Work Text:
The sun was less hurting than what he would have expected. Third walk down the lane in the Mass Communication Department. His eyes are stuck through the conversation going around his friends group chat, which they’re in a messy argument at the moment. He knew he could calm it down at any moment, but furious Bone is very rare, so he should just sit back and enjoy it.
White Nissan Figaro is parked under the gloomy shed, which he’s grateful for. Finding parking that won’t burn his ass off after a whole day working on an assignment is very rare to achieve. He came around lucky when Aun offered the empty parking lot to him. Having a high status friend is very handy in this type of situation.
Even though he would be considered as high status, he would love to keep it low. Having too much attention coming in all directions would make his head dizzy, he hated the feeling.
He enters his car casually and connects his phone to the aux. Just before he could hear the intro of ‘for lovers who hesitated’ by Jannabi, his neck is strangled to some rope, causing difficulties in his breathing. He looks up, trying to identify the intruder.
His eyes are filled with tears, struggling to let go and knowing he won’t be able to win, he closes his eyes with only thoughts about his beloved brothers.
;
“He’s still alive, right?”
“You strangled him, if anything happens you’ll answer him.”
“I followed your suggestion! We should use the van in the first place.”
“We don’t have a van, first of all.”
Third’s awake by the jostling sounds of arguments by his kidnapper. He stood up from the oddly comforting bed and cracked his bones.
“You’re finally awake!” He adjusts his eyes before he gaps in shock.
“Gram? Yok? You kidnapped me?”
The taller dudes look at third in mixed expression. They’re definitely guilty and scared, with a mix of excitement and surprise. The grey haired one cleans his throat.
“Well, your brother asked me to bring you here without getting tracked by anyone.”
“Certainly kidnapping me is not a good idea, Gram.” He cleans up his pants that’s full of dust. It’s his favourite pants, unfortunately.
“What’s he thinking of bringing me here all of sudden? He forbade me lots of time before. And he asked you two? That's surprising.” he raised his eyebrow to the duo. Yok shrugged and lay beside him.
“I have no idea. Let’s talk about something else. You haven’t visited us for a whole full year now!” Yok asks curiously. Third took a deep breath.
“ Semester is shit. Course work is shit. Too much work going on at the same time and with all this drama going on, I don’t think I'll be able to sleep for the next two weeks.” Gram sits beside him and pats his back.
“Your friend is being a bitch to you again? I swear to god, I'm gonna chop his dick one day.” Yok fume. He crack his knuckles with the thought of Khai using his dear little bro for his stupid ethics.
“You stalked me again? When will I ever gain my peace? Even my brother didn't stalk me until this point.”
“ Correction. First, I do this because your beloved Black asked me to. And second, I want to make sure you’re okay living alone at the university. Your bro is very worried about you. Look at Black, he can’t even sleep properly.” Third looks at him with a weird face. He can’t even imagine Black who has been so serious actually getting worried.
“Whatever you say then. When will Black come back?” Third looks up. He sure misses his twin after a long time not seeing each other. Yok and Gram wear a troubled expression.
“ Well, the situation is rather complicated. I would suggest you wait for him.”
“If you say so.” Third huffs. He looks around, trying to find his laptop around him.
“Where’s my laptop? I really need to edit my previous assignment.” Third worriedly rummaged around the room.
“Locker 1, slot number 3. Is it about sappy love stories again? Come on, show me.”
;
Throughout his childhood, Third can recall many memories that caused emotional delight as well as emotional devastation. His happy memories would contain his moments with the triplets, while the nightmare starts since he’s very young. It still haunts him today.
“Mom! Bring White back with us, please!” Third sat on his knees, pleading and crying as his other twin, White trying hard to not let go of Black’s arms. Black held his little brother tightly as the other clung onto him.
Third pleaded and pleaded, hurt as he heard his father commands his dogs to tear White away from Black. Third shouted in pain, as he ran to the other two and held them in his arms.
“Third, you can’t do it like this. You’re giving Mom and Dad trouble. This is very wrong.” His dad crouched down and held Third firmly. Black spits on the floor and looks at his father with such a hateful gaze.
“ I don’t give a shit with whatever fucks you try to feed us. You’re not separating me and my brothers.” Third gulps down. He looks at both his twin brothers. White is shaking in fear while Black is shaking in anger. He could barely think anymore.
His parents glanced onto each other. His mother took a deep breath and walked away from the room. Third knows that this is not a good sign.
“Separate them. Make sure White leaves before 8.00 PM, the flight is at 9.00 PM.”
;
Third walks alone through the empty rooms. Black locked himself in his room, he could remember how tight Black hugs him after White left them.
“Third, It’s only us now. If you’re gone too, I might go crazy. Please stay with me, for a very long time.” He cries into Third’s neck. Third do feel ticklish, but the sadness is much desperate then some stupid reasons.
They sat there for a very long time, hugging and crying over the loss of their brother. They can’t even sleep properly. At bedtime, they would just lie down in Third’s bed, stare blankly at the ceilings.
He walks down the stairs, remembering them running around the houses, entertaining themselves since their parents were too busy to look after them. He touched the stairs, he could remember every time White would purposely do a trust fall on it, without even caring how dangerous it’s.
“I don’t care, my older brothers will save me every time!” He laughed out loud. Such words will be responded with light smack at his back. It’s White after all.
Each path he took filled with memories that he’s sure can’t be repeated again. Knowing their father, he would cut every tie from him for sure. He looks back, maybe if there’s next lives, he hopes that they’ll be reunited there.
;
“Ew, is this the main actor? He looks gross.” Yok commented in a barely audible whisper as Third opened the raw clips for his editing.
