Chapter 15

Yejun stared out the window, over the drop of the mountain down at the murky tops of the nearest school buildings. Lights flickered through the foggy haze as water pelted against the thick pane of glass separating him from the elements.

He swirled the dark blue contents of his half-filled glass, the same one he'd been nursing since his arrival over an hour ago. The lounge area of the club was quieter than usual, though every now and again he felt the burning stares of others and caught wind of their whispered words.

It'd had gotten around that the Demons had chosen their sacrifice, and curiosity was brewing amongst the Essential who understood what that truly meant.

Their plan was convoluted, but it wasn't like Yejun could come up with a better one, especially not in the short amount of time they had. He'd been against using Nix in the beginning, mostly because allowing anyone to get close to them like that made his skin crawl, but in the end, it'd been two against one.

When he'd called Nix to Hunters Cross yesterday, he'd intended to make his displeasure known, only…Nix had arrived looking like a partially drowned kitten, his hackles risen and all, and Yejun hadn't been able to do it.

It wasn't Nix's fault that he'd been roped into this. Lake might seem like a frozen ice prince, but when he wanted something, he was more like an avalanche crashing his way through. He'd bulldoze anything in his way to get his way. Yejun had always admired that in him, even though it was also a trait that could get them into trouble.

"Yo." West appeared at his side, bumping his elbow against his before taking up a spot against the window next to him. He was holding a beer, his sharp gaze taking in the scenery below.

Even though he appeared relaxed with his shoulder propped against the glass, Yejun recognized the coiled tension in the set of his best friend's shoulders. Of the three of them, West was the most explosive, the most chaotic and out of touch with his emotions. He liked to pretend things away over dealing with them, but Light help anyone who tried to tell him as much.

They all had their own ways of coping, and who was Yejun to interfere or lecture?

He moved his glass forward, waiting for West to notice before they clinked them together. West wouldn't admit it, but he'd been on edge since Lake's return. Probably because he was torn between several different feelings on the matter.

The three of them were one, painted on the same shitty canvas, their splotches bleeding into one another. But that didn't mean there weren't issues. They'd both wanted Lake to come home, had missed him while he'd been away. West, however, had to deal with the inferiority complex he'd been gifted from his father, and that was always more difficult when in the presence of their Imperial bestie.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Yejun had gotten up to get something to drink and had passed by West's bedroom. The sound of clicking keys had drifted through the door.

"Some," West said.

"Was it worth it at least?"

"I didn't find anything new, if that's what you're asked. Whoever this guy is, they're good."

"Better than you?"

The corner of West's mouth tipped up. "They have the advantage since I couldn't predict they were coming. Does that mean they're better?" He lifted a hand and rocked it back and forth. "I guess only time will tell."

"You still think we should bring Nix into this?"

West soured some. "Lake isn't onboard. He doesn't trust him."

West had suggested allowing Nix to take a look at the old hacks, but Lake had refused, preferring to keep their pretty little boy toy in the dark as much as possible.

"Ironic, considering the whole reason Nix is even involved is because he wanted him to be," Yejun sighed.

"He's involved," a dry voice carried to them, and when they turned, it was to find Lake slowly approaching, "because he broke into the app. The only person to blame for that is Nix himself."

"Oh," West drawled, "so it's his fault you want the three of us to pretend to date him, too, I suppose?"

" Casually ," Yejun pointed a finger and waved at them both, "date him." Not that they could call what they intended to do with Nix dating . Giving something a proper label tended to cause people to relax. It gave them something tangent to hold on to, a name to call the thing. When people were comfortable, it was easier to slip a fast one by them.

Of course, being known as the dude dating the Demons probably would have the opposite effect for Nix, but that's what they wanted. They needed everyone's attention to be on the Firebird.

Including the Order's.

"I didn't see you complaining when your dick was in his mouth," Lake said to West, snatching the beer out of his hand. He took a deep drag but didn't offer it back, gaze sweeping out the window at the darkening sky.

"No, but you seemed pretty okay about it all," Yejun told him, grinning when Lake's upper lip twitched slightly.

"What's mine is—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He shook his hand to stop him. "Still, if sharing a person was that simple, we should have tried it sooner."

