Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This story has been set on Explicit because it contains some boy on boy naughty stuff. If that offends you in any way, I'm sorry. This story is not for you.

This story also contains very graphic details of violence, death, and many other subject matters that might be triggers for some people. If you are sensitive about any of these things, please note that you have been warned.

Thank you for reading ❤

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

As soon as I stepped inside the doors to the police station, Officer Jin-Young spotted me and waved from his seat in the bull pen. Fuck. Ever since he'd joined the force last month, he'd been sticking to me like glue. I ignored him as I shuffled over to my own desk tiredly, but just as I was about to sit down he popped up next to me and grabbed my arm.

"Baekhyun-ssi. You can't sit yet. Commissioner Son wants you in his office. Right now." He whispered with wide eyes.

"Now?" I asked stupidly and he nodded quickly.

"Like, yesterday now. He said it was important." My head felt like it was about to explode and I knew from my 2 second glance in the mirror this morning that I had raccoon eyes. I literally wanted to curl up in a ball and die. But until the Commissioner said so, I followed his orders.

"Thanks." I muttered and he let me go.

"Byun. Sit." Commissioner Son said stiffly. I sat. "How was your day off?" He asked. I don't know why. It didn't sound like he cared much.

"Shitty." I replied dully and he nodded like I'd said something good.

"Right. We don't have time to waste so, here." He slapped a file from his overflowing pile on the side of his desk in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked warily as I reached for it.

"Your first murder case. Welcome to homicide." He said blankly and I stared at him for a second.

"Um..." When I'd said my day off had been shitty, I'd meant it. My boyfriend and I had been having problems for months now, but when I'd finally had time off and tried to fix what was breaking, I'd made it worse by taking him to dinner and telling him about my promotion. Even less time together, he'd spewed and I'd spent the rest of my day watching him pack his shit. I was not in the best place mentally right now.

"I know you only got promoted yesterday, but I'm short staffed and with Detective Kim on maternity leave..." He opened his arms and shrugged.

"Sir, I think - " I started.

"Don't think. Do. If you need help, take a rookie with you. It'll be good experience for them." I opened my mouth again, but he coughed pointedly and I stood up, taking the file with me.

"Are you OK? You look like you've seen a ghost?" Hyun-Jae from the Violent Crimes Unit said and I scoffed out loud.

"Apparently I'm about to. I just got my first case." I held up the file and his mouth dropped open.

"You're shitting me?"

"No." I tsked and dropped it on my desk.

"But they just...yesterday..." I pinched the bridge of my nose and that did nothing so I rubbed my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair. Did I even remember to comb it this morning?

"I need a drink." I mumbled.

"It's 8am." He replied and I scratched my cheek with my middle finger.

"I would say fuck you too, but you look like shit, so I'll let it go." I opened the file on my desk and skimmed the details briefly.

"Hey, do you know where Grand Park is? What is it?" I read some more. "A club?"

"You don't know Club Eleven?" He laughed sharply and I looked up to glare at him. "Wait, you seriously don't know?" His face went blank.

"Why the fuck would I know about it?" I blinked at him. "What do you mean Club Eleven? It says Grand Park."

"I thought...it's a gay club. It's pretty well known so I thought maybe you ..." He struggled to finish.

"You thought because I liked dick, I'd just magically know every gay club in Seoul?" I said and his cheeks went pink.

"No, just...never mind. You can ask Jin-young how to get there. I've heard him talk about it once or twice." He grumbled and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Just tell me." I begged but he stood up from his desk and grabbed a stack of ballistics paperwork.

"I gotta get these to Sheila. Have fun with the rookie. Look on the bright side. When you're done, you can get that drink you wanted." He patted my shoulder roughly and jogged to the elevator that was closing already. "Hey! Hold it..."

"It's just down here." Jin-young pointed and I parked in front of the big grey looking building. "Looks different in the day time." He said, unclipping his seatbelt.

"You've been here before?"

"Oh, yeah. My friend's bachelor party." He chuckled. "And just, you know...some nights when I'm free." He peeked at me shyly but I ignored him and opened my door. It felt weird being in plainclothes while I was on duty. I'd gotten so used to my uniform that it had become sort of like a shield. People took one look at you and the respect was almost always instant. Now there was nothing but my gun and my badge that even looked police like.

"Hey. Why do you call this place Club Eleven?" I asked when I saw the Grand Park sign above the doorway. "Is it some kind of code?"

"You really don't..." Jin-young stumbled next to me when he saw my face. "Well, you know in the past...that's what they used to call gay people. Elevens. Because you know...when you look at the number, it's two of the same." He chuckled nervously. "Some people started calling it Club Eleven as an insult but I think it's cool, actually. It feels like a piece of history." I pursed my lips and said nothing as we walked into the club.

"Hey. Detective Byun with SMPA. This is Lee Jin-young." I introduced us to the manager standing behind the bar and he gave us a grunt before walking around to come talk to us.

"You're finally here for the body." He sneered. "It's been hours. The boss is going to freak out enough already but if it starts smelling..." His nose wrinkled.

"It'll be a few days before it starts to smell." I gave him a small smile and held out my hand. "Can you lead the way please?"

"One of our cleaners found the body in the toilets this morning." He explained while we walked. "She pushed open the stall and he was just...lying there. She said she didn't touch anything." He shrugged. "She was pretty spooked. Called Gonho and Gonho called you guys."

"So no one noticed anything until the cleaning crew came in this morning?" I asked and pulled some gloves out of my pocket.

"Nope. None of the staff really go in there during the night. We didn't hear anything and no one said anything to the guards."

"Guards?"

"There's a guard stationed at every corner of the club to make sure our guests are safe. Usually a patron will alert one of the guards if something's wrong. No one reported anything." He said and I nodded.

"The medical examiner will be here soon. Can you send them this way when they arrive?" I said and the manager nodded.

"I'll leave you to it."

I sighed as soon as I stepped inside the bathroom.

"Fuck."

"What is it?"

"Fucking bleach." I muttered and looked around at the spotless bathroom. "She must have cleaned everything first before she moved to the stalls."

"So...she wiped the crime scene?"

"There probably would have been nothing anyway. Too many people walking in and out here. We can print the door handle though." I sighed again and pointed at my CSI bag. "Get the camera out. Be useful." Jin-young scrambled to get the camera out and started taking pictures according to my instructions.

I was nervous. This wasn't my first murder case per se, but it was the first one I was the lead detective on and I didn't want to fuck anything up. Commissioner Son would hand my ass to the wolves if I fucked up, no doubt about it. He didn't have time for sympathy. I needed to be extra careful.

"OK, I'm opening the door now." I took out a pen from my pocket and pushed the stall door open so I wouldn't contaminate any possible prints. There, slumped against the toilet seat, was my victim. If you didn't look too closely, he looked liked he'd just had too much to drink and passed out while throwing up. But it was obvious even from where I was standing that he was too pale and too stiff. I stood to the side so Jin-young could take more photos and when he was done, I moved closer.

I dropped to a squat next to the body and because I didn't want to touch anything before the ME got here, I did a quick overview of what was visible.

"Overdose?" Jin-young asked.

"No. The seat is closed and I don't smell vomit. Look." I mumbled and pointed at the victims neck. "Strangled."

"Shit." He cursed and I patted his pockets to see if I could find a wallet. There, in the front of his jeans. I tugged it out carefully and stepped out to open it.

"Kim Song-min. 22."

"So young..." Jin-young whispered.

"Death doesn't have an age limit." I murmured and he swallowed hard.

The ME confirmed my earlier observation. Strangulation was the cause of death and the rest would have to wait for the autopsy.

