Nam-gyu wondered what was taking Su-bong and Dae-ho so long, they had been in the bathrooms for a while now, so he decided to get up and check if everything was okay. Nam-gyu didn't even spare the guards a glance, he walked past them and to the men's toilet, he pushed open the door and was greeted with a sight that would have most likely made most of those old-timer players back in the dorms faint. Su-bong had Dae-ho sit on the sink counter, one hand on his hip, the other in Dae-ho's hair. Both men's lips were locked in a desperate kiss, Su-bong's tongue claiming and exploring every inch of Dae-ho's mouth while the shorter of the two made small whimpering noises and was drooling from the messy liplock.

“Having fun without me now?” Nam-gyu asked, with an unimpressed look on his face, didn't Su-bong know that sharing is caring? At least Dae-ho had the decency to look embarrassed.

“Sorry, Nam-gyu... Would you uh...would you like to join us?” Dae-ho asked and Nam-gyu practically pounced, squeezing himself between the two men and messily kissing his big tiger's neck.

Su-bong couldn't stop the laugh that left him. “Ah Nam-su! You were feeling jealous?” He playfully teased but jumped back slightly as Nam-gyu swatted at him as if he were a fly.

“My name is Nam-gyu, asshole.” Nam-gyu hissed, gasping when his hair was tugged.

“Stop arguing,” Dae-ho grumbled, brows furrowed. Nam-gyu could drool at the sight, was there any look that could make this man look unattractive? He highly doubted it. Su-bong clearly thought the same because he laughed and raised his hands in a mock surrender before smashing his lips against Nam-gyu's in a kiss that was more of a fight for dominance.

“Here tiger, we kissed and made up.” Su-bong grinned and Nam-gyu hugged Dae-ho again, he was like a koala with a tree.

“Kiss me again please?” The shortest of the three whined, tugging Dae-ho's sleeves. The older man looked flustered but complied, his kisses were gentle, sweet yet full of so much barely contained hunger. Su-bong led them all to a stall, locking the door behind him and pushing Dae-ho to sit on the toilet lid.

Before things could go further, two guards walked into the room. “Players must return to the dormitory at once.” One of them spoke, the harsh tone instantly killing the mood.

The next day soon arrived, despite the bullet holes that littered the walls and staircases, it felt as if the rebellion never happened as the remaining players were led to the fourth game. The vote to continue the games was won by a landslide after the previous night's brutal fight.

Now everyone stood in a line, waiting to see what colour ball they would receive from the gumball machine, red or blue. Dae-ho felt his heart drop when he received blue whereas Thanos and Nam-gyu received red, however, his nerves were put more at ease when Gyeong-su also received blue. One of the guards explained the rules of the game once everyone drew a colour from the machine. Hide and Seek, red players needed to hunt and kill at least one blue player within the time limit to pass. Blue players had to avoid death or find the exit. Dae-ho felt anxiety creep over him when he saw the cutesy design knives each red player received, whereas he and Gyeong-su, alongside the others on the blue team, received keys on a necklace. Dae-ho noticed that he and Gyeong-su had different shapes on their keys. When it was announced that players had 10 minutes to trade vests, Dae-ho let out a nervous sigh, who would want to trade their knife for a damn key?

Min-su. That was who. Dae-ho slowly approached his former ally whom he still considered a friend. “Min-su, please can we swap? I promise I will protect you and keep Nam-gyu away from you.” Dae-ho spoke, voice laced with desperation. “Gyeong-su can also hide with you,” He added, Gyeong-su walked over and smiled at Min-su despite the circumstances.

“You don't mind if I stick with you?” Gyeong-su asked, albeit with a small pink tint to his cheeks.

“O-Okay, I trust you both.” Min-su stammered out, trading vests with Dae-ho. “Dae-ho, thank you for keeping me safe from Nam-gyu last night... I was really scared.” He admitted, giving a small bashful grin.

Dae-ho hugged Min-su. “I should be thanking you Min-su! Don't worry, I plan to vote to leave after this game anyway.”

The hiders were given a two-minute head start, the seekers now entered the maze, walls drawn and painted with different sceneries and murals and a painted-on night sky dotted with stars. The red vests quickly decreased as players wasted no time hunting the hiders, Dae-ho held onto Su-bong and Nam-gyu's hands. “We should take out as many O voters as possible... Please? I really want to go home.” Dae-ho voiced his thoughts, expecting to be met with anger and ridicule.

Su-bong held onto Dae-ho, the screams slowly fading into a fuzzy background noise as he embraced the trembling man, he cupped his face in his hands, resting their foreheads against each other.

Dae-ho heard the screams slowly die down. He uncovered his ears as the lights immediately switched back on, followed by the sound of metal doors opening and heavy footsteps. He looked up at Su-bong and tugged at his jacket to be let go. As soon as Dae-ho rolled out from under the bed, he immediately went back to hiding, clinging to Su-bong when gunshots were fired. “Some crazy bastards are shooting guards!” He yelled.

