that had guided you, but him. The world has a way of filling in the blanks, leading you to nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and as you peered back towards the man’s face — his lips formed words you couldn’t hear over the sound of your heartbeats syncing.
“What happened to you enjoying being alone?” You asked with a light laugh, his shoulders shrugging with a hefty chuckle from his chest.
He smiled, the sparkle in his eyes so bright that it was as if the star was only meant to be in his gaze and nowhere else. “Life’s no fun without a partner in crime.”
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