The man didn't move the gun away from his head, even with Lily attempting to shake herself out of his hold. In the span of a few seconds, Kaihou quickly jumped into action and slammed himself into the man's arm, giving Quentin the chance to run inside and attempt to pull Lily away. While his friend clung to the man's arm like a cartoon cat on a tree, Quentin realized it'd be impossible for him to release the man's grip on Lily, and by struggling further he'd only put more pressure on her chokehold. 

He ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, running back to stab the man. Hearing his loud footsteps, the man turned around and pulled the gun on him, but Kaihou's weight would mess up the aim and sent the shot into the wall. Quentin shrieked and covered his ears, taking cover in the bathroom when the man continues firing to no avail.

While keeping their concentration, none of the men spoke, until suddenly Lily shrieked. "THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH THE FUCKING MAFIA!"

Kaihou could hear a muffled "SORRY!" from Quentin in the bathroom and started resorting to more rabid measures in order to take hold of the gun, including biting and scratching. The first bite made the man flinch enough for Kaihou to grab the gun and point it back toward him, but the man quickly took out a knife in response and moved it right next to Lily's neck. 

"OF COURSE HE HAS A SECOND WEAPON!" 

"SHUT UP!" Kaihou screamed back, still holding the gun, neither making a move at the other. This short pause in their fighting until they heard a door open from the hall and an older lady approaching the doorway.

"Excuse me, could you turn down whatever war movie you're watching? My little girl can't sleep with all this ruckus!" The man turned around to look at her, giving Kaihou the opportunity to shoot him through the head. Lily and the mother shared a terrified shriek as the blood coated their faces. "HOLY- IEEEEEEE!" The woman ran back to her apartment and Lily quickly got up as the man's body collapsed. 

"Oh my- He's dead. Fuck- he's dead! Do I have to bury a body now?"

The boy in front of her shrugged, seemingly unfazed. He let her continue her tangent, somewhat amused.

"You know, all I wanted to do today was go get groceries but I passed by Quentin's house and thought that I should talk to my friend and maybe try to understand him because he's too stubborn to understand me. Lo and behold I was right, and now there are six bullets in the walls, a dead man in the doorway, and a poor mother cleaning the blood off of her with trauma she will never forget."

After she stopped, Quentin opened the door with a slow and awkward creak, waving just as awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Pussy." Lily quipped, going to the kitchen sink to wash her face off. 

Kaihou walked over to Quentin, giving him a small pat on the back. The boy responded by speaking. "So I scared the only other people on this floor and proved to my friend that she was right in thinking that my other friend is dangerous." He sighed. "I should talk to her."

"No, no." Kaihou interrupted. "I should do it, I'm the one putting you in danger with all of this in the first place. And honestly? She's right, you shouldn't hang out with me."

"Then why do you keep letting me?" 

"You're the first person I know who wouldn't run away from me because they knew all of this, I appreciate it but it makes me feel guilty."

Quentin shook his head, turning back to the body. "Did you really have to kill him? ...why do you think he was even after me?"

The boy snarled and used a more passive-aggressive tone. "Yeah, I did. If I didn't he'd have killed your friend on the spot, nothing you can really do about a knife to the throat." Then he sighed and calmed down. "Probably because they know we hang out, maybe they saw you come to my house or me come to yours. Either way they could've used you as a hostage to get my family to give in to any of their requests."

"There's probably a business card or badge that tells us what group they belong to, right?"

"No, too obvious. Business is all about being anonymous when you target someone else."

For a moment, neither spoke, leaving only the sound of Lily turning the sink on and off to clean herself. Then Quentin turned to look at Kaihou directly, a face of concern. "From the way you've been talking about all of this... are you saying we shouldn't hang out anymore? You can tell me honestly I'm a grown man... I can take it."

"What?" Kaihou closed his eyes, trying to avoid looking back at Quentin. "Look, as worried as I am about you it's your decision. They're gonna come after you whether we keep talking or not because there's no way for them to know if I don't care about you anymore, which isn't happening anyway."

"Well I wish you would decide for me, I hate choices."

"I'm sorry, I don't want to manipulate you into thinking I'm some great guy that can always protect you from all the evil in the world." He gestures towards the body. "I did that, I do that regularly because that's just my legacy. I don't have an out, you do. I don't wanna be responsible for you or your friends getting hurt."

Quentin dropped his head. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

Kaihou looked back and raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"I wanna keep being friends with you but you're guilt-tripping me so much about it!"

"There's no easy way to put it, I wanna be friends with you too. I wish I could run away from my entire life and just stay here with you watching TV or just talking but I'd put so many people in danger. I'd put you in danger. If I told you to stay with me I'd be selfish, if I told you to cut me off there's no guarantee you're safe. It's a lose-lose situation."

The artist took a deep breath, "You want me to leave but I can't. You keep saying stuff to convince me too and adding 'but it's your choice' in front of it but you know what? It doesn't matter what I pick because I'm fucked regardless..." He leaned his head on his friend's chest. "Might as well be fucked with one more friend."

Suddenly a snort could be heard, Quentin turned his head towards his house and saw Lily holding back a laugh. "What? Cheesy?"

"'Might as well be fucked with a friend,' do you hear yourself?" She snickered. Quentin could hear Kaihou holding back a laugh as well.

"You're both five, I should just move to another city with less gangs."

"Fine, okay." Lily took slower breaths to calm herself down, "This is a big fat 'I told you so' moment but you can't really back out now that there's a dead body in your doorway. You're stuck with him whether you or him likes it. I am too. I don't know what you see in him but..." She sighed. "I want my friend back, so I'll just deal." 

As she approaches the doorway and steps over the body to leave, she's stopped by the boy.

"Wait!" Kaihou ran over to the girl, putting his hands in his pockets. "I don't want us to just tolerate each other for Quentin's sake, that'll just make him feel bad."

Lily groaned, looking up at the ceiling before turning her head back towards the boy. "So what? You want me to pretend this isn't all your fault? That the dead guy isn't a pointless life taken away? That your perception of life and crime is probably so bad you're surprised serial killers get the death penalty?"

"I'm not some psycho, this is crap I was born into and that I have to live up to. You know, I'm kinda offended you think I do all of this out of choice, that I like blackmail or illegal dealing or making connections to corrupt politicians. I want out, I've never been able to make a choice my entire life, I never got to do any hobbies that I wanted. My family's never shown me any compassion. I don't get to hear 'I'm proud of you' or 'I only want you to be healthy' I hear 'good job' and 'satisfactory.'" He looked down to cover his frustration. "If Quentin wants me to stay then I will, he doesn't think I'm some bad omen so I just want you to stop acting like I am because it makes him feel guilty."

She stared at him judgementally, "Do you think you're a bad omen?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

He looked up after hearing her groan again, then listened to her. "I don't want to like you but you're making it so hard by trauma-dumping so I'm gonna do some of my own to get back at you. The way you feel? It isn't new, me and Quentin are both Asian so we feel like we had the same limits on our childhood, it's why we're friends. Whatever new thing I wanted to do suddenly became an interest to my parents of how much I could profit from it, I wanted to play the harp? How much does being in an orchestra earn? So..." Her face relaxed and she closed her eyes. "I think I understand you, and I know Quentin does a lot. The shit he's been through..."

Kaihou listened intently, not wanting to interrupt her now that he'd won her favor.

"But I also don't think you're giving the people in your life enough credit. Surely there's someone out there looking out for you, who only wants you to be happy. I thought my parents were only concerned with themselves for the longest time but when they said all that stuff about jobs and hobbies it was out of concern for me, for what I'd do if they died. How I could take care of myself. Nobody ever mentions it because they think it spoils the moment, but some people only want to spend time with you and make you happy."

He nodded, "I'm being a little pissy right now, my sister cares a lot about me."

"There we go." Lily smiled. "You're a little selfish but all you want is someone to care I guess, I finally understand you."

"Why do you say it like that?" He scratched his head. "This is freaky."

"I like to know what kinds of people the guys I see in my life are, and since you are now in my life because you're dating my best friend..."

"No. No-"

"Yes, I'm not letting you two become one of those stupid tropes where they won't mention they like each other even though they really do. It's so obvious, you literally want me to like you like you're trying to impress his mother."

"I'd have to do that someday too-"

"See?" Lily facepalmed, zipping up her jacket to cover the bloody sweater. "You owe me a new sweater too, I don't know how well blood washes off of this crap."

He smiled back at her as she left, now bombarding himself with thousands of questions.