“He’s the only student from Acting major who’s free that time. I can’t choose other person since Khai is being a little shit and fucked up the whole casting. At least he can act better than the previous actor. He’s a whole waking nightmare.” The thoughts about his previous assignment make Third shudder.
The actor's skills were shit. He can’t even remember the script, heck, he doesn't even understand the plot. No matter how much Third coach him, he would be busy with his phone and would ditch every scene. Two had enough, he kicked him out from the group and thus the actor failed for that semester.
“I’ve told you to join me in the fine arts! We’ll be chilling and you don’t need to rip your brain off about Film Major.” Yok adds and nudges the younger.
“I’m not good at art, you know that.” Third rolled his eyes and continued to edit his part in the assignment. He looks up to the clock, and huff.
“ Where’s Black, by the way? He hasn’t contacted me for a whole 9 month and every time I visited his apartment, he never showed up. Good thing I kept the spare key and cleaned it. He really needs to brush off the dust.” Yok and Gram glanced at each other, Gram took a deep breath.
“Well, he’s busy. With all the ROL things going on, do you even know about what happens to the world these past few days?” Third looks up.
“Well, I do know about someone who got abducted by Tawi last month. That piece of shit, thank god his court case is handled by Mom. At least that woman won’t take his dirty money in her pocket.”
“You met Ms. Matinee these days?” Yok asked.
“Well, she does visit me sometimes. She asked me about university and stuff. Sometimes she asks about Black, but I don’t have the answer, of course.” Third feel guilty. He’s too busy with studies and assignments, he doesn't have time to meet his brother. He does know his brother’s work is dangerous, too dangerous for a college student.
“Do you know who got abducted?”
“I don’t. The ROL supporters, right?” He asked curiously.
“You have no single idea about it?”
“No, I don’t. Seriously, who’s them?”
Just before Yok tells him, Gumpa rushes into the garage. He looked around and spotted Third.
“Oh, Third? You’re here now. That’s good, Black asked me to bring you to the hideout. He said there’s something you must see there.” Third looks at him with a weird expression. Throughout his life, Black would always pick him up everywhere. It’s always the two of them before everyone else.
“That’s weird, he never asked you that before.”
“It’s important. You’ll need to follow me.”
;
He walks through the eerie sight of the abandoned building. He has never been there before, and he’s sure Black would most definitely ban him from entering this type of place.
“ Are you sure this is the right place, Hia? It looks like a psychopath lair.” Third tried to calm his heart. He looks around, making sure there’s no sign of stalking around him.
“We’ve been here a few times before. Trust me, it’s safe.” Yok pats the younger’s back, comforting him from any other thoughts. He looks up and holds his body as a defensive act.
“Anything you say so, Yok.”
Gumpa leads the group inside. It’s full of useless things, most likely abandoned. But the sign of the place where someone lived there is clearly shown as soon as he reaches higher. The stairs are long and high, sometimes causing him difficulties to climb it in the dark surrounding.
As soon as they reach the door to the roof, Gumpa stops him. He took his hand and held it.
“I’ll need you to calm down. Whatever behind the door, don’t run. The structure is fragile and any extra force will cause it to wreck even more. Promise me.” Gumpa looks at him right into his eyes. He gulps down his saliva and nods.
“Dammit Hia, why does it sound so serious?” Third chuckles but deep in his heart, he’s scared. Gumpa leads him to the door and he stands right behind it.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
He slowly reaches the door and twists the door knob. Light from the outside shined on him, he’s partially sure he’s blind now. He blinked his eye and adjusted his eye with the light outside, and great heavens.
A figure, wearing a cream sweater and loose black pants turn around. White cardigan is wrapped loosely around his waist and his sneakers show that he certainly has that money. Their eyes meet, and lord, Third heart almost skip a beat.
It’s White. He looks so soft wearing his metal glasses and bruises decorating the tip of his lip. White took a few steps closer while Third was fully frozen. He can’t process whatever the hell is happening now. Gram nudged him from behind and he walked toward his twin.
“White, is it you? Is it really you? You’re here?” Third said while his pace fastened. White holds his hand and Third feels his embrace, warmly wrapping his hand. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulder.
“You’re warm. You’re real. You’re not cold anymore.” His hands moved to White’s face. Tears welled from their eyes once again as the memories ran down their headspace. From afar, Black’s eyes billowed with tears, the liquid stream slowly down his cheeks. His two most beloved people are finally reunited.
“Took you long enough to reach here. How’s the ride?” Black walks toward them. He subtly ruffles his little brother's hair and ruins it.
“You should pick me up by myself. You rarely contact me. Heck, you haven't contacted me or met me for the past 9 month. I could mistake that you’re dead if it’s not because of the dirty laundry. Where have you been?” Third asked in a choked voice. White and Black looked at each other.
“Well, P’ Third, You’re partially right. We have a long explanation to do.”
;
“Wait, let me get this straight. Black got jumped by Todd, he went coma, and you just went back from Russia for a whole 10 fucking year, and you pretend to be Black? You joined the gang while I can’t even visit the garage, you fighted with Tawi while I’m stuck making sappy love stories and coming of age short films, and you almost got abducted? Because Yok’s boyfriend was forced to betray you guys?” Third summarises the whole chaotic explanation. It’s not easy to understand when 5 people are trying to talk to him at once with their mouths filled with snacks and beers.
“And you dated Sean? Black’s eternal enemy this whole time?” asked Third in a shocked voice. He could remember every argument that Sean and Black went through and how both of them came to him ranting about each other.
“And the part where the night Black woke up from his coma, is the night you two spent together? Well, that explains the pain on my hips when I woke up.” Black choked on his beer and immediately reached for water. Gram can’t contain his laugh, of course, which then receives a whole beer on his face.
“Are they always like this lately, Hia?” Third ask the older one, tired just by witnessing them.
“Well, at least they warmed up to each other.