"Time of death...probably 10 to 12 pm. Just from rigor mortis." She said.

"You telling me no one else used the last stall in the bathroom the rest of the night?" I frowned.

"Its possible. You see it's closed, you ignore it." She blinked at me and I blew out an annoyed huff.

"OK. Let's get him out of here and I'll see you later." I told her just as there was commotion outside.

"Are you fucking joking?"

"Boss..."

"There's a dead body in my club and you DIDN'T THINK YOU SHOULD WAKE ME UP?!"

"But, Boss..."

"Oh my God." I left the bathroom just in time to see whoever this 'Boss' was pull out a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar and pour a little...then a lot, in the small glass in front of him. He was tall. So tall he had to lean down to rest his arms on the bar.

"What the fuck do I pay you for, Gonho? Huh? Are you a statue? Because those are fucking cheaper than you are, let me tell you." He rumbled in a deep voice and then tossed back the glass. "Useless."

"Excuse me. Are you the owner of this club?" I asked and 'Boss' stiffened. If I had known what his face looked like, I would have better prepared myself when he turned around slowly; but I was so stunned that I couldn't stop my mouth from falling open a little. Jesus...

"Yes. I'm the owner of this club." He grunted and put his glass of whiskey down. My eyes followed the strand of dark hair that fell over his forehead...down to his lips that were pinched with irritation. 'Boss' was hot. Too bad he looked like a sourpuss. "Who are you?" He asked and I almost rolled my eyes. Almost. See? No uniform...

"I'm Detective Byun Baekhyun. I'm the lead investigator."

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I stared at Gonho who couldn't even look at me in the eye right now. I had to be hearing things. There was no way.

"Are you fucking joking?" I asked and Gonho flinched, looking up at Se-Hee for help.

"Boss..."

"There's a dead body in my club and you DIDN'T THINK YOU SHOULD WAKE ME UP?!" I shouted and they both looked sick. Well they fucking should! How could they keep something like this from me? And now they'd even gotten the police involved...I did not need a bunch of cops bulldozing their way through my club like them having a badge made it OK to be bitchy bastards.

"But, Boss..." Gonho tried and I walked away from him, heading behind the bar so I could find myself something to drink.

"Oh my God." I groaned and took out a bottle of whiskey. I didn't even like whiskey, but the burn would be beautiful. There was a glass out on the table already so I poured a finger. Then I poured four more. Fuck. A dead body? My arms started to shake and I took a second to breathe, leaning down on the bar.

"What the fuck do I pay you for, Gonho? Huh? Are you a statue?" I asked. "Because those are fucking cheaper than you, let me tell you." I spat out before pouring the entire contents of the glass down my throat. Holy...the burn was so painful, I would have shuddered, except a voice from behind me made me pause.

"Excuse me? Are you the owner of this club?" I couldn't help the automatic stiffening of my shoulders. Was there something about me that didn't look like I could own a place like this? I turned around to sneer at whoever it was that had spoken, but my words caught in my throat.

I had been in love exactly one time in my life. I was young and stupid and he'd been the same. Top it off with the toxic environment we'd been born in...add raging teenage hormones and it was a recipe for disaster. Still...there was no one in the world who had ever made my heart skip a beat like Seojun had. Until now...

"Who are you?" It came out strangled and I wanted to cough to clear my throat but I settled for gritting my teeth.

"I'm Detective Byun Baekhyun. I'm the lead investigator." He said, and only then did I notice the small badge hooked on the side of his hip.

"You're a cop?" I asked, a little confused. He didn't look anything like a police officer.

"Is there somewhere private we can talk so I can ask you a few questions?" He said, ignoring my outburst and taking off the black surgical gloves on his hands. I blinked at him for a second and moved out from behind the bar.

"We can go to my office." I muttered, my voice still a little gruff, and I led the way up the stairs to the room at the end of the corridor.

Stepping inside my office, I flipped a switch and lights illuminated the dark room. I sighed as I walked over to my desk and took my phone out of my pocket, but there were no calls from Mr Kim so he must not have heard yet. Shit.

"Nice office." Detective Byun said from the doorway. "Big." Too big, but it hadn't been designed with me in mind. At least I got to style it myself.

"How can I help you, Detective?" I asked and leaned against the side of my desk. I don't know why, but sitting down my chair felt like it would be rude. "I'm not sure I can, though. All I know so far is there was a body found in the bathrooms this morning."

"Yes. Your manager says that one of the cleaning staff found the victim. Do you always use outside cleaning services?" He asked and I expected him to pull out a pen and paper like all TV detectives did when interviewing witnesses, but he just folded his arms over his chest.

"Yes. I always hire the same company. They come every morning at 6am. Very reliable." He nodded and pursed his lips.

"What can you tell me about your staff that was on duty?" I frowned and eyed him warily.

"I trust everyone on my staff. They're like family." I said softly. He raised an eyebrow and took a few steps closer.

"Family can be tricky. Tell me why the time of death for my victim is close to midnight and yet, no one saw or heard anything until he was found this morning. Does your 'family'... " He made quotes in the air. "Not do a sweep during closing time? To look for wanderers."

"I have plenty of guards stationed all around the club. They make sure everyone leaves when they're supposed to. And safely." I had to grit my teeth though because Gonho and his band of gargoyles must have fucked up at some point.

"I heard. That's a lot of guards for such a small club." He commented and I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I really don't know anything, Detective. I can give you a list of everyone who was on duty last night, if that helps, and you can talk to them."

"And where were you last night?" He asked, finally taking a pen out of his pocket.

"My apartment. Upstairs." I looked up pointedly and his eyes followed mine.

"You live here?"

"It's not so bad. My soundproofing is excellent." I said and he just looked at me blankly. "So, do you want the list?" I asked and he walked up to my desk.

"You can email it to me. I need to get back to the station." He said, eyes flitting around my desk. "Do you have some paper?" I didn't. Nothing in this office was written down on paper. Mr Kim was always on my case about how technology could be easily hacked these days, but he knew as well as I did that our security systems on the computers were military grade for a reason.

"What do you want?"

"I need to give you my address. To send the list to." He said like it was obvious. I could have just taken my phone on the desk and asked him to type it out for me, but he already the pen in his hand... I held my arm out and pulled back my sleeve, offering it to him.

"What?" I asked when he didn't move. "Write down the address. I thought you needed to get back to work."

"Write it on your arm?" He let out a soft laugh. "Just get me a piece of paper." He said.

"I don't have any. You can check. You won't find anything." I said softly and his jaw worked while he tried to figure out if I was joking or not. Eventually he sighed and pulled on my arm roughly, jabbing the pen down in my flesh and started to write. I said nothing while he scratched his email onto my skin so hard it might as well be a tattoo. After a small pause, he added a phone number too.

"Call me if you can think of anything else." He said and I nodded because I couldn't open my mouth to breathe. He was so close, I could smell his cologne. He smelled unexpectedly delicious. It was still hard to believe that he was a cop. He looked so delicate standing there in front of me. Like most people, he was shorter than me; and the lights in my office could pick up the little red highlights in his brown curls. When he wasn't frowning at me, his face was beautiful. His skin looked so soft. His mouth even softer. Pink and plump accented by the most adorable little spot at the corner of his mouth. But as beautiful as his face was, his hands were by far the most beautiful thing about him. They looked almost feminine, long and thin and I wanted them wrapped around my -

"I didn't get your name." He said, interrupting my daydream.

"Park. Park Chanyeol." I whispered and he stepped away from me with a nod.

"Mr Park. Like I said. Call me if you think of anything."

