The story of how you and Seb met was a messy one, and the story of how you two ended up in the current situation was even messier.

Dating back a whole year, it was March of 2004, the first day of the month. It was your birthday. Your brother alongside numerous undercover gang members had taken you to dinner that night out to this fancy high rise restaurant that overlooked the city, it was quiet up there, fully of posh rich folk who didn’t know how to enjoy themselves without judgement.

To just about everyone on that floor, it was obvious you were an outsider. You were loud, laughing and talking as you pleased, and dressed like a street gyaru. To all besides your brother, you were distasteful. To all except for a certain gentleman sitting across the room.

Seb eyed you all night despite being on a date himself, which he ended up leaving the woman after dinner almost immediately anyway. His original purpose for being there wasn’t for her. It was to kill your brother.

However, instead of carrying out his goal that night, he abandoned it and set a new one. He wanted Hitoshi Luka’s sister.

—

He was quick to conduct a background check on the woman, looking into every record possible. He found out your address, place of employment, and just about every way to contact you possible. Over the following month, he would go out of his way to cross paths with you, despite being in the middle of a gang war, he wanted his first meeting with you to not be on opposite sides of a trigger.

And so he orchestrated a ‘happy accident.’

Seb framed himself as a mere businessman, new to the city, and eager to make connection. He sat down at your table at a coffee shop one day, simply introduced himself, and chatted you up for hours. The more he observed, he learned you really had no ties to the mafias, and that you were really, really dumb. He asked about your knowledge of gangs outright, and you explained everything you knew to him, who was basically a complete stranger. It was almost laughable, but cute.

After that, you only kept seeing each other. These innocent dates went well for about three more months until your brother became wary, and eventually found out who you were seeing. Your brother forced you to live with him for quite a while and didn’t let you out, much to Seb’s displeasure. In that time, he explained everything about Seb to you, and forbade you to see him ever again, otherwise he’d kill him on site.

—

In August, a third rival gang arose in the southern districts.

They grew rapidly over the remainder of the year, causing issues for both the Moriyama and Red Tigers, all while you were trying to ease back into normal a normal life. You hated that your brother was a mafia man, it effected every part of your life, and now even the nice guy you were talking to for months was probably just trying to use you to get to your brother too! Now you had to live with Hitoshi on top of it all…

Seb could understand the betrayal you probably felt, he felt bad, but also missed your sweet, stupid ass. With the new gang everywhere, ‘Gold Thorns,’ or whatever they called themselves, he had bigger concerns.

—

In October, the Gold Thorns had nearly succeeded in assassinating Hitoshi Luka. They broke into his home, injured you, and had critically wounded your brother. Seb was tipped off about some info that very night, but showed up to the residence too late. Your brother was breathing, but unconscious, as were you. That’s all that mattered.

—

Since then, your brother had been in a coma, and you were back in your old apartment, shaken and stressed out. To pour more salt in the wound, that damn liar was back, and he wouldn’t leave! He just stood by your front entrance all day, calling people, texting people, and staring!

“I want to go out on a date, why won’t you leave! You don’t control my life!”

You stuck a finger to the taller guy’s chest, earning a huff in response.

“I’m just protecting you, we’ve been over this.”