“Do you see him?”

“No, all I see is a blurry… thing… whatever…”

“Dude, you’re holding the fucking binoculars wrong! Give me that!”

“What, I do? No, I don’t, give it back, Kellin, I’m the one, who’s supposed to deal with the surveillance!”

“Yeah, but I’m in charge, so give me the goddamn binoculars, would you? I will fix it for you.”

“No, I w- Wait, wait! Shh! I can see him, he’s coming home.”

“What?”, suddenly excited, I instinctively reached to grab the binoculars in question from him. “Let me see!”

“No- Okay, okay, here. Enjoy yourself.”, Vic sighed and let me take them. “Damn, I simply cannot argue with you.”

“It’s probably because of my big, innocent blue eyes.”, I grinned. “You just can’t resist them, can you?”

“I really can’t, unfortunately.”, he smiled widely. “Seriously, if you weren’t that adorable, I would punch you in the face.”

“What, now?”, I made a fake horrified face.

“No. Constantly.”

“Ooh. Abusive.”, I frowned, putting the binoculars to my eyes. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Victor Fuentes.”

“I am, you just can’t tell, because you’re wearing the dumb binoculars, which don’t let you see anything.”, he chuckled.

“Shut uuup, they work just fine, you’re just stupid enough not to know how to use them.” I poked him with an elbow, while trying to adjust the lenses in a way I could see properly. “Now, where did that fucker go?”

“He was right there… Wait, give that back, let me show you.”

Victor reached and roughly grabbed the binoculars from my hands once more.

“Heeeeey. Abusive. We talked about this already.”, I grumbled, pouting.

“If you think that’s abusive, then wait until we get back to the hotel and I kick your silly ass.”, he murmured, now looking through them again.

“I think we both know that’s far not what you’re going to do to me in the hotel.”, I grinned again and slid my hand up his thigh meaningfully.

“Mmm.”, a small smile appeared on his face. “You’re right. But that’s gonna happen in the hotel.”, he pushed my hand, which was now slipping between his legs, away. “We have work to do now.”

“Right, of course.”, I sat back on my seat, crossing arms, and moved my look to the house again. “Come on, tell me what you see, I’m getting inpatient. Is he inside already?”

“I think he’s just unlocking the door… Yeah, here he is… Oh shit. He has a dog.”

“What?”, my eyes widened. I leaned forward, trying to see better. “What kind of dog is it? Is it big? Does it seem dangerous? Would it be a problem?”

“It’s… Holy shit, it’s huge.”

“Really?” I bit my lower lip.

“Yeah… It’s a big, evil, dangerous, scary… poodle.”, suddenly Vic giggled. “I’m just messing with you, man, there is no dog. There’s a cat, though, but I doubt it could do us much harm.”

“Fuck you, Vic, you got me scared!”, I tried not to laugh, because I had to play angry, and tacked him, punching him lightly in the arm, without actually hurting him. “You stupid son of a bitch, don’t do that again!”

“I won’t, I won’t!”, he tried to push me away, giggling harder. “Now look what you’ve done, I dropped the binoculars because of you!”

“Oops, sorry. Wait, I’ll pick them up…”

I leaned down and my fingers started looking for them on the floor. Whoever the previous owner of this car was, he didn’t keep it really clean. I found an empty can of beer, an unidentified piece of paper and a few coins (the last of the above wasn’t that bad, actually), before finally reaching the goddamn thing.

“Got it!”, I sat up and looked through the binoculars again just in time to see someone turn on the lights in what was probably the living room of the house. “…Seems daddy’s home, bitches. Time to have a little party.”

Vic raised eyebrows at me.

“Clichés? Really? Really now?”

“Ooh, shut uuup, I’ve always wanted to say something badass like that.”, I chuckled.

“It didn’t sound badass, it sounded silly.”, he laughed a bit. “Alright, time to go, then.”

“Yeah.”, I put my gloves on, then took my gun and loaded it. I needed to have this, just in case. “Let’s go.”

“Good luck, my silly boy.”, Vic grinned, then leaned in and kissed me on the lips. It was just a soft, sweet little kiss, but it instantly made me feel more confident.

“Thanks, you too, babe.”, I grinned back, then, putting the gun on my belt, I went out of the car, followed by him.

