"It takes two flints to make a fire." 

- Louisa May Alcott

"LEVI, STOP," Iris hissed as Levi sped-walked to his tent, his legs much longer than hers, therefore making it extremely difficult for her to compete. "Let's just think about this, okay. Just don't-"

"I'm going." Levi interrupted. His body seemed hell-bent on getting to his brother; like a magnet attracted to him, its sole purpose to reach him eventually.

Iris grabbed his wrist and tugged him. It seemed useless, almost, trying to get him to see the sanity in her eyes over his hazel ones, glazed with determination. Of course he would be angry, it was understandable: he and Hunter were as thick as thieves, brothers that stuck together through everything in their past. It was hardly a shock that the first thing Levi wanted to do was pack a bag and get the hell out of Camp Juvy straight away. Regardless, she needed him to calm down before they attracted attention. This was something that needed to be thought through.

"Please, just listen to me." She said softly. Almost begging him, she searched his face for any signs that he was truly listening to her. "You can't just go after him. Not now, anyway. This is serious, okay?"

Levi shook his head. "I know it's fucking serious, Iris. Quit stopping me from leaving."

She groaned as he broke free, throwing her hands in the air with exasperation before following him into his tent. "I'm not stopping you from leaving, I'm just trying to get you to understand that if we're gonna find him, we have to plan it out. Like, do you have any money?"

He was silent.

"Exactly." She watched as he sat down on his bed slowly, rubbing his eyes with deflation. "We can do it, but just not right this fucking minute."

After a while, Levi sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair, one of his legs bouncing up and down nervously as he thought about what to do. "You just said we."

Iris blinked. "What?"

"You said we can do it." His eyes met hers. "You mean you'll find him with me?"

"Sure." She smiled at him. Obviously she was going to help him – that much was out of the question. Levi couldn't do it alone, and Hunter needed all the help he could get trying to be found. Plus, she was a pretty good asset to have on board: the skills, the weaponry, the help from her gang members that could give them money.

"But why would you do that?" He scanned her face, watching as she blushed under his gaze.

She shrugged, looking away, afraid that her eyes would display the feelings that were buzzing inside of her. "I want to help you. Did you really think I'd let you do this on your own?"

Levi grinned. "I'm so grateful for you, you know that?"

"Ah, well," She tucked some hair behind her ears and smiled bashfully. "I'm sure you'd do the same."

He stared at her for a while, as if unaware of what he was doing. "Yeah." He eventually said. "I would."

♥♥♥

They spent the next few hours jogging around the camp whilst planning how they were going to find Hunter. Because they were supposed to be training anyway, it was a great way to avoid attention and also to think: the fresh, clean air seemed to fill their lungs with sense, and despite the loud noises of the campmates around them, they listened to each other's ideas intently, rationally, and in a calm manner.

When it was dinner, they had decided everything: that they would leave late that night after the curfew, use Hunters phone to call Sniper and ask him to sort some money out for them, and head to Levi's uncles house, who lived in a lake house in Georgia. From Levi's uncles they could borrow a car and make their way to the address in Tennessee – hopefully finding more information that could lead to Hunter. Admittedly, the whole process wasn't guaranteed to work in the slightest – the address wasn't entirely reliable, and that was the only thing they were using to track Hunter. Apart from his phone, they knew nothing about where he was, or whether he was even still alive.

But they were just going with it, really.

That was kinda their plan.

"So you know," Levi said at dinner, after taking a long drink from his water. They were going to need to stock up on food and drink – who knew when their next meal would be. "It's just going to be you and me."

Iris dropped her fork on her plate, cursing when it landed with a crash. "Yeah, and your deal is?"

"I dunno, I think it's gonna be fun, right?" His eyes sparkled.

She stared at him suspiciously. "Yeah, I guess so."

"You seem sceptical."

"Yeah, because I don't know what it's going to be like living with you 24/7 for the next few days." 

Levi pouted. "That really hurt me, you know. I'm excited - we can travel together, eat together, sleep together...undress together..."

Iris leaned over and whacked him. 

"Ow!" Levi rubbed his arm, pretending to examine it as if there were a bruise. His jawline angled itself as he looked to the side, a perfect straight line, his lashes just skimming his skin. Then his eyes gazed back to hers and he frowned. "What was that for?"

"You're annoying me."

He smirked. "I'm a guy, it's hardly news that we think about girls naked."

"So you're saying you think about me naked?"

This time Levi was silent. After a while he laughed and shook his head. "You know what? You changed the subject. Therefore, I get to do this." He kicked her foot under the table, a smirk plastered on his face. He was enjoying irritating her, but what he didn't know was how much she could irritate him back.