"Sure." I murmured and I watched him as he left my office, lost in my thoughts even long after he'd gone.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"You ever been to an autopsy?" I asked Jin-young as we pulled up to the Medial Examiner's office downtown.

"...No." He answered hesitantly. I just managed to keep my face blank as I got out of the car. This should be interesting. I scanned my ID through security and unhooked my service weapon so they could hold it for me until we left. The walk down to the Cold Room was short, but it took me a while to find which room Hae-won had booked for the autopsy.

"You made it."

"Of course I did." I grumbled. "It's not like I don't have anything else to do." I said with a sarcastic smile. Just this morning we'd gotten a call from a 15 year old boy who had found his mother strangled to death with a scarf in the front seat of her car. Hae-won stuck out her tongue at me and snapped on a fresh pair of medical gloves.

"I was just going to open him up. Do you mind?" She asked and I lifted the sheet off my victim carefully. It had been two days since I'd last seen him, but he still looked the same. Too young.

"What can you tell me so far?"

"Cause of death seems about right. Strangulation. The larynx was broken. See?" She touched his neck gently and the bone under his jaw shifted slightly. "There was also a piece of cloth in the victim's mouth."

"Cloth?" I blinked. "Makes sense. The club is a busy place."

"I don't get it." Jin-young said softly, looking a little pale when Hae-won pulled out a large scalpel.

"Strangling someone takes time. It's not easy to keep someone struggling quiet for that long. At least without drugs in their system." I said and gave Hae-won a pointed look.

"Toxicology will only be in by the end of the week."

"What?" I said, disappointed.

"We're swamped too, you know." She said heatedly. "We had a 3 car pile up last night. There are 7 bodies waiting for me after this. I'll get it done when I have time."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." I replied quietly and put on my own pair of gloves so I could help. She sighed and waited until I was done, then tapped the victim's chest.

"Can you hold him open?" She asked and I peeled back the skin from the Y-incision, pinning it open with some soft forceps. When Hae-won picked up the sternum saw so she could saw into his chest, there was some gagging from Jin-young and he fled the room quickly. "First time?"

"Yep. Hurry. I need to get back to the station." I said and she started cutting the the sternum to prepare it for the rib shears.

It was like we suspected. No discoloration of the organs to suggest any poisoning and no other signs of any illnesses contributing to the victims early demise. He was perfectly healthy. There was nothing in his stomach so if he was drinking, he might have gotten tipsy faster than usual, but I didn't see anything wrong with that. There was some bruising on his arms and wrists too, so my victim had definitely tried to put up a fight. Whoever had attacked him had one hell of a grip though.

"You don't realize how fragile the human body is until you can break it with your bare hands." I said and Hae-won snorted.

"You OK?" I asked Jin-young when I found him leaning against the wall outside the building. He still looked a bit green, but he pinched his lips and nodded slowly.

"Just didn't expect...that. You know. And the smell."

"You get used to it." I said and he looked at me like I was crazy. The first time I'd come to an autopsy, the victim had been involved in a car accident and there was a lot more of a mess on the table than Jin-young had seen. I'd gone home and scrubbed myself over and over again in the shower for an hour until my ex had come home and made love to me until I stopped seeing milky eyes every time I closed mine.

"What the hell did you do to the rookie?" Hyun-jae asked when he got back to his desk opposite mine.

"First autopsy." I replied and he winced sympathetically.

"Ouch. Bad one?" I shrugged and rubbed my hands over my eyes. Shit. I was so tired the screen was starting to blur in front of me. I hadn't gone home in almost 26 hours now and my bed was screaming my name. "You got a call, by the way. While you were gone."

"Huh?"

"Your Club Eleven. The owner called. Said he had something for you." Hyun-jae handed me a piece of paper.

"Really?" I peered at the paper but it was just a note of the time he called and to call him back. "Did he say what?"

"Nope. Just to call him back." I groaned pitifully and checked the time. 21:17.

"I'll just head over there now. It's on my way home."

I made my way through the line waiting outside to get into the club and when I got to the door, the bouncer stopped me.

"Sir. Can you wait in line, please?"

"I'm not here to party." I mumbled.

"Just stand in line." He grunted and I was about to open my mouth again when the owner, Mr Park Chanyeol himself, appeared at the doorway and glared at the bouncer.

"He's with me. Let him through." He said in his soft deep voice and the bouncer's eyes widened.

"Sure thing, Boss." I nodded at the bouncer as I passed him and stepped inside the club.

"Follow me." Chanyeol whispered in my ear and I had to pause for a second. I was just tired, I said to myself. That didn't sound sexy at all. There was a dark corner just inside the front door where another guard was standing by a plain door. Chanyeol turned to me and held out his hands.

"What?"

"I need your badge and your gun." He said softly.

"Wha - No." I spluttered.

"Look. I'm not going to fuck around. I run a business. I could try and bullshit my way into making you think most of it is legal, but it's not. Unfortunately for you, you're outgunned. And I don't need some hotheaded pubescent starting some shit in my club because they saw a cop walking around. So. Badge. And gun." He held out his hand again. "Don't worry. I can make sure you're safe." He said and I scoffed out loud. I might look small, but I was a level 3 Dan blackbelt in Hapkido. I didn't need a gun to protect myself.

I handed over my gun and badge to Chanyeol and he locked it in a safe in the coat room before gesturing for me to follow him upstairs. On our way through the club, I could see a few people on the dance floor eyeing Chanyeol openly. One of them even managed to walk up to him and slide their hands up his back before he gently removed them and carried on walking. Was he that good looking that people were just throwing themselves at him? I guess he could be considered handsome. Stop lying to yourself, Baekhyun. He's fucking gorgeous. He wasn't my type though. I didn't do sour faced brats. Or criminals.

"This way." He said when we got to the next level where it was much quieter. He led me into his office and closed the door behind us, shutting out the noise completely.

"You said you had something for me?" I asked, getting right to business. I was serious about getting to bed before the 10 o'clock news was over.

"Yes. After you left, I remembered that we have quite a few cameras set up that might have caught something useful for you." He said and walked over to a wall on the left side of the room. He touched something on a keypad and the wall split in two, opening up to reveal several screens showing the club down below us at different angles.

"That was 2 days ago." I said a little frustrated. "Why did you only tell me now?"

"I told you. Business." He said with a shrug and I sighed heavily, rubbing my eyes again.

"Fine. Show me what you have." I mumbled. I had nothing else by way of evidence so if this gave me a suspect to start looking for...

Chanyeol started some playback footage of the night of the murder. It was time-stamped 9PM.

"At around 8 PM, the...what do you call him? Victim?" He turned to the side to look at me.

"I call him Kim Song-min." I said just to annoy him.

"Right. Well, at 8PM, Song-min arrived with a group of friends. They all hung out for a bit and at 9/9:30, they start to split up to do their own thing." He fast forwarded the footage and I peered at the screen carefully when I saw my victim talking to someone shortly before he disappeared into the bathroom. The man he's been talking to followed him inside 20 seconds later and then be walked back out 15 minutes later, by himself.

"Can you make this any clearer?" I asked him. "I don't think I could get a positive ID from it. Its too blurry."

"I can't. But maybe someone you work with can." He shrugged and handed me the footage in a slim black USB.

"Thank you." I said and he nodded slowly.

"No problem. Like I said. Cops are bad for business. The faster you can solve this and be out of my hair, the better."