"Oh?" West turned his back to the window, leaning against the glass. He crossed his arms and quirked a dark brow. He'd changed his hair again, the color a deep magenta. "Coming from the guy who can't remember the names of his various bedpartners, that's rich."

Yejun tapped his head. "Maybe that would hold more weight if you weren't constantly changing your dye job, bro. As it is…"

"This is only temporary," Lake stated. "Don't get attached."

Yejun snorted. "As if."

"Yeah, right," West chimed in at the same time. "He's cute, and he's got a fantastic tongue, but attached? Us? I just want to pick his brain apart a little and worm around it, that's all."

"Lovely." Yejun downed the rest of his drink.

"Maybe get back inside him," he added. "For real this time."

"That I can agree with." The two of them high-fived, and Lake rolled his eyes.

"Fucking children," Lake said it like he wasn't picturing the same thing.

"Jokes aside, it doesn't have to be temporary, you know," Yejun went in for the kill, figuring why the hell not. The lingering burn of the alcohol down his throat spurred him on. "Who says we can't just keep him?"

"Um," West gave him a look, "the Order?"

"Screw them."

"Gross, my dad sits at that table."

"Screw all of them except your dad."

"You fucking would, you perv."

"Why did I come back to this planet again?" Lake interrupted, but it made the three of them laugh as intended.

Partially because they knew he didn't mean it.

Mostly because they knew he hadn't had a choice.

Yejun and West were both Royals by blood, but Lake was an Imperial and part of the Imperial family despite not sharing their last name. He was always destined to settle on Tulniri, no matter how much he may have enjoyed his time on Vitality.

"Tell us the truth," West said then. "You replaced us there, didn't you?"

Yejun sighed, wishing he still had something to drink in his hand. The question had been circling for weeks now, ever since Lake's return, but it was still uncomfortable hearing it voiced.

West's feelings were like cotton candy. There one second, gone the next. All it took was one single drop to make them disappear. The problem was Lake was less predictable and far too honest. Even knowing it would bruise their egos if he had formed a tighter bond with his new friends on Vitality, he wouldn't lie to them about it.

It kind of sucked admitting, even to himself, that Yejun wouldn't like it if he had any more than West would. For as long as he could remember, it'd been the three of them against the universe. Change was a necessary and unavoidable part of life, but he'd always believed they were unshakable.

Had he been wrong?

"Would the two of you stop looking like jilted lovers?" Lake shook his head. "Like I could replace you idiots even if I wanted to."

"So you wanted to?" West grunted, but it was obvious this time he was one hundred percent joking.

"Can we just get down to business?"

"Is that what you came here for?" Yejun asked. "Business?"

"Yeah, like how much of Nix's we can get into." West shrugged when that earned him a dark look from Lake. "What? That's what this is really, right? Ground rules now that the game has been set. Well," he rolled his wrist in the air, "don't keep us waiting, your majesty."

"We share him," Lake didn't waste any more time denying it, "but no one else gets to touch him."

"That goes without saying." None of them were big on sharing, West least of all. "Someone else so much as glances at what's mine once and I'll break their face."

"Descriptive," Yejun said.

"How long they look and where at will determine which part of their face I destroy."

"You're an aggressive asshole, but at least you're a fair aggressive asshole."

"I do mean no one else," Lake reiterated, like they really were the idiots he'd claimed and weren't following. "Not another Enigma or Essential. Not even an Order member."

"Fuck no," Yejun agreed. "Nix is our sacrifice."

Lake nodded, relieved that they were all on the same page. It was obvious this had been hanging over his head for a while, possibly even before he'd made the suggestion to the two of them. Since he'd been back, he'd been playing on the app more and more. Yejun wasn't sure if West had noticed, but he certainly had.

It all made sense once he'd found out about Nix when they'd walked into him on campus that first day. Before, the app had been a means to an end for Lake. He'd only created it to guarantee their spots, and once that was confirmed, he'd all but handed off the responsibility of running it to him and West. As far as Yejun knew, Lake had only used the app once, maybe twice, to hook up, and even then, that'd mostly been to test it out after they'd entered college. He'd only been trying to decide if they needed to upgrade it.

They'd been freshmen at the time, but Lake had already been looking ahead. Already plotting what they could do come senior year to prove themselves further. They'd had no way of knowing that eventually he'd be shipped off planet, or that he'd be called back after the unexpected deaths of the Emperor and her Royal Consort.

Even though it'd brought him several steps closer to the throne, the whole ordeal had left Lake unsettled. He didn't like working with unknown factors, preferred seeing all of the pieces in advance so he could sort through them and line them up to his liking.

Poor Firebird. Had no clue what he'd gotten himself into.

Ultimately, the real reason Yejun was going along with this was because he understood Lake needed an outlet. West was more than capable of finding this hacker on his own—even if it wasn't until the last minute. Until he did, though, there wasn't really anything for Lake or Yejun to do.

Neither of them could work with computers the same way West and Nix could. When they first told him about Nix manipulating his way up the tiers, Yejun didn't understand how —and he still didn't. Something about codes and doors and…Ugh. He was getting a headache just thinking about it.

"He'll be useful," Lake promised.

"He's got the right look," Yejun agreed. "If our hacker really is watching us the way we assume, he'll take the bait. Nix seems timid and out of place with us. The hacker will think we're blackmailing him into it or something and try to get to him that way."

"The only worry I have," West said, "is that he'll see through us. Nixie does look too na?ve to play with us, and this guy we're after is smart. He might put two and two together and realize the blackmail is actually bait."

"That's why you're still going to try and hunt him down through other avenues," Lake reminded. "We aren't stopping the search. If Nix does help us lure him out? Great. If he doesn't? At least we've got our sacrifice already sorted."

Yejun wasn't so certain. "Are you sure you can do it?"

Lake frowned.

"Sacrifice him," he elaborated. "Are you sure you'll be able to when the time comes?"

"Of course he can do it," West jumped to his defense, but then set a hard stare on Lake, "Right?"

"Of course." Lake's expression never changed, but the air around them seemed to grow heavy and thicken.

Yejun cleared his throat, and straightened from the window to slap a hand down over Lake's shoulder. "It won't be a big deal if I call him right now then."

"You can call him whenever you fucking want to," Lake stated. "You don't need my permission."

"Never did." West blew him a kiss.

"Well then." Yejun made a big show of detaching his multi-slate from his wrist. He entered the Enigma app and hit the call button, bringing the device up to his ear instead of putting it on speaker like he typically did. When Lake noticeably tensed, he grinned, but before he could say anything, the line connected. "What are you up to, Firebird?"

Nix inhaled on the other end of the line and then said calmly, "I'm in my room studying. Why?"

"Studying?" He snickered. "Cute."

"Um, is there something you needed, Yejun?"

That was cute too, the way he said his name, kind of breathy. Almost as though he wasn't sure if he was allowed to or something. Had Lake brought the name-game into the bedroom perhaps? Or was it just regular nerves?

"Yeah, actually," he replied, figuring he'd get to the bottom of that later. "You at Hunters Cross in the next fifteen minutes."

It would take him longer than that to make it down the mountain, but there was something kind of hot about the idea of making Nix wait for him.

Something thrilling about knowing Lake was well aware that's what he was doing.

West wasn't the only one who sometimes liked to rattle the Imperial's cage.

The sound of a chair scraping lightly against the floor echoed through then, and a moment later, Nix spoke again. "It's pouring out. Can we maybe meet tomorrow?"

"Nope," he popped the p for good measure. "Gotta be tonight, Firebird."

It really did, because Yejun was starting to feel that thrumming beneath his skin, shaking his insides. That kind of wild energy needed to be dispersed as soon as possible. They all felt it in one form or another, the three of them. They just dealt with it differently.

Yejun dispersed his.

West let his consume him.

And Lake bottled it up.

"All right," Nix sighed. "I'll head out now."

Yejun stared Lake right in the eye and cooed, "Good boy."

West chortled as Yejun ended the call and placed his device back on his wrist.

With a wink at them both, Yejun spun on his heels and made his way toward the other side of the room where the elevators were located. When he finally reached them and turned inside, it was to find Lake still glaring.

He winked again as the elevator doors slid shut.