The street was calm. In such a quiet, peaceful neighborhood, everyone was already sleeping at this time of the night. There were no cars around, which was pretty much making ours (if we could even call it “ours”, considering that we had stolen it a few days ago) stand out. The street lamps were all working, which pretty much showed that the quarter was in the good part of the city. At the place, where I had grown up, they’d be either broken, or long gone, or both. Bad thing about working lighting was that you could be easily seen. I crossed the street, sneaking, trying to look more like a shadow, and less like Kellin Quinn, the famous murderer/bank robber, the Clyde of our century. Vic followed my example, but he just looked really silly, all tripping after me and trying to look invisible. I chuckled.

“Stop this, you look like an idiot.”, I whispered to him, as I stepped on the sidewalk.

He opened his mouth to object, but he ended up keeping it closed, because he realized it would be better if we remain really quiet. We knew we shouldn’t be seen, though after what we were going to do, soon everyone would know we’ve been here, including the police and the media. That wouldn’t matter, though, we’d be a few miles away from here by then.

I looked up at the small, but well kept houses, each with a little, well kept garden in the front. I thought of the time people had spent to make the place look that good, painting the walls and putting flowers at the windows. No, those weren’t houses. Those were homes, buildings, where people were supposed to be happy. Buildings, where you could raise a family, read the newspaper while having cereal for breakfast with your children, and keep a big fluffy dog. I wondered what it feels like. I had never had a real home, neither a real family. Would I be a happier person if I did? Perhaps. Perhaps if I did I’d never get to this point, where I’m wanted all over the country and chased by the police. But otherwise I would never meet Vic, and he was the best thing that has ever happened in my whole life. Without him, all the possible happiness I could have if I was born in a different family could go to hell, because all I needed was him, and it was completely enough.

I thought of the people, who were now sleeping, unaware that the men, considered as two of the most dangerous and unpredictable criminals in the USA, were on their street. I wondered what they would think or do if they knew. Probably hide and call the police or something like that. They were so innocent, having their perfect, boring lives, and so different from me, almost like an unknown animal kind. It was weird to think I had been one of them once, only a month ago, when I didn’t know about my sickness, when I didn’t know I’m able to kill people and commit crimes, but this moment now seemed so far away in the past that I could barely remember it.

“You okay?”, I felt Vic’s hand gently touch mine. I realized I’ve been staring at the houses absent-mindedly for a minute.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, I whispered back, took his hand in mine and lightly squeezed it. “C’mon, let’s move.”

He just gave me a quick nod and started leading me to the house, where our next victim was calmly preparing to go to bed, or whatever.

We stopped near the fence. I wondered why he had put it anyway, since it was really easy to jump over, and it wouldn’t stop intruders or animals or anything, it was almost like it was there only to make the garden look prettier. However, I was glad it wasn’t some sort of ten feet tall metal thing with electricity running through it. It would make my life much harder.

Once my feet touched the ground on the other side, I started making my way through the plants to the side wall of the house.

Let’s see… Kitchen window. Still open? Yup, just like we had left it earlier, when we entered the house, while our victim was still at work. I stopped by it and carefully examined the sill, to make sure it’s solid enough, then quietly climbed on it and jumped inside. I found myself in a small, tidy kitchen. I spotted a nice-looking apple on the table and grabbed it, intending to eat it later, then took a few steps towards the door and peeked out, to make sure no one noticed our entrance, but everything was calm. The lights in the living room were still on, I could hear the TV working even from here.

A quiet thud behind me showed me that Vic was in too. He left the window open, in case something goes wrong and we need to get away quickly, and walked to me.

“You go turn the electricity off, just like we discussed. I’ll see where the fucker went.”, I whispered to him. “Meet you in the living room.”

“Okay. Be careful, Kellin.”, he nodded. Even at the weak light I could tell his skin had gone pale. Nervous. Always so nervous. I smiled a little.

“You too, babe.”, I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Now go, go, go. No time for bullshit.”

“Right.”, he took a deep breath, then silently went out in the corridor and turned left towards the entrance hall, to mess with the fuses. He was damn good at working with electric… stuff, it was, like, a talent of his. Earlier today, when we had come here to investigate, it took him about a minute or two to figure out how to turn the whole neighborhood’s electricity on and off. From my point of view, he was a damn genius.