"Right..." I blinked. Because why would it be about finding justice for the victim, huh? I shook my head warily and tucked the USB in my pocket. "Anyway, I need to get going. If there's nothing else..." I raised my eyebrow at him but he just stared at me blankly. "OK. Thanks again." I muttered and shuffled all the way back to the coat room sleepily. When I got my gun and my badge back, I tossed them in the passenger seat of my car and drove home in a daze.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"What's up with you?" Se-Hee asked when he found me leaning against the railings on the second level of the club. He'd caught me at the worst time really; when I was moody and wondering if I'd be lonely forever, or if there was another Seojun out there waiting for me. A quick flash of that delicious smelling Detective Byun passed through my head for a second and I had to grit my teeth. As tempting as the challenge was, members of the police force was a no go. Never.

"Nothing." I lied, rolling my shoulders and standing up tall, but keeping my gaze on the people dancing below me.

"You've been like this since we found the stiff a week ago." He said softly and my hands curled into fists. "If you need to take a few days - "

"I'm fine." I said. "What is it? What did you need?" I asked, turning to face him now and sticking my hands into my pockets. Just in case he could see them shaking.

"Gonho says there are some small fry trying to deal in the basement." He said. "That shit laced with nutmeg again."

"Fucking..." I muttered under my breath and started walking to the stairs. A while ago I'd had some problems with party-goers in my club having severe reactions to a drug that had been circulating in the lower VIP level of the club. I didn't have any problems with drugs. As long as I could keep the people using them recreationally safe, I didn't mind them in my club. They were almost part of the experience now. But when assholes came in to my space with drugs laced with shit that was poisonous?

Nutmeg on it's own wasn't very harmful to most people, and if they didn't have any nut allergies, it probably wouldn't even affect them. But this batch of LSD's making rounds lately was so heavy on the nutmeg, people were turning up delirious and convulsing... I hadn't even known something as stupid as a fucking spice could make people high in the first place. Kids these days...

I made a disgusted noise as I hurried down the stairs and snapped my fingers at Gonho who was across the room in moments.

"Boss."

"Show me." I said and he nodded as he pulled out the security tablet in his jacket.

"This kid in the white jacket. He's been handing them out all night. We only found out because we've been watching the bathrooms lately, like you asked. A lot of kids in the VIP level are getting sick. We already had one who had to be taken to hospital. She'll be fine in a few days though."

The kid in the white jacket was beaming when he walked into my office later, sauntering in like he owned the place instead of me.

"Wow. Nice place." He said, eyes flitting over everything in my office. "I couldn't believe it when they said you asked - "

"Sit." I said roughly and his face fell.

"Umm..." He shifted in his feet and only seemed to realize now that the only escape route he had was blocked by two guards built like tanks. When he didn't move I lifted my eyebrow and I could feel the muscle in my jaw tick.

"I don't like repeating myself." I said coldly and the kid shuffled over to the chair silently. I didn't say anything to him. I wanted to see how long it would take him to crack and I wasn't disappointed. 3 minutes later he was wringing his hands and looking at me nervously.

"I ...I-is this about the Party Nuts? Because I.. those weren't even like...mine. I got them from a friend." I still said nothing. "He said that they weren't even that bad. Its not like...its just this spice shit that gets you high and makes you see shit, right? Like ancient shamans and crap, huh? So I was all for it. But it's not mine, I swear."

"Give me your hand." I said and the kid paled when I took a knife out of the inside lining of my designer suit, hiding his hands under the desk.

"Whoa, hey wait...OK. I'm sorry. I promise. I won't do it again."

"What did I say, kid?"

"I said I won't do it again!" He stuttered. "I'm sorry."

"Hand. Now." I said louder and he placed a shivering hand on the table. He started to whimper when I moved closer and when I stabbed the knife down into the table between his middle and ring finger, the smell of urine filled the air.

"Next time I see you in my club, I won't be so nice. You hear me?" I whispered and he nodded rapidly. "If I see you here again, I won't ask for your hand either." I said and tugged the knife out of my desk, holding it up to his nose. "Get out."

He scrambled out as fast as his legs could carry him and when I saw him run out the front door of the club from the CCTV in my office, I let out a heavy breath. Fuck.

"Urgh, Boss, seriously?" One of my guards, Daisuki complained. He wrinkled his nose at the chair with a wet mark next to my desk.

"Get rid of it." I ordered and he pouted like a 3 year old, but he picked it up and took it out of my office.

When I'd told Mr Kim that I didn't want to be part of the Kkangpae anymore, he'd laughed. Laughed in my face and told me no one left the Kkangpae. No matter how far you ran. I didn't want to run though. I just wanted out. So he'd given me one of his old clubs to run and told me to take a break. Cool my heels and come back when I was ready. I'd grabbed at the double edged sword of a chance anyway. I'd taken my grief at the time and burned energy doing something useful. Something I knew Seojun would have liked when both of us were younger. Somewhere safe.

It was years later now and Mr Kim still acted like I'd be coming back to him soon. He was waiting for the shoe to drop, I could tell. Waiting for me to tell him I couldn't do this shit alone without fucking it up and I needed him.

That was why anyone messing with my club in any way was something I refused to let go lightly. This was my life now. I did not need some lowlife punk fucking it up for me by adding to my list of problems. One dead body was enough.

I stayed in my office for the rest of the evening, looking out of the large glass window at the patrons below drinking and having fun. Celebrating whatever was worth celebrating about the weekend. I stayed there until the crowd died down and the last few stragglers were gently coaxed out by my staff, helping the really drunk ones into taxis. I stayed until the dance floor below went dark when Se-Hee left and even after Gonho had come by to say goodnight. It was hard to move for some reason.

I did leave eventually though, circling round my desk and unlocking the side panel by the bookshelf that allowed me to open the door to the elevator that went up to my apartment upstairs.

I went about my nightly routine on automatic; eat, shower...if I had the energy I might have spent some extra time in there with my right hand... but I was feeling morose and sleepy so I got into bed and thought about useless things like the past until I fell asleep.

I was woken up at 6:05 sharp the next morning by a frantic phone call from Gonho.

"Boss...this is...you won't believe this." He stammered.

"What is it, Gonho. Spit it out."

"Boss. We just found another body."

I was out of bed in a flash, throwing on some pants and forgoing a shirt because that wasn't important right now. What was important was getting downstairs RIGHT NOW.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" I shouted when I got downstairs and saw my guards and cleaning staff standing around by the door looking scared. "Gonho, what did I tell you? What did I fucking tell you?"

"Boss, we CHECKED. The club was clean. Not a single person was left behind. That's not where the body is." He said in a rush when I stalked towards him.

"So where is it? Show me."

"Boss..."

"SHOW ME!" I bellowed and he hurried off in the direction of the bathrooms. I grumbled as I followed behind him but frowned when he took a left turn and headed for the emergency exit. He held the door open for me and I had to hold back a gasp when I stepped out into the freezing cold.

"It's back here." He said softly. "The cleaning crew found it again. When they drove in this morning."

There, just a few feet away from the truck the cleaning crew always arrived in, was the body of a man, still in his clubbing clothes, sprawled out near the wall and neck tilted at an awkward angle. Shit.

"We were so focused on the inside, no one did a sweep outside. I'm sorry, Boss." Gonho said miserably and I patted him on the shoulder.

"No, it's...it's not your fault." I said and his shoulders relaxed a bit. "Fuck. This is not good." Gonho shook his head sadly beside me. "I have to call the cops again, don't I?" I mumbled and he nodded stiffly.

"I think so, Boss."

"Fucking hell."

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I was still yawning and rubbing my eyes when I got out of the car in the alley behind Grand Park. There was already a set of officers standing there in front of the police tape that would keep regular citizens from getting too close to my crime scene. I nodded at both of them and showed them my badge before I ducked under the tape and took a look at the scene before me.