She grabbed the shoe off his foot with one clean swipe and watched his face warp into a look of horror as she plunged it into the ground, rubbing it into the dirt. Bearing in mind, the shoes had two large stripes on that were somehow a gleaming white.

Not anymore, Iris thought smugly.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that, sunshine."

She inched closer to his face by leaning over the table. Then she tilted her head and laughed softly. "Make me."

Someone sat next to Levi, a certain someone with dark hair and a very knowing grin on her face. "Sorry – are we interrupting?"

Iris blinked, realising how close her face was to the hazel-eyed boy and retreated back to her side of the table, her face crumpling with disgust as she saw Wrench sat next to her.

Levi's expression mirrored hers. "Yes, actually, you are. What do you want?"

"We want to know what was on the phone." Ember said, looking to Wrench as if to make him agree with her.

Wrench rolled his eyes. "She wants to know what's on the phone. I don't give a shit, if I'm honest. Actually, I really need a shit, but apparently this dinner is more important. I mean, can a guy not have bowel movements and act on them for gods' sake?"

Iris stared at Wrench with shock painted over her features: her mouth open and eyes widened. This was quite possibly the most she'd ever heard him say at once – and it was him talking about needing to poop? What did Ember see in him?

Wrench on the other hand seemed totally serious. He scowled at her. "What the fuck do you want?"

"There was a text on the phone." Levi said, probably to break the tension around them. Or perhaps it was because Ember seemed so determined that the table looked like it might catch on fire from her deadly stare. "So we're going to follow the address that it sent and get the hell out of here. Now piss off."

"No." Ember said, her eyes lighting up.

Levi groaned. "Sorry, I meant piss off, please?"

"No, no we're going with you," Ember nibbled on a piece of bread, tapping one finger on the table. "Me and Wrench."

"For gods sake, it's Wrench and I, and also, no the fuck you aren't." Levi yelled, louder than expected. He smiled awkwardly at the campmates who stared at his outbreak in shock. Leaning in, he hissed more quietly, "Hunter is my brother, and I want you to stay the hell away from him. Especially poop boy over there."

Wrench growled. "The fuck you call me?"

"Look, I get that we've pissed you off recently, but this is dangerous. Who knows where Hunter is." Ember curled one hand into a fist, pressing it against the table. "Don't you think that having a super angry girl with a lot of violent tendencies and a convict who can fight better than Mario and Bowser put together be a good thing? Like, we'd be a team, you know? A fucking powerful team."

Iris and Levi shared a look, both aware that Ember was speaking more sense than bullshit. Although they weren't the best people to have on board out of everyone in the world, Ember was right that wherever Hunter was could be dangerous. Being safe was the most important part.

"What about Wrench," Iris said. She glared at the boy seated beside her, who had his head in his hands. "He doesn't want to come, so why are you making him?"

"I do, actually." Wrench's voice cut into the conversation, shocking everyone. He leaned back into a pool of light from the lamp behind, the black ink on his neck more visible; his body stretched out like a cat.

Iris raised her eyebrows. "You do?"

"I hate you as much as you hate me," He stated. "But I think this whole thing is bigger than you think."

"Yeah?" Levi scoffed. "And who the hell are you to say that, smart ass?"

Wrench sucked his top lip, shrugging. His eyes flashed. "I know because I'm a part of it."

"You're a liar, Wrench." Iris rolled her eyes. She knew Wrench; better than he probably thought. They'd had conversations before, back when things weren't so bad, and they'd try to resolve any issues that the two gangs had against each other. But Wrench was renowned as someone not to be trusted – he'd tell you one thing and then do what he swore was never to be. Everyone knew that; even Wrench himself.

"Yeah, well this time I'm spitting truth." He looked as if he were debating whether to say what he wanted to say. Eventually he sighed and spoke quietly, "you want to know why I came here?"

She stared at him glumly. "Go on."

"Story time. So, like a few weeks ago, these guys – never seen them before in my fucking life – they came into my house, fucking broke into my house, actually; held my mum hostage, waited till I got back from the party I was at and then said they'd shoot her if I so much as picked up my phone. Told me to get in the car outside and go wherever it took me." He yawned, breaking up the story carelessly before continuing, "When I got in the car the driver said they were a network of people that could kill her if I said anything. Then he went on and told me I was going here, to Camp ass-wipers. I was to tell anyone who asked that I was caught by the police and then stop you being suspicious. Which was fucking easy, obviously."

"Bullshit. You're a fucking gang leader. I've seen you fight – why didn't you go after them? It just doesn't make sense to me."

He shook his head. "You're not getting the point. They said they'd kill my mum. They said they had dirt on me that they'd give in to the police, stuff that would have me put behind bars for months. They had links to my gang members, to my possessions, my money. This was a three-week tops thing – just to keep tabs on everything. Why risk that shit for nothing?"

Levi finished his dinner and let out a noise of protest. During the conversation he had been shovelling food into his mouth as if it were popcorn, and he was an audience member watching a film or some scene of conflict take place. His presence was so quiet that it shocked both Wrench and Iris when he spoke. "But that still doesn't explain your whole role for this thing."

"I was getting on to that," Wrench snapped. "You people are impatient."

"You people?"

Ember groaned angrily. "Can we just hear the damn thing for gods' sake?"

Wrench chewed his pasta with a look of sheer irritation on his face, eyes glued to Levi. After swallowing it slowly, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and continued. "They told me that I needed to watch Hunter."

"Watch Hunter?" Iris laughed humourlessly. "What, is he some fucking dog or something?"

"I don't know, like keep an eye on him or whatever. If he tried to tell anyone the "thing" I needed to stop him."

Levi seemed to be boiling with fury. "What's the fucking "thing" then, huh?"

"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me, so I left it. Didn't want to involve myself in it. If I'm honest, I actually digged Hunter - he was a cool guy. So leave it out with your tough brother bullshit – you have me to thank."

"Thank you?" Levi spat. "Thank you for what?"

"For giving Hunter my burner phone."

The whole table was silent.

"You did what?" Iris asked.

He was clearly lying this time. Right? It couldn't be that Wrench, Wrench of all people would actually do something humane – something kind. Iris watched the boy next to her, trying to see if he looked like a liar: whether he was fidgeting, avoiding eye contact. This was so unusual to her - seeing him up close, examining him - especially not to examine whether he was being a decent person or not. 

Maybe he really was okay. After all, she'd done just as much as he had in the past; they were just two people on different sides, made to hate each other. 

Did she hate him?

Wrench burped loudly, laughing at the sound.

Yep, she thought. I still hate him. He might have done something good for once but I can still hate him.

"I knew he was in some shit, so I gave him my burner." He shrugged. "It's no big deal, whoever has taken him or whatever has probably found it. I just thought he could use it if he needed help, at all."

Levi's face was a look of complete confusion. He seemed unsure of whether to punch Wrench in the face or hug the death out of him. "You're serious?"

"I'm serious. I guess we'll find out if we reach an outlet or something to call the phone. I don't think we should take Hunter's phone – who knows what tracking things they might have installed on it."

Iris looked between Ember, Wrench and Levi, trying to see if they really could survive going across America to find Hunter. They were the strangest of people to be in a group – two sworn enemies and gang leaders, one the ex girlfriend of another's best friend, two that were romantically involved and the other two with one that had frequent visions about kissing the other persons face off and licking his godly abs. But hey – they all wanted the same thing, right? To find Hunter and to help him out.

"You just assumed that we're agreeing on you coming with us." Levi noted.

Wrench smiled, standing up to clear the plates from the table. "Yeah, and you assumed my gender when we first met."

"So you're a woman? What do I call you, Wren?"

Wrench glared. "Fuck that shit. I have balls. You want to see?"

"Dear god please no." Iris shouted, covering her eyes. "Are we doing this thing then, or what? Not seeing Wrench's balls – I mean, them coming with us to find Hunter."

Levi inhaled slowly, whilst everyone else waited for his reply. Hunter was his brother, after all, so it was his decision who came or was left behind.

After a while he let out a defeated sigh and then announced, "Fine."

"Jesus, finally!" Wrench exhaled, throwing his hands in the air. "Now please, please can I go and poo?"

Levi nodded gravely. "Fine. But it better be a rapid poop. We're outta here as soon as it hits the sewage pipes."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ 

AUTHORS NOTE: Lol what even was that chapter. 

I think I'm going delirious guys, I get my results for my A levels TOMORROW which determine whether I'm going to university or not. I'M SO SCARED AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I genuinely feel ill with nervousness. 

asofugdonigoerugwrugwrutwiugiwurgwiurqiugwduagxhaqgvewgce

^ My mind rn EVERY DAMN MINUTE

Anyway, I know I haven't been doing that much Liris action, but boy have I got some twix up my sleeve as I needed to make the biscuit to begin my caramel and chocolate delight. E.g. I needed to do the boring stuff before it gets good to bring on le action! ;)

I've actually lost it. 

Crikey.

Love y'all,