After a short moment of hesitation, I headed out as well, but I turned right, to check if our victim is still in the living room. Indeed, he was right there, facing the other way, so I couldn’t see his face. He was staring at the TV and eating something, maybe some sort of pasta, which I thought he really probably shouldn’t do, considering that he had started to become slightly fat. I was glad the TV was blaring so loudly, this way he didn’t hear me and didn’t look up at me. My eyes scanned the room – a sofa, a few armchairs, a small table, a fireplace, which seemed like it hadn’t been used for years, a few horrible-looking paintings on the walls, and, surprisingly, bookshelves. I didn’t know he could even fucking read, back then when I had last seen him he was the dumbest asshole I had ever met.

Suddenly the lights went out and the TV shut up. Our victim jumped up, startled, and the noises that followed let me know he dropped his bowl with pasta and spilled the stuff all over himself and the floor.

“Shit!”, he exclaimed.

I smirked. It was fun to watch your oldest enemy embarrass himself like this. I heard Vic’s cautious steps approach and he stood by me, peeking in as well.

“Shall we…?”, he murmured, almost inaudible.

I nodded soundlessly and pulling out a flashlight, I calmly walked in the living room. At first the guy didn’t notice me, he kept trying to pick up the pieces of the broken bowl and clean himself up, murmuring curses the whole time. I leaned against the wall, right in front of him, and then spoke up softly.

“Stanley, dear, I missed you, where have you been all those years?”

I turned the flashlight on, first blinding him for a few seconds with it, just for fun, and then illuminating my own face, letting him see it.

“What… Who…”, he blinked against me. “Who are you, and how the hell did you get in here?!”

“Oh, Stan, you’re offending me. Didn’t you recognize me? Really?”, I shook my head, pouting. “I’m deeply shocked, we spent so much wonderful time together in high school, don’t you remember? I especially loved the moments, when you were hitting my head in the walls, those were my favorite.”

I pointed the torch at him again, blinding him once more, but I was sure he had already recognized me. I noticed Victor had sneaked in, too, and stood beside me, his water gun pointed at Stanley.

Stanley Taylor. The guy, who had caused me so much pain over the years. The guy, who had pushed me through the corridors of the school, tripped me up, making me my schoolmates’ favorite attraction.

The guy, who had made me go through the most horrifying moment of my life.

I felt I was getting lost in a flashback again, but I couldn’t stop it…

RRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!

Back then just a skinny fifteen-years-old kid, always wearing sweatshirts and hoodies with long sleeves to hide the bruises, which he had gotten from his abusive dad, constantly with his nose stuck in a book, such as Harry Potter or something by Raymond Chandler, I made my way through the crowded corridors of my high school. No, I never skipped classes. No, I never ran from school. I was what my teachers considered as “a good boy”, I always knew my lessons and had good marks at basically everything but maths. I was just the quiet, shy boy, sitting at the desk in the back of the row, who had no friends.

Easy victim.

Now I finished crossing the corridor and stopped in front of my locker with a small smile on my face. It had been a great day so far, this morning I woke up to the smell of pancakes and I found my dad sober for once, making breakfast. He sometimes used to do that, when he’s in a good mood, which happened about once every few months. He even drove me to school, which was the sweetest thing he had done for a really long time. Then, in biology class I got to sit next to this – I had to admit – really attractive girl from my class, and she even talked to me a bit. I had always been really shy around girls, and even shyer around other boys, so I just quietly mumbled my answers, but I think she found this cute, not annoying. I hoped she did. I hoped she’d talk to me again. Maybe she would. My smile grew a bit wider as I put my textbooks inside the locker and I was just about to close it, when two strong hands grabbed me from the back and hit my head with the door. I moaned in pain.

“Hey, look, it’s Queen, the loser!”, the boy, who was holding me laughed and hit me once more.

No, no, please don’t do that, not again… I tried to struggle.

“Let… me… go!”, I groaned angrily and tried to bite his arm, but he was stronger than me.

Stanley. The boy, who scared me the most. For some reason, he had picked me for his favorite victim, and he bullied me a lot, almost every day.

RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGG!

Oh, great. The next class had just started, and I was late. What was worse, though, was that the corridor was now quickly getting empty, and once I was alone with Stan and his two friends, whose names I didn’t even know, I was screwed.

“Shut up, little princess.”, he giggled and pushed me one last time before letting me go. I dropped to the ground, dizzy by the multiple hits. “Hey, guys, let’s lock him inside!”

I blinked against them. Inside, inside where?

They grabbed me and made me stumble to my feet.

“No, let me go!”, I managed to cry out. “Let me go, you assholes!”