A large van sat parked in the small alley, the name of the cleaning company I knew the club liked to use emblazoned on the side. A couple of feet next to it, was the reason why I was here in the first place. Shit. Body number two. Really?
I sucked in a deep breath and set down my bag so I could put on my evidence gloves.

"Hey. Is that really a dead body?" I heard a soft whisper from the open doorway of the club's back entrance. I frowned at the kid standing there, knuckles white as he gripped the frame.

"Sir, can you please step away from the crime scene?" I said and he paled even further.

"Get out of here, Jun." I heard a familiar deep rumble just before the owner of the voice appeared at the doorway too. "I'm sorry about him." He said as the kid scurried inside.

"It's fine." I muttered. Fuck. It wasn't necessarily a cold day, but the alley was tucked in the shadow of two buildings and it was a little chilly out here. So why the hell wasn't Chanyeol wearing a shirt? I tried to ignore how his nipples pebbled in the cold and pointed at the body.

"Anything you want to tell me before I start looking?" I asked.

"Same as last time. I was asleep. Cleaning crew came. Found a body. That's all I know." He shrugged. That explained the shirtlessness.

"No one saw anything?"

"Not until this morning."

"You live upstairs. Are you sure you didn't hear anything?" I asked and he froze.

"I told you. My soundproofing is excellent."

"Ah. Yes." I nodded and coughed lightly when his arm flexed as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn't look like much of a gym bunny, but there was no way he got that kind of muscle just sitting around in his office upstairs. "Why is that, exactly?" He sighed and folded his arms over his chest.

"Can I go now? I have to make a call."

"Wait." I looked around the alley slowly and spotted Hae-won and her ME crew setting up behind me. When had they gotten here? "Do you have any cameras here?" '

"Of course I do." He mumbled. "I'll see what I can do." He said when I looked at him expectantly.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. Just get the fuck out of here. I told you." He said, standing at his full height again and tucking his hands deep into his pants pockets. "Cops are bad for business." I was still sneering at his sour face when his phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.
"Hello? Mr Kim..." He walked away quickly and I took a second to breathe and calm down. I don't know why just being around him made my hair stand up on end.

"That was interesting." I heard from behind me and I turned to find Hae-won already kneeling beside my victim.

"What was? Don't touch anything. I need to take photos first." I complained and she held up her hands. With Jin-young back at the station doing routine training, I had to process the crime scene myself.

"Your little flirting session with the boss." She grinned at me and I shot her a look. "What?" She blinked innocently.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I wasn't flirting."

"I know you, Baekhyun. You were were flirting." She giggled and stood up so I could get some shots.

"You spend all day with dead bodies. No wonder you think speaking to a living one is considered flirting." I grunted and she cackled loudly.

As irritated as I was about being woken up so early in the morning again, working with Hae-won and her assistant was oddly relaxing. I didn't feel much like it now, but usually my brain was moving at a mile a minute. Undisclosed ADHD my friends called it. I could never sit still for long. Work was always the one thing that calmed me down because I needed to focus. Think. Put block A into Box A and make sure it all fit together in the larger puzzle.

It looked like the same MO as the previous body. Minimal bruising. Broken neck. Time of death, 10 - 12. It wasn't in my nature to assume, but I just knew in my gut that it was the same killer. Two bodies, same place, killed the same way, one week apart? Too much of a coincidence.

"I don't get it." I muttered as the victim, Kang Shi-Yeok - 24, was lifted up onto the stretcher to be carted into the Coroner's van.

"What?"

"There's still no evidence of sexual assault." I said thoughtfully.

"And that's strange because...?"

"Well, I mean..." I shifted on my feet. "We don't have the tox reports yet, but everything points to this guy luring these boys away ...willingly...for what seems like a quick hook up. And then...he doesn't." In the surveillance video Chanyeol had given me, the unsub and the vic had only spent barely 15 minutes in the bathroom together. Accounting for how long it would have taken to strangle him and to wait for a moment to compose himself, the killer had to have attacked him almost immediately. Why?

"Cold feet?"

"No." He would just walk away then. "It could be personal. I mean, strangling your victims itself is personal. You have to look them in the eye until they die." I ignored the slight chills going up my arms. "And he's definitely strong enough to handle himself." The bones in this victim's neck were just as broken as the other.

"Maybe he's just afraid of the mess." Hae-won said, pulling off her gloves. "Guns can be scary when you actually use them to kill people."

"Why would he be afraid of the mess when he leaves them here for us to clean up?" I let out a harsh puff and checked my watch. "Give me a time frame."

"3 days."

"Hae-woooon." I whined.

"Baekhyuuuun." She copied me. "Don't start with me."

"2 days." I asked and she groaned loudly, banging her head on the van door as she closed it.

"I'll try."

"Thanks, babe." I winked at her and she scoffed.

"I have work to do. Go be annoying somewhere else." She muttered and I waved when she drove off.

"Detective." I paused at the front door, phone in my hand as I noted down the address for my latest victim. I didn't relish the idea of going to inform someone that their child had just been murdered, but I preferred to do it myself. I knew too many officers on the force who were hardened by years of doing the same thing and had become blunt to the point of rudeness.
So I stood by the door, waiting patiently as Chanyeol made his way over to me.

He was covered up now, having thrown on a loose shirt that billowed in the gentle wind coming in through the door and some simple slippers that made no noise as he floated across the room.

"Last night's video feed." He said softly as he handed me another black USB.

"Thank you." I said, taking it carefully, but he didn't let go.

"This is last night's full video feed." He said quietly and with dark eyes.

"O...K."

"I need to...ask you to keep anything you see on here confidential." I wanted to ask about what it was that I might see on the video that I had to keep confidential, but it felt like his eyes were staring into my soul and he had my balls in a metaphorical vice grip. "Can you do that?"

"I can." I whispered. I told myself that I was lying to him, but I didn't know what he would do if he found out I hadn't.

"I'll see you then." He said suddenly and spun on his heel, walking back up the stairs to his office. I let out the breath in didn't realize I'd been holding.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"Did you just hand that cop our camera footage?" Se-Hee asked me quietly.

"I didn't have a choice. I can't have him back here tonight. Mr Kim is coming." I muttered. When he'd called me earlier I'd nearly had a heart attack.

"When?"

"Tonight." I scratched my neck.

"Tonight?" Se-Hee looked around and winced slightly. "Damn it."

"I know." I grunted and handed him my phone. "If he calls again, tell him I'm in the shower."

I let my head fall against the tiles in my shower, closing my eyes and taking a second to feel the random bout of grief washing over me. I hadn't expected to feel anything when I'd seen the body outside...but all I could do was replace the face of the poor boy on the floor with Seojun's. Fucking hell.I wasn't going to cry. Not now.

I hadn't seen the first body, but I'd heard about it. Strangled. Left draped over the toilet like a doll. Like he wasn't even worth being laid out on the floor. But seeing that second body laid out like that, neck bright purple and head twisted awkwardly...I wasn't sure it was much better. Dead was dead.

I needed to pull myself together and figure out how to convince Mr Kim that he didn't need to come over. I wasn't a child anymore. And despite the fact that he'd played a large part in raising me, I didn't need him checking up on me and my business like he was my father.

"No calls?" I asked when I got downstairs again.

"Just Boytoy Number #5." Se-Hee smirked and handed me my phone back. "He said he's been a bad boy."

"Jesus, don't say that to me." I laughed and pushed his face away from me when he brought it close, blowing me air kisses. "I thought I blocked his number already."