Su-bong blinked, surely not, surely Dae-ho was hallucinating. He poked his head out from under the bed, looking back at Dae-ho with his jaw dropped. “Holy shit dude! They really are.” He went back to hugging Dae-ho, this time somehow more protective than before at the thought of the X voters with guns in their possession. He slowly helped Dae-ho from under the bed, that player 456 was talking about how the small group were going to go up to the main control room and take out the people in charge, Su-bong swore that the old man was fucking insane at this point. Clearly, Dae-ho thought the same thing, his brows furrowing when he saw Jung-bae step forward and deliver a speech, convincing a few more people to join this rebellion his best friend organised. Dae-ho locked eyes with Jung-bae, he slowly shook his head slightly, silently pleading with him not to go through with such a terribly thought-out plan, with the number of guards outnumbering them, it would be a miracle if they survived longer than 10 minutes. He didn't notice how badly he was shaking until a hand landed on his shoulder, Dae-ho looked behind him and paled at the sight of Namgyu, covered in blood, breathing heavily.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Dae-ho yelled, pulling away, crawling back, unaware he was now in a puddle of blood until he felt his back hit against something cold and stiff, he let out a trembling breath, looking down and vomiting at the sight of a dead X voter, a pool of blood disturbed and smeared, coating and soaking into Dae-ho's tracksuit.

Nam-gyu went wide-eyed at the sight, coming down from his killing high. “Woah, big tiger it's just me... I'm not going to hurt you,” He tried to reassure, slowly stepping forward, dropping the bloodied fork he used as his weapon to the ground before reaching out to Dae-ho.

Dae-ho covered his ears when the unfortunately common sound of gunshots echoed from what was most likely the staircases. Nam-gyu wiped the blood from his face, trying to ignore the doll eyes that the dead players had, he could appreciate them another time, he needed to make sure Dae-ho wasn't scared away from him. “Min-su is safe you know? I kept my promise tiger, come on, dont push me away.” Nam-gyu wrapped his arms around Dae-ho nuzzling his head against his chest, not caring about the mess.

Dae-ho sniffled and surprisingly, he was able to hear Nam-gyu through covered ears. He returned the embrace, trying to calm down. “Thank you... I'm sorry I yelled at you.” Nam-gyu grinned in response, his big tiger looked so pathetic right now, he felt a sick thrill but also a huge urge to keep Dae-ho safe. Fuck, was he going soft?

A guard fell from one of the many colourful staircases after a bullet pierced through their skull, courtesy of Hyun-ju. Player 246, Gyeong-seok looked in complete shock mixed with awe, watching how Hyun-ju took out guards and the surveillance cameras with ease. The shootout consisted of ear-ringing firing noises, colourful staircases and walls being decorated with bullet holes. Gi-hun was given the guard's mask, telling him something about it being needed to get through to the control room. There seemed to be a spark of recognition in the young man's eyes that widened with shock but it seemed only Jung-bae had noticed, after witnessing what happened in the final round of mingle, a feeling of dread washed over him, and that gaze was locked on Young-il. He didn't get to think much about it as the guard was shot dead by another guard. This of course triggered another shootout, ammunition was depleting, and the guards seemed to be never-ending.

Gi-hun saw something fall out of the now dead guard's pockets, spare magazines. “They keep spare bullets in their pockets!” He yelled out so everyone could hear them. “Two people should go back to gather more,” Young-il commented. Hyun-ju volunteered and before anyone else could, Jung-bae also did, he secretly had another reason for going back to the dorm though, he wanted to see how Dae-ho was doing, his boy seemed quite shaken up.

Dae-ho looked over when one of the doors to the dormitory opened, in he hurried in Hyun-ju and Jung-bae, both immediately going through pockets of dead guards. Jung-bae made his way over to a few guards who happened to be near Dae-ho, his heart broke at the sight of tears and the mess the younger man was in. “Dae-ho, are you okay?” Jung-bae asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Dae-ho grabbed Jung-bae's hand. “Please, don't go back out there.” He pleaded.

“I can't leave them behind.” The older man responded.

“What's the point of going back out there only to get gunned down?!” Dae-ho yelled, he was desperate to somehow get through to Jung-bae. “All you will be doing is adding yourself to the piggy bank...” he huffed in frustration, Jung-bae paused, he did make a valid point. However, before he could respond, guards had run into the dormitory, the others who fought in the rebellion being escorted by the masked soldiers, all except Gi-hun and Young-il. Jung-bae and Hyun-ju put down their guns, albeit reluctantly, they knew the revolt had failed.

While bodies were being placed in the gift box-style coffins, Gyeong-seok looked like he had just seen a ghost, waving Jung-bae and Hyun-ju over. “When you two left to get the ammo, Young-il and Gi-hun went further on, to try and get into the control room, we heard a gunshot then Gi-hun told us through the radios to surrender. The guards brought us back here, I don't know what's going on, I'm sorry.” (I am way too lazy to write what happened but basically Young-il revealed himself as In-ho etc after shooting Gi-hun in the leg, made a deal to spare the others who joined the rebellion by going with him. Blah blah blah. Old men in love stuff blah blah blah. Quick summary due to my complete lack of idea on how to write a bunch of words of Inhun getting freaky while drinking expensive whiskey or smth 😔. Anyways, back to Dae-ho 🥰.)

The tap squeaked when it was twisted, water splashing in the sink, the white stained from the earlier fight's blood. Su-bong had pulled off his shirt after removing his jacket, wetting the tee with the tap water, trying his best to be gentle as he wiped Dae-ho's face clean, his poor boy, so shaken up, all because of those pricks. Dae-ho blushed at the sight of Su-bong's bare skin, his mouth parted slightly, not registering what was happening or how he was leaning into his touch oh so desperately. “Enjoying the view?” Su-bong asked with a smug grin causing Dae-ho to blink and look away embarrassed.

“Sorry!” He apologised. Su-bong just chuckled, grabbing Dae-ho's chin and guiding his face closer to his, lips connecting in a kiss.