Stan pulled me closer by the collar and murmured, his face almost touching mine. “Or what? You’ll tell your daddy? Don’t bother, he doesn’t give a shit about you anyway.”

My eyes widened. That hurt more than the hits themselves, more than the physical pain. How the fuck had he found out? My hands instinctively pulled the sleeves down, thinking of the multiple injuries that covered my arms. Stanley didn’t seem to notice this, or if he did, he didn’t know what it meant. So he hit the soft spot accidentally, he didn’t actually know about the beating… That was a relief. I didn’t want anyone to know about it. I was afraid that if my dad finds out someone else found out, he might go too far, and… No, he wouldn’t do that, would he? I was his son, after all…

I ignored that thought, because right now, I had more important things to worry about.

I gasped as the boys pushed me in my locker, and finally understood what they were going to do.

“No, please, don’t do this!”, I started to panic. Back then, I was claustrophobic and the darkness used to terrify me.

The guys just laughed in my face, and when they finally managed to make me stand still and get me in the locker, they closed the door and locked me inside…

Tears started running down my face.

“Hey!”, I yelled. “Hey, let me go, this isn’t funny! HEY!”

No one answered. I took a deep, shaky breath, choking back a sob. The locker was so small that the walls were pressed against my body, the heavy air suffocated me, the shadows seemed to crawl around me. Help…

I remained there for four hours. Four. Fucking. Hours. No one noticed I was gone, and no one cared, until a boy from the lower class heard me, and called a teacher.

Four fucking hours I had to stay there, locked inside with my biggest fears – shadows and narrow spaces. This was definitely the most traumatizing moment of my whole childhood.

I felt Vic’s hand on my shoulder and this brought me back to reality. I threw a glance at his worried face and nodded, to let him know I’m okay, then turned to face the guy I was afraid of so much back then.

Stanley Taylor had changed a lot. His long curly hair was now cut and part of it was almost gone, since he was going bald. Most of his muscles seemed to have turned to useless fat, making his once fit and athletic body now look clumsy and pathetic. His eyes were the same, though – dark and vicious, piercing me with hatred. This time I wasn’t afraid, though. I gave him a careless look and took a bite from the apple.

“…You’re… You… Kellin Quinn… Holy sh- What… What do you want?”, he stuttered, his eyes widening in fear, suddenly realizing who I was. “I… I know what you do these days, I watch the news…! And this must be Vernon Fuentes…”

“Victor, you prick.”, Vic corrected him, narrowing eyes. “First do your fucking research and than talk, you’d do the world a favor.”

I calmly took another bite, grinning, amused by the horror on Stan’s face. Oh great, he thought I was there to kill him. That would make the whole situation so much more fun…

“Tell me, Stan…”, I started slowly. “Did you finally find some friends, or you’re still the same dumb fuck, that everyone’s afraid of?”

He didn’t reply, instead, he took a step back and tried to switch the lights on. It didn’t work, because, as both Vic and I knew, the electricity was out.

“Nuh-huh.”, I shook head, pulling out my gun as well. “Get back here and let’s have a talk.”

Still without saying anything, Stanley walked back to the couch and sat down, watching me cautiously. Damn, how much I wanted to pull the trigger, but no. I had something better in my sleeve.

“Vic, bring a chair, please, would ya? And the rope, too.”

Stan moved his look from me to Vic and then back to me. My boyfriend just winked at him, grinning, and left the room, to do what I told him to.

“Chair? Rope? What are you going to do to me?”, he asked, his voice shook a bit, then suddenly he shot out: “I-I-I-I know what you’re doing, I know why you kill all those people, you murder everyone you hate, I have no idea why, but p-p-please don’t kill me, I’ve changed, I’m a better, man, I’m sorry for what I did to you!”

“Wait, wait, wait.”, I raised an eyebrow. “Come again? I kill everyone I hate? Why did you think that?”

“Well…”, he shuddered, his eyes lightly crossing as he watched the gun in my hands. “I heard about you on the news, and I was interested, because I remember you from high school… So I did a little research, just for fun, to see what turns out, and I noticed that all the people you hurt are people who have done something to you. Like, like, like, um, the guy, who got your wife, or the other guy, who got your money…”

“You’re very observant, my dear.”, I smirked, taking a third bite from the apple. Mm. It tasted good. “One thing, though. I don’t kill. I avenge. There is a huge difference, and you’re about to find out what it is.”