"It was on Private." He explained. I snorted and tucked my phone back in my suit pocket.

"Make sure you watch the doors. He'll probably try to sneak in tonight."

"Sure thing, Boss."

I was up in my office watching the crowd through the glass windows when there was a sharp knock on the door and it opened.

"Chanyeollie. It's been too long." Mr Kim said as he hobbled into the room. I nodded at his bodyguard who closed the door on us and I walked over to accept my adopted father's hug. He gave me a slow pat on the back and I tried not to let my worry show when he pulled back. It had been stronger a few months ago. And he hadn't needed a cane then too.

"You look old." I said almost jokingly. He chuckled and made his way to the chair behind my desk. Of course he would. There was no way he would act like a guest in his own home.

"I feel old. It's the bones. They creak when I move now and it drives me crazy." He muttered and sat down with a sigh. "How about you?"

"I feel fine." I said and he smiled.

"Good. That's good. But I have to ask..." He said slowly.

"Ask." I replied and folded my arms behind my back.

"One body is an accident. Two is...not." He raised an eyebrow and I held back a sigh.

"I...I know. And I'm dealing with it."

"Getting the cops involved is not dealing with it." He grunted.

"I didn't have a choice."

"Of course you did." He said softly. "If you had called me - "

"Tae-joon ssi...I can handle it." I said quietly. "I am handling it."

"This is not the way we work, Chanyeol."

"This is not the way YOU work." I said through gritted teeth. "Trust me. This will be over soon. You have nothing to worry about." I said, hoping with every fiber of my being that I was right to trust Detective Byun and everything would go back to normal when he solved his murders and disappeared.

"Bad boy is here." Se-Hee laughed as he walked up the stairs to the mezzanine.

"Fuck you." I saluted him with my glass of Soju and he snorted.

"He snuck past the guards. Slippery little fucker."

"Flexible." I muttered to myself. If I remembered correctly, he had no problem having his legs pinned to either side of his head. "I need to do something about these guards. They're all useless." I said as I finished my drink.

"We never had much trouble here before. I think they're just getting complacent. They aren't expecting someone to kill someone in 'broad daylight'." He gave me air quotes and leaned against the rail. "I'll talk to Gonho. OK?"

"Yeah." I said as I spotted my latest mistake making his way up the stairs with a smile on his face. Se-Hee followed my gaze and rolled his eyes with a groan.

"Hey, I don't tell you what to do often..." He paused when he saw the look on my face. "I don't. But that right there? That's a worse mistake than giving the cop that tape." He dropped to a whisper when the boy got closer.

"Hi. Chanyeol." He said my name so reverently that I almost felt bad I didn't remember his. Almost.

"I'll be downstairs." Se-Hee waved and left quickly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I had to see you." He gave me another warm smile and let his hand trail up my arm. "I missed you." You don't even know me, I wanted to say...but there was a second where the light flashed and he tilted his head and I remembered why I had chosen him in from the crowd in the first place. He looked so much like Seojun had. Before he had started to lose weight and had permanent bags under his eyes.

I took him to my office. I always did. No one I didn't trust set foot in my bedroom upstairs, and the couch along the wall was plenty comfortable.

"Yessss." He hissed when I worked my way inside him and his moans started to fill the room. Fuck, I'd forgotten about that too. He sounded like a wounded sea lion when he did that. Urgh, Se-Hee was right. This was definitely a mistake. Detective Byun was annoying, but I would take him over this poor boy any day. Take him...

I closed my eyes and saw brown curls on a pillow, pretty pink lips open like a bow and neck stretched so tight it looked like his veins would snap. What would the Detective sound like if he was under me like this right now? Definitely not like he was dying. No. I bet he was loud. So loud. And he'd claw at me with this beautiful hands. God...

"Shit." Came a whisper from below and another awkward groan. I watched him fall apart and then I got up and got rid of the condom. "Wait. You didn't..." He reached out to touch me and I slapped at his hand.

"Leave it. You can go." I muttered.

"Are you - "

"Go." I said roughly and he scrambled up from the couch.

I didn't watch him as he left.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I sat down at my desk in the middle of the bull pen and twisted the USB around in my hand. What was it that Chanyeol didn't want me to see on here? The curious side of me was chomping at the bit and it almost physically hurt to put it aside so I could fill out some necessary paperwork for a bit.

I had an ID for my most recent vic, but there was only an address; no contact info for any possible next of kin. A phone might have been great, but there hadn't been one when we'd emptied his pockets. I highly doubted someone his age didn't have a phone.
Maybe he'd forgotten it at home, but it was also likely with the body being out in the open all night in the alley, that someone had spotted him and thought he'd passed out, snatched his phone and run for it.

I let out a yawn and rolled my shoulders slowly. Fuck, my back was killing me. I couldn't wait for my shift to be over so I could go home.

"Hey. I heard we got another body." Jin-young said, leaning against my desk.

"Yeah. Kang Shi-Yeok. I sent over some officers to his apartment but it was empty so I was just searching for next of kin." I grumbled and held up a paper I'd scribbled an address on. "You want to come with?"

"Sure. Got nothing else to do." He smiled at me and I nodded.

Jin-young played some music on the way over to the address and I made a note to ask him for his playlist when I had time. It was far from the usual noise I found people listened to a lot these days and I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel lightly.

"This is it." He pointed at a beige house with a dark brown front door. I steeled myself as we got out of the car and walked up the drive to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Called a soft voice.

"SMPA, Ma'am."

"SMPA?" She asked when she opened the door, peeking out carefully. "Can I help you?"

"Is this the home of Mr and Mrs Kang?"

"Yes..." She eyed us both quietly.

"Hello. My name is Detective Byun Baekhyun. This is Officer Jin-young. May we come in?" I asked and her lips pinched.

"My husband is not home." She said stiffly and I gave her a nod. I understood she didn't want two strange men in her house when she was alone, even if we were police officers.

"Of course." I said and took a breath. "Mrs Kang, I'm sorry to tell you that your son's body was discovered last night. He was - "

"I don't have a son." She said tersely and I paused. There was no way I could be wrong. I had checked and cross checked all the information we had and all my resources had led me back to this address with this being the victim's mother. He looked like her, too. He had her cheeks, and her nose...

"Ma'am... Kang Shi-Yeok...Is that not the name of your son? 24 years old and - "

"My son died when he left this house and chose to live in sin." She said coldly and my jaw started to cramp. What?

"Mrs Kang. He was murdered." Jin-young said next to me softly, but her face didn't change.

"What happened to him is not my concern anymore. I'm sorry you wasted your time, officers." She said and gave us a nod before closing the door in our faces.

"What the fuck?" Jin-young whispered loudly and I wanted to nudge him for being rude, but honestly I was feeling the same way. What the actual fuck?

"Come on." I said, leading him back down the drive to my car.

"Jesus...what a bitch."

"Jin-young..." I warned, even though I was inclined to agree.

"Fuck, man. No. That was her son. Her own flesh and blood and she didn't even flinch." He shook his head as he snapped on his seat belt.

"Some people grieve differently."

"That was not grief." He replied angrily. "That was hate." He fumed quietly as we drove back to the station. I had been hoping that maybe I would get to talk to his mother to see if she knew anything about who her son was hanging out with and if he was dating anyone, but clearly that route was smashed now. Shit.

"You coming in?" I asked Jin-young when I parked in front of the station. Technically we were free to clock out now and head home but there was still the CCTV footage from the club that was burning a hole in my pocket.

"Nah, man. I'm going to head home and give my mom a fucking hug. You have fun." He grunted and he waved to me as he trudged to his car on the other side of the parking lot.

I plugged the shiny black USB into my computer at my desk and sat back for a second when the video popped up. I didn't need to sit here and comb through 24 hours of footage to find what I was looking for, but I was beyond curious now about what it was that Chanyeol was so nervous about.
I hit play and set it on fast forward x3. The first three hours of footage was nothing but the normal daily going ons of a business like a club. Alcohol deliveries. A food truck for the kitchen and an old lady that apparently was responsible for the citrus stock behind the bar.

It was when another delivery truck came into the alley behind the club that I sat up with a frown. There was no logo on the side of the truck and I went through my mental checklist. What was this for? Food. Alcohol. Cleaning crew came in the mornings... what else would need to be delivered to the club at this time of the evening?

Just then, another car slid in behind the van and the driver stepped out. He walked around to the back door and opened it, stepping aside to let someone by. My chin nearly hit my desk when the stranger walked into the light and I saw who it was. It couldn't be. But no...there he was. Kim Tae-Moon. On the most wanted list of almost every division of SMPA. The Gang and Violent Crimes and Narcotics unit have been locked in a battle for months to see who could get him in first. What was he doing here?

I blinked when Chanyeol appeared in the frame, probably coming out of the same door he'd been staring at me from this morning, and went over to Tae-Moon, pulling him into a hug and slapping him on the back. The talked for a bit, moving to the side when a group of guards I recognized from my interviews at the club started taking out boxes from the van. My heart started beating faster when I realized what had to be in those boxes.

"Hey, are you still here?" I heard Xiao Ming as he neared my desk. "Do you have a stapler?" He asked and I ripped the USB out of my computer just in time for the screen to go dark when he ducked his head in front of it to dig around my desk.

"What the hell would I have a stapler for? I use Hyun-Jae-ssi's." I lied and started grabbing my things. Fuck. Xiao Ming was the case leader in Narcotics and he'd been harping on about Kim Tae-Moon for as long as I could remember.
I was being an idiot. What I needed to do was hand over the tape now and ...damn it. That would just cause a shit storm, wouldn't it? He'd take the tape and I'd have to wade through miles of red tape to get it back before I could analyze my own part of the footage. Then the raids would start and any hope I'd have of finding my unsub in a place he considers safe is gone.

"I have to go." I said, my voice cracking a little. I coughed and Xiao Ming jumped back a bit.

"Don't spread your fucking germs, man. I can't get sick. I have a shit ton of interviews to do tomorrow."

"At the prison?" I asked, shoving my phone and USB in my pocket, stacking up my case files and sticking them into my briefcase.

"What?" He looked at me like I was mad. "No. Babysitters. Mei Ling wants to get back to work soon so we need a nanny." He said and I nodded like I was interested.

"Right, Yeah. I ...forgot. Listen, good luck. I'll see you tomorrow." I said and hurried from my desk.

"Stay out of the office! I don't need half of my unit down with the flu either!" He yelled and I waved my middle finger at him.

The house was quiet and dark and empty like it had been for the last week when I'd come back. Without Sehun here and with all his things gone, the house suddenly looked like a shell. Had anything even been mine to begin with besides the sofa and the TV?
I made it into the shower somehow and later I dug a frozen meal out of my freezer to heat up in the microwave. I ate it quickly, not even bothering to sit down and tossing the box in the bin when I was done.

It took me a while to feel calm enough to find my laptop and sit through the CCTV footage again. I didn't have time to waste. Someone out there had killed two young men and the longer he felt like he was getting away with it, the greater the chance of him killing again. I needed to find this person.

That's why I was furious when at 23:34 the tape suddenly went black and stayed like that for a full half hour.

"Fucking....URGH!" I screamed out into my empty house and slammed my hands on the table. "This is such bullshit." I shouted and got up, grabbing my jacket and my keys.
Chanyeol better have a good fucking explanation for this.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I was in my office, about to sneak up to my apartment upstairs for a shower when there was a knock on the door.

"What is it?" I grunted when I opened it. Gonho looked nervous.

"Boss, the cop. He's back again."

"What?"

"He's downstairs. Says he wants to see you."

"Are you fucking..." I growled and spun around, fluffing my hair in annoyance. What the hell was he doing here again? "Tell him I'm busy." Why did he want to see me any way? Hadn't I given him everything he'd asked for. My heart skipped when I remembered I'd probably given him enough rope to hang me if he ever felt so inclined. Maybe he was here about what was on the video...

"Gonho. Shit, just...send him up, OK? Make sure Mr Kim doesn't see him." I hissed and he nodded once.

"What kind of bullshit is this?" Detective Byun spat as soon as he was through my door.

"Detective. I didn't expect to see you so soon." I said but he rolled his eyes at me and threw my USB on the table.

"Explain this to me." I looked down at the chip he'd made in my desk for a second.

"You're going to have to be more specific, I don't know what you talking about." I replied slowly.

"Did anyone get this tape before me?" He demanded.

"No. It's a copy from the last 24 hours of our security footage." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why would I share that with anyone?"

"So no one else touched this video?" He asked fiercely.

"No one. I copied it myself." I said. Baekhyun stared at me for a long minute before he sighed heavily.

"Shit." He groaned and dropped his face in his hands.

"Is something wrong?"

"There's a whole half hour of nothing during my victim's time of death." He said carefully. "If you didn't tamper with it, then it's possible the killer did it himself."

"Impossible." I said stiffly. "Like I said, it's our security footage. And it stays in my office. This place is like Fort Knox when I lock up for the night."

"Are you telling me none of your employees have access to your office in case of an emergency?" I stared at him while my jaw ticked with irritation.

"Let me look at it." I said finally, picking up the USB from my desk and plugging it into my computer. As it lit up and I skipped through the frames, Baekhyun came to stand beside me, hands on his hips and biting his nail as he focused on the screen.

When I saw Tae-Moon on the video feed, I froze and so did Baekhyun. Shit, I'd forgotten he'd come in with the new shipment yesterday. Tae-Moon was just as stubborn as his father, and if Mr Kim wanted us to push more product out of the club this month, that chance was probably blown now. Baekhyun had promised not to do anything about what he saw on the tapes but how much could I really trust him? Now was not the time to be thinking with my dick.

Baekhyun didn't say anything though. He just tapped his foot and waited in silence until the part he was talking about came.

"You see?" He cried. "It just goes black." He was right. An entire half hour of footage looked like it had been wiped from the video feed. Except...

"I don't think anyone tampered with the tape." I said with a frown.

"Huh?"

"I think the killer just covered the camera with a cloth. A black cloth. Look." I said and isolated the frames for him to look at. "See. It's quick, but it looks like he blacked it out. The camera is still running. It doesn't cut off."

"Damn it." He huffed and sat down on my desk, rubbing his eyes gently. "I'm...I'm sorry. I should have caught that. I'm just so fucking tired..." He whispered and he looked absolutely adorable when he looked up at me with his red eyes and pouty lips.

How many times had Seojun looked at me like that? Looking fed up and hungry and ...exhausted.

"It's OK."

"I really needed this tape to ID my suspect." He groaned.

"I'm sorry. I wish I had more to give to you." I said. I really did. I couldn't wait until he was far away from me and my club.

"Fuck." He leaned back to look up at the ceiling and I tried not to stare at the veins in his throat. Would he look the same if he was spread out on a bed, legs wide and breathing hard...

"Have you eaten?" I asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Food. Have you eaten? The kitchen is open..." I stammered and pointed through the glass window at the bar. "You can have something if you want."

"No, I...I ate. At home." He said and I felt stupid.

"Ah..." I sighed. I was relieved though. I shouldn't be inviting him to stay here longer anyway. Not in the lions's den. In fact, he should be getting out now anyway.

"Well, if that's all you need..."

"Yeah, I should...go." He said awkwardly and gave my computer one last look. "You can keep the tape. It can't help me anyway."

"You watched it?" I asked. "All of it." He pursed his lips and rocked back on his feet. Why was he so cute?

"I did." He said carefully. He let out a loud huff and shrugged his shoulders. "I won't... Say anything. I swore I wouldn't. I need to focus on my cases."

"Thank you." It was hard getting that out of my mouth. Saying thank you to a cop.

"But if my boss finds out I knew, and I didn't say anything..."

"He won't."

"Mr Park, I - "

"Chanyeol." I interrupted him. "You can call me Chanyeol."

"Mr Park. Just...call me anything else comes up." He said eventually. As he was turning to leave though, the door opened and my breath caught in my throat. Shit.

"Chanyeollie. You didn't tell me you had a guest." Mr Kim said with a warm smile and I walked around my desk to Baekhyun.

"He was just leaving." I said and put my hand on the small of his back, pushing him gently towards the door. "I'll call you later, OK?" Thankfully Baekhyun just nodded and left after giving Mr Kim a small nod as well.

"He looks like - "

"I know who he looks like." I spat out and pinched the bridge of my nose. Thank God all Mr Kim had seen was cute and unassuming, and Baekhyun hadn't been wearing his badge or his gun. Things could have gone south very quickly.

"Chanyeol..."

"No." I could hear what he would say next just by his tone.

"When are you going to give up, hmm? Seojun is gone. This...this club isn't for you. You belong at home with us. With the Kkangpae."

"I think I'm going to go to bed now. It's been a long day." I sighed and tapped my computer to switch it off. "It was nice seeing you, Tae-Joon ssi."

"My boy, I'm just trying to help you."

"I'll see you at the next week, yeah?"

The way I was feeling, if I fell asleep now, I would only wake up then anyway.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"Hey." A buoyant Jin-young greeted me the next morning at the bull pen. "I brought you coffee." He grinned and handed me a large cup. I wasn't stupid. Jin-young had been falling over himself even more now that he'd heard I broke up with my boyfriend, and I really shouldn't be accepting his little gifts every day...but I was half awake and weak and it smelled so good...

"Thanks." I mumbled and took a sip. Heaven.

"Did you go through the tape?" He asked, leaning his hip on the desk. I paused briefly and put the cup down on my desk.

"I did. It's a bust."

"What? Really?" He looked even younger when he pouted.

"Yeah, I couldn't see anything. I don't know what else I can do. We have prints, but no suspect to match them against. And I just got the toxicology reports from both vics...the only thing in their system was alcohol, so he definitely didn't drug them. They both went with him voluntarily." I groaned and rubbed my hands on my face. "We have nothing else."

"We'll find something." He said and laid his hand on my shoulder. I let it stay there for no longer than 3 seconds and shook it off, standing up again.

"We need to go. There's still that domestic violence case." I patted his back.

Interviewing suspects was always difficult for me. It wasn't easy to pull back and lay out all the evidence on the table for them to see, just to have them deny having done anything when I could see it in their eyes that they had. Cold eyes were staring back at me and I was THIS close to losing my cool.

"Mr Huang. Your wife had a restraining order against you. Why would we find your DNA at the crime scene, all over her body, unless you were there the night she was murdered?"

"She was my wife. Of course I touched her things. Clothes, hair. Why wouldn't my DNA be there?" He tried.

"Mr Huang, biological evidence doesn't just sit there forever. Are you telling me your wife hasn't had a shower or changed her clothes since September 12?" I glanced down at the paper to check the date of the restraining order. "There was also blood found in the passenger seat that didn't belong to Mrs Huang. And before you deny that too, we had that tested. It's yours."

"You didn't ask for my permission to test me." He spluttered.

"I didn't need to. Your records were already on file from the last time you beat your wife." I grunted and he paled.

"I want my lawyer. I'm not speaking to you anymore." He huffed.

"That's fine. I don't need you to speak. This ..." I slapped the table where the file was. "This will tell the court everything they need to know. I don't need a confession from you." I stood up and just barely managed to keep from spitting on him on my way out of the interview room.

"Did he invoke?" Jin-young asked and I nodded.

"Shit."

"It's fine. We did what we could." I said. I know I'd boasted to him about him going to jail whether we got a confession or not, but the truth was, with a good enough lawyer, there was a chance Mr Huang could still bullshit his way out of a murder charge.

"Yeah..." Jin-young handed me a bottle of water and I took it, taking a long drink as we walked. "Hey, are you done for the day then?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'm going to head home. I need to sleep so badly." He scratched his head and gave me an awkward smile.

"Oh, yeah. You do look a little...I was just thinking that we could...maybe...like..."

"I'll see you tomorrow. OK?" I interrupted his rambling and he paused with his mouth open.

"OK." I gave him a pat on the shoulder and made my way out of the office.

I couldn't sleep. I was so tired that I'd hardly been able to move in the shower and collapsed on my bed still wet and naked, but I couldn't sleep. My mind was wide awake and driving me crazy. It just wasn't sitting right with me, that I was having so much trouble finding the man who had killed the two men at Club Eleven.

Everything was too clean. Usually people who killed opportunistically or spontaneously made mistakes, there was just no way for you to prepare for that kind of clean up on the spot when you were in that state of mind.

That meant I was either dealing with someone who had killed before and learnt from experience about how not to get caught...or someone who was smart. Too smart. How many smart people like that were out there in the world? What kind of job did he have? Did he sit at a desk all day at work and dream about finding his next victims?

I groaned as I rolled over and pressed my face to my pillow. Shit. Did this really have to be my first case? You never forgot your first murder case, they said. Would this haunt me for the rest of my life if I didn't solve it?

Something told me if I didn't and I kept showing up at Club Eleven, a certain someone wouldn't be too happy about. He'd been a little bit nicer yesterday, though, hadn't he? I mused to myself. I'd been a little surprised when he'd offered to feed me. He'd been looking at me like...No, I must have imagined it.

As much as he annoyed me, I couldn't deny that initial attraction I'd felt though. He was certainly something to look at. The kind of tall I could only dream of being, dark hair that made his eyes stand out and God, his ears...

"Stop it." I hissed to myself. It was too late though. The lower half of my body never listened to me much anyway. I flipped over onto my back again and glared between my legs at my hard cock sticking up and flushing red. Red is for danger, Baekhyun, I warned myself. Don't touch it. Don't think about Chanyeol. Don't think about what he had looked like shirtless the other morning, his nipples pebbled in the cold breeze.

Fuck, and he had rock solid abs too. The kind that you could actually feel the ridges of when you touched it. Not like the airbrushed kind that only looked pretty and felt like nothing. His arms had been solid too, biceps that looked like the size of my thigh. What would it feel like to have his arms wrapped around me? To have him pick me up and throw me on a bed...

I gave up ignoring my cock and gripped it tightly in a fist, hissing when I stroked and it pulled on the skin. I fumbled around in my drawer for a bottle of lube and when my hand was nice and slick, I curled it around myself again and moaned happily.

When was the last time I'd had sex? Ages ago now. I'd been so busy at work and Sehun was always asleep when I got home. I hadn't been fucked in forever and thinking about Chanyeol pressing on top of me with that hard body...

"Ah fuck..." I whimpered and blinked up at the ceiling as hot streaks of come landed on my stomach. When I stopped shaking, I grabbed a few tissues and wiped myself down, then rolