This chapter's a TurkNed one, but never fear! Antonio will turn up next chapter. But for now have some sad boys.

Sadik glanced around him, pulling his hood down further over his face, just in case his information was wrong. It was okay, though; the streets were completely empty. He knocked on the door he was slouched next to, wiping sweat off his face with his sleeve. Tino had provided him with an updated map of a route here, avoiding the CCTV, and he'd waited for nightfall, but it was still the most terrified he'd ever been.

It would be worth it, though.

It was a tense few moments before Isabel answered the door. "Hello?" she asked nervously before spotting him. "Oh, Sadi-"

He put a hand over her mouth before pushing them both into the hall. He shushed her gently, giving her a soft expression to show he meant no harm, then shut the front door behind him. "Sorry about that, Issy. I can't be outside. And you probably can't be saying my name."

She nodded. "Wow, you're back! I heard you might be in the city, but assumed it was just a rumour."

"No, I'm here! A bit of desert can't get me," he laughed. "But wow! Look at you! You were so tiny last time I saw you!"

Isabel gave him a sad smile. "We'd lost all hope of seeing you again. Well, he had."

"Where is Adriaan?"

"In his shed. Wanna see him?"

He nodded. "Should've known he'd be hiding in there. Thanks, Issy."

She lead him down the hall and into the garden: a square of dusty metal Adriaan had decorated with sculptures of plants, strings of lights in jars, and paintings of birds on the fences. It was a few steps to cross, but Sadik took his time, admiring the handiwork. It was an oasis of beauty in the grim city.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the shed door.

"Fuck off, Isabel!"

"Haven't changed much, then," he replied, leaning against the shed and chuckling.

There was silence, before the door opened a crack and he was pulled in. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him, holding him tight.

"Sadik, you bastard! It's really you?"

"I missed you too," he mumbled into Adriaan's neck, clutching his shirt. He wanted the moment to freeze, for time to leave the two of them alone. Adriaan wasn't entirely in tune with his emotions, but there was no mistaking his joy as he clutched Sadik's face in his hands. Sadik wondered if he'd kiss him, but Adriaan wasn't so forward. It had been a long time since they'd done that. Just like it was a long time since the two boys hugged the same way, when the world was bearable and they had hope.

He wondered if Adriaan still loved him.

Sadik knew he still loved Adriaan.

People were quick to write him off as a dick, but Sadik knew better. Adriaan was brilliant. He just saved his brilliance for those he cared about, sometimes. Sadik became lost in the earthy smell of Adriaan's clothes. It was familiar. It was home.

"I should've known. Things were getting restless, talk of doing stupid stuff. Of course you'd be at the centre of it all. When'd you get back?"

"Few days ago. Sorry I didn't stop by sooner, been busy." He paced the shed, taking it all in. "No one's flattened this place, then?"

"I'm careful. I thought you knew I was smarter than that."

Adriaan's shed had no windows, lit only by a single bulb, and special, strong lights he used to work. Not a single beam of light ever escaped the shed, though, and Adriaan was careful when entering and leaving the place. The caution was for good reason: what Adriaan did in his shed was illegal.

Most of the floor was covered in pots of tulips, the only flowers the pair of them had ever gotten their hands on. People just weren't allowed to grow plants, except for food, and the only flowers in the city, officially, grew in the Emperor's own gardens.

It was no wonder the air was so thin.

"Things good with you?" he asked.

Adriaan nodded. "Steady job. Friends. Well, Isabel's friends. I just tag along like a loser. You know how great my people skills are."

Sadik nodded, then broke into a grin. He pulled Adriaan into another hug. "It's so good to see you again!"

Adriaan laughed and hugged back. "Things that bad out there?"

"Oh you have no idea. How the hell Kuzey and I survived, I'll never know."

"Kuzey?"

"My son."

Adriaan nodded. There was silence again before Sadik spoke.

"Still have a wife?"

"Still have commitment issues?" Adriaan looked away, and Sadik followed suit. "Hestia didn't make it. No one else did."

"I'm sorry." Neither could look back at each other now. Adriaan crouched down to water his flowers. "I'll try to breed a special tulip. Name it after her."

"Thank you. I wished I'd shown her them before… well, everything."

"She'd have liked them." Adriaan didn't mention that the flowers were their thing. No living person knew about the flowers; he'd not even shown Isabel. The risks were too high. Not to mention, Sadik wasn't sure his wife and ex-boyfriend being in a small room together would've been wise.

Neither of them could ever forget that first bulb. They'd found it in the dump outside the palace walls, risking their lives to explore it. They thought it was food, and took it back to headquarters to ask their parents if it was safe. It was more than a rotten onion, and their parents had given them some old gardening books from the HQ library and some soil from tunnels currently being dug out to expand the base. They'd grown their first flower here in Adriaan's parents' shed, identified it as a tulip, and instantly fell in love with it.

Adriaan had been 8, Sadik 11, and they'd felt like the smartest people in the city. They grew more and more flowers over the years, in their little sanctuary, growing up with their rebellion of colour and fragrance. They'd even had their first kiss here.

"Arthur tells me you've been avoiding us." Sadik glanced at him warily.

"So that's what you're here for," Adriaan growled.

"I wanted to see you again, I swear!"

"And get me to join you little plan. It's not enough to have Kirkland harassing my sister?"

"I care about you! I have to be the leader now, and I'd feel so much better with you by my side. You're a smart man, Adriaan, practical too. I know you can help-"

"Absolutely not." Adriaan turned his back on him, sat amongst his flower pots. "I'm not risking my sister's life, or my own, for your hero fantasy. You're a fool if you think this is gonna work and, let's be honest, did you really survive all that time out there just to come back and die within a month?"

"Adriaan, that's not how- forget it," Sadik sighed and turned to leave, when Adriaan spoke again.

"You're leading these people to their deaths, you know that, right?"

"That's not going to happen."

"You poor, stupid bastard. You learnt nothing from last time? You're gonna go against the Royals and the might of the state and get away with it?"

"I can and I will."

Adriaan shook his head. "Even if you win, even if you get your fantasy world, it's gonna come at a price. People will die."

"You think I don't know that? People are already dying, every day, from living like this. But we'll be careful. I'm gonna pick the right time to strike, when the city is on our side and there's nothing the Royals can do. Casualties will be kept at a minimum. I'd sooner see myself get tortured to death than allow unnecessary killing."

"If this carries on, you will be tortured to death. Fuck's sake, Sadik, you know trying to reason with you is trying to breed a pure black tulip: fucking impossible."

"No one ever got anywhere hiding in his shed like a bitch."

Adriaan snorted. "And which of us is gonna make it to forty?"

"I'd rather die than live in fear, or hide underground, cause that's my only other option. Besides, are you, or are you not, growing illegal flowers? You think the police are gonna let it slide if they find out?"

"They won't," said Adriaan with a smug smile, "I'm careful. I plan for everything. All the lights are powered by a circuit I built myself. It won't get flagged up anywhere. There's no windows to see into, and the only people who know are the two of us. You're not gonna go telling on me, right Fugitive?"

"No, and I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want, but just remember: no Emperor means you can grow all the flowers you wanted. You could do it all day, rather than sticking up propaganda for a regime you hate. Yeah, Arthur told me about that."

Adriaan pretended to not be listening.

Sadik sighed. "We could sit among the flowers all day, you know?" He bent down and placed a soft kiss on the top of Adriaan's head. "Goodbye, then."