“What? No, please…”, even at the pale light, coming from the flashlight which was now set on the table in front of me, since my both hands were busy holding other things, I could see tears in his eyes. “Please, I have changed… I’m truly sorry, I know I was horrible to you, and I regret it…”

I tilted head.

“You should. But do you really? Or are you just scared?” I took a step towards him. “Are you afraid like I was, when you got me stuck in the fucking locker? Let’s find out…”

“No, I assure you-”

But he was interrupted by Vic, who came back with the chair and rope in question, setting them on the ground near me.

“You can tie him up.”, I said to him. “I’ll go to clean up the closet and prepare the place. Once you’re done, drag him there.”

“Okay, Kell. Wait for us there.”, he nodded, now serious, then turned to Stan. “Move, fucker. Get up and put your wrists behind your back…”

I left him deal with Stanley and headed to the closet, dragging the chair behind me. I had found the little room earlier today, so now I knew where it was and went there right away. Thankfully, it was narrow enough for my plan, but I needed more space to put the chair inside.

It seemed this was where Stan kept all his useless things, carelessly stuffed in boxes, some of them placed on shelves on the walls, others simply covering the floor. I kicked a few of them out, then arranged the rest in a way the chair with my quite fat arch-enemy could easily fit in. I was just finishing with the preparation, when I heard noises and approaching footsteps, and Vic showed up, leading Stan along. He was now tied up and tripping along the corridor, stumbling after my boyfriend and trying not to fall.

“…I swear, I didn’t…”, he kept blabbing, hoping he could somehow convince us to let him go. Victor was looking seriously irritated.

“Kellin, please, let me gag his mouth. Please. He just wouldn’t shut up.”

I thought about it for a minute.

“…Nah, let him whine. It’s sorta amusing.”, I shrugged. “After all, he did enjoy hearing me cry. Let’s embarrass him a bit now.”

“I see your point.”, Vic nodded.

I grabbed Stan by the arm and dragged him inside, pushing him down on the chair. With a few more ropes, he found himself tied to it, unable to get up or run. Content with the work, I stood in front of him, smirking.

“I bet you do remember what you did to me. I bet you regret it now, when I’ve come back for you, but it’s too late. When you regret doing something, you usually apologize, asshole.” I slapped him across the face. He whimpered quietly, flinching back. “If you did it years ago, we wouldn’t be here now… You’re dumb enough to think I’ll kill you.”, I continued, leaning forward. “But nope, that’s not what I’m gonna do. Do you think you’re a good person, Stanley? Do you have a lot of friends? Tell me.”

He hesitated, then, after a long moment, he shook head.

“That’s what I thought.”, I grinned slightly. “And since you don’t, no one would care or notice you’re gone, right? Just hypothetically.”

“I… g-g-guess…”, he almost whispered.

“In this case, how long do you think it would take for people to realize they haven’t seen you for awhile, and come looking for you? And if you don’t know, then answer me this: how long do you think you can survive alone in a closet without any food?”

His face went pale.

“You… You wouldn’t do that.”

“Yes, I would.”, I spat out, starting to get annoyed by how convinced he was that he could somehow make us let him go.

Vic took a big bottle of water he had taken from the kitchen, opened it and put a straw inside, then placed it on one of the shelves in a way Stan could drink if he gets thirsty.

“This must be enough for three days.”, Victor said, glaring at him, then he smirked. “Let’s hope your friends come here sooner, hm?”

“Please, don’t do this!”, Stanley cried out, now tears rolling down his cheeks, as he desperately tried to set himself free.

“Shh.”, I poked him with my gun and smirked. “Calm down, I bet they will come reaaaally soon. Now shush.”

After these words, I stuck the apple in his mouth, making him shut up, then stepped back and closed the door. Of course, I wasn’t as cruel as I tried to look – tomorrow I was going to call the cops, pretending to be a concerned neighbor, who heard shouting from inside the house. They’d quickly come and set Stan free, but not before the fear, desperation and real regret get to him.

“Nice job. Well done, Vic.”, I smiled at my partner and raised a hand, for a high five.

“You too, Kellin.”, he high-fived me, smiling widely. “The motherfucker got what he deserved. Now let’s go.”

“Ooh, I see you’re eager to get back to the hotel, mm?”, I raised an eyebrow and poked him playfully, then added seriously. “Come on, let’s get outta here.”

He grinned and took my hand, after that we both left the house, leaving the door unlocked behind us and the poor Stanley shouting after us to get back there and let him go.

Four down. One to go.

* * *

.We dumped the car in front of Stan’s house (we needed a new one, in case someone noticed us parking outside and made the connection), but we made sure we’ve wiped away all our fingerprints first. Our hotel wasn’t that far away from there, it would do us no harm to go on foot.

It felt good, walking alone with Vic at night. The atmosphere was almost romantic, crickets were singing their songs, not breaking the silence completely, but making it deeper and somehow cozier. I yawned and leaned my head on his shoulder, which was kind of uncomfortable, because he was shorter than me, but I didn’t care, I just enjoyed being close to him. He smiled a bit as I did that and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer, and we continued walking in silence, both lost in our own thoughts.

“Do you think it’s true?”, Vic spoke up softly.

“Mm?”, I straightened up and looked at him. “Do I think what is true?”

“That Stanley’s really changed.”

I furrowed eyebrows, thinking.

“No… No, I don’t think he did. I can tell when people are lying, because they’re afraid, mostly ‘cause I do it all the time, and I can tell he wasn’t honest. He was just scared as fuck.”

“Yeah… I think you’re right.”, he nodded thoughtfully. “And if you’re right, then we did the right thing, yeah?”

“Yup.”, I smiled a bit. “We did. And man, it felt so good…”

“I know.”, he grinned. “I enjoyed it, too, myself, even though I don’t know the guy as well as you. I can tell he’s a total dick.”

“He really is. But you gave him what he deserves, you badass son of a bitch, you.”, my smile got wider.

But something quickly erased it. A horribly familiar sound broke the silence and destroyed the moment, sending chills down my spine. Sirens. Police sirens.

We both flinched and quickly turned our heads towards the noise, hoping they’re not coming for us. But soon the sirens got louder.

“Dammit, how did they… How…”, Vic murmured and looked at me with his big, full of fear eyes.

I shook head, not understanding it either. How the fuck did they find out where we were and what we had done this quickly? Could Stan possibly call them? No, his hands were tied up, and I remembered that the last place where I had spotted his phone was on the table in the living room. It couldn’t have been him. Then what was going on?

There was only one reasonable conclusion.

“Something else must have happened.”, I said as calmly as I could. “They’re not here for us. Chill out.”

“You sure?”, he bit his lip.

“No. But I think so.”, I gave him a determined look. “Let’s hurry up, though.”

“Good idea.”, Vic nodded, and taking me by the wrist, he started quickly leading me to the end of the street.

Suddenly our way out was cut off by a police car. Dammit, the bastards had turned the sirens off, so I didn’t see it coming! As the car took a turn and started driving towards us, I cursed quietly under my nose, trying to think of what to do. I needed to quickly figure out a way to hide both our faces before the car passes by us and illuminates us with the headlights. Uh… Umm...

“Quickly, kiss me.”, I whispered.

“What?”, Vic blinked against me, wondering what I’m up to. “Kellin, this is far not the mome-”

“Shh, I know, silly.”, I interrupted him, throwing a nervous look at the car. We had probably already caught the policemen’s attention. “Do it, do it fast!”

“But why-”

I sighed and didn’t let him finish, pulling him into me and kissing his lips, pressing him against the wall of the nearest building. After a moment he kissed back, but a bit hesitantly, still not understanding what was going on. I felt the lights fall upon us, but I was calm enough – in our current position, my head was covering his face, and I, myself, was standing with my back towards the police car. Therefore, no one could see our faces, at least not completely. We were just two gay guys, who were making out in a back street. Nothing interesting. The car slowed down a bit, as the cops were probably exchanging a few homophobic jokes, then they continued down the street without looking back.

Nothing interesting.

Once they were far enough, I pulled back and let Vic go, then kept walking.

“Here, I just saved our asses. No need to thank me.”, I shrugged, chuckling a little. Once I got the end of the street I threw a glance round the corner, and when I was sure it was clean, I took a turn. This street was an almost exact copy of Stan’s – the same tidy houses with the same pretty little gardens.

Vic grinned. “This made me want you to save my ass more often.”, he winked.

I rolled eyes with a small grin back.

“Yeah, sure, I will. But now let’s hurry up before…”

…before another police car shows up, was what I was going to say. And here it was indeed, two more came out of nowhere in the far end of the road, but those were driving slowly, as if they were looking for something. I looked around, starting to panic. We couldn’t pull the making out scene over again, so I had to think of something else. My look fell on one of the yards.

“Come on, follow me.”, I ordered, and before he could reply, I jumped over the low fence, and landed in the garden.

I got down on the ground immediately, trying to remain unnoticed, and I crawled behind some bushes, followed by him. Once we decided we’re hidden enough, we went silent, waiting for the police to leave. But no, they were taking their time. It took a minute until we saw the headlights, and a few more until they completely disappeared. The whole time I was pressing Vic to the ground, not because I was afraid he might get up and be seen, but ‘cause I needed to hold something tight to stop myself from shaking. Yes, I admit – I was nervous, and I was scared. But I’ll be damned if I ever say it out loud.

“Are they gone?”, Victor whispered after one more minute.

I stayed silent, listening for any more sirens. No, whatever they had come looking for, they hadn’t found it and they had moved on. Good for us. I let out a deep, relieved sigh and rested my head down on the ground.

“Yeah, they’re gone.”, I muttered. “It’s stupid to think we’re the only criminals out here in the world, after all. There are many more, we’re not the only ones the police has to deal with.”

“Well…”, Vic smiled, glad we got out, rolled over and lied on his back. “Let’s hope they got the fucker.”

“…Said the Bonnie of our century.”, I grinned. “But yeah. I wish them good luck with finding the other criminal. And bad luck with finding us.”

I stretched out my arms. Resting on the grass was comforting, even though the stars above us were hardly visible, because of the street lights. Yeah, right, we were still lying in someone else’s yard, which was probably illegal, but who the fuck cares. It felt nice.

After awhile, Vic moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around me, burying his face into my neck. I giggled.

“You still can’t stop amazing me with how smart and badass you can be sometimes.”, he half-said, half-whispered, and I could tell he was smiling by his voice.

“Mm, you too. Sometimes you almost convince me you might be even dangerous.”, I grinned, then turned to look at him, my face almost touching his. “It’s kinda sexy, y’know…”

“Oh yeah?”, he raised an eyebrow, leaning closer, his lips lightly brushed against mine. “It is?”

“Mmhmm…”, I chuckled, then pulled him close, kissing him again. Now, when he was expecting it, he kissed back hungrily, lightly biting my lower lip. I let out a soft giggle and broke the kiss to murmur: “What are you doing…?”

“I don’t know…”, he murmured back. “But let’s find out…”

Another rough kiss. I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed softly, wrapping my arms around him. He climbed on top of me without breaking the kiss and pressed himself close to me, making me shudder slightly. I didn’t quite see this coming, Vic always managed to surprise me by doing something like that. His kisses moved down to my neck as he slipped his hands up my chest and gripped me by the collar of my shirt. Once my mouth was free, I whispered:

“Vic… It’s a bad idea… This isn’t the right time… or the right place… Stop…”

I tried to push him away, but truth was, I didn’t want him to stop at all. I knew he probably should, but once he backed off, I pulled him back in, our lips meeting again. I gripped him tightly by the back of the shirt as he ran his hand back down, unbuttoning mine on the way. When he was done with this, he trailed kisses down my chest, making me shudder once more. I buried my hands into his hair, enjoying feeling its softness between my fingers. He moved back up and leaned in, his lips touching my ear.

“What were you saying… about the bad idea…?”, he murmured.

“I changed my mind…”, I let a small grin stretch on my face.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…”, he chuckled, his hands slowly moved down and started undoing my belt.

“Go ahead…”

Oh God, oh God… Feeling his hot breath on the side of my face made my whole body tremble, as his hand started slipping inside my jeans. I moaned from pleasure, as h-

Suddenly I jumped up, pushing him away. “…Shit! Shit, man, something bit me!”

“Huh?”, Vic blinked, confused, then grinned. “Well, it wasn’t me.”

“I know, it was a fucking ant or something!”, I knitted eyebrows. “Fucking. Owch.”

“Aw, damn, I’m sorry.”, he sighed, a bit disappointed I ruined the moment. It took his sweet, gentle side only a second to come back. “Are you okay? Is there any way I could make you feel better?”

“Mm, I can think of something… You can kiss the bite to make it heal faster.”, I giggled.

“Ooh, good point.”, his grin returned. “Where did that thing bite you?”

“I think… I think everywhere.”, I winked at him.

“Oh dear.”, he shook head. “It seems I have a lot of work to do…”

“Yup. You can start from here, though.”, I pointed at my lips.

“Alright then…”, he leaned in and kissed me, going back to taking my pants off. He slipped them down and I kicked them away, then rolled over, finding myself on top of him.

“How come I’m half-naked, and you’re still completely dressed? This is a bit unfair, don’t you think?”, I laughed a little.

Vic pulled me down. “Yeah, I’ve noticed… And you know… Let’s fix this…”

I gripped the end of his T-shirt and started slipping it off, kissing his neck violently. He let out a moan, gasping and pulling me closer. I closed my eyes again, his skin was so soft against my lips, and-

All of a sudden I heard yelling and bright light blinded me. Startled, I jumped up and instinctively grabbed the closest thing I found to cover myself with, which happened to be Vic’s shirt. Despite all the confusion and my clouded by hormones brain, I could distinguish a figure standing at some distance, holding a flashlight and… what was that? A shotgun? A fucking shotgun!

Shit, shit, shit, they had returned! The cops! I panicked, feeling my face turn bright red. This was the most awkward situation, like, ever. The two “most dangerous criminals”, caught making out on the grass in someone else’s yard. Caught in action…

“Hey, you! Kids!”, a rough male voice spoke up.

Wait… kids? I furrowed eyebrows. Something was wrong about this situation.

Victor realized what was going on faster than me, he quickly grabbed my clothes and stuck them in my hands, then turned to the guy.

“Oh my god, we’re really, really sorry, we didn’t realize someone lives here, we just… heh…”, he gave him a shy look then looked to me reproachfully. “I told you to be quieter.”

“What… Why…”, I blinked, then finally understood what he was doing. He was acting. And the guy with the gun wasn’t a policeman at all, he was just the annoyed owner of the place. “You live here?”, I laughed awkwardly. “Oh dear…”

The man let out a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry, boys, but you must go do your stuff somewhere else, you woke up both me and my wife, and you gotta thank God you didn’t wake up the children with your dirty business, otherwise you’d be dead by now, ya hear me? This is something that people usually do in bed, not in your neighbors’ gardens. Damn, didn’t your parents teach you at least this? You got me scared, I thought it’s thieves or somethin’.”, the guy shook head, putting the gun down. “Jesus. Go home. Now, before I call the police.”

“Okay, I am really sorry, I sincerely apologize. It won’t happen again, ever, I promise.”, Vic quickly said. I couldn’t tell if he was really blushing or it was a part of his acting, but for a moment, he really looked like an embarrassed teenage boy. “Come on, Harry.”

Harry? Who- Oh. Fake names. Of course.

“Sure, Gerard.”, I quickly slipped my pants on, and started putting on my shirt while walking out of the yard.

Vic apologized a few more times and then followed me out, still shirtless.

“I told you to stop it!”, I hissed at him, when we were far enough. “I told you it was a bad idea!”

“Yeah, oops, sorry.”, he giggled.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little too. After a minute we were both laughing our asses off, thinking of what had just happened, and how stupid we were, and, most important – how easily we got out. I gasped for breath, still hardly holding my laughter back.

“Holy shit, man, that was… That was close…”

“It was.”, Vic chuckled again. “Ah. Fun times.” He hesitated. “And… we can always finish the started in the hotel.”

“That’s exactly what we’ll do.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

We walked in silence for a minute.

“So… It’s four down, one to go, right? Only one?”

“Yeah…”, I nodded. “And only a month and half a week left, which makes it thirty-five days, which is exactly five weeks.”

Another silent minute.

“…Mind telling me who the last person is?”, my boyfriend looked up at me.

I stared down at my shoes. For a few moments I didn’t reply, until I finally said quietly, almost inaudible:

“My dad.”

END OF CHAPTER 16.

Notes

Okay, so I decided to try out a different writing technique here, leaving the reader wonder what the fuck is going on until the middle of the chapter. I kinda used this in the very first chapter of the fic, and missed this way of writing, so yeah, I decided to try it again. I hope it wasn't annoying or something.
And oops, sorry for the make out scene. That's what happens when I listen to Deja Vu too much, I couldn't help it. XD

Thing is, this chapter wasn't even planned before I started it, I had no idea what was going to happen, because, honestly, I had no fucking clue who the fourth person on the List would be. Actually, I was going to end the fic after three chapters, but now I have an idea for a different storyline, so it might get a little longer. However, it's soon coming to an end, sorry guys D:

Anywayyyy. I hope you liked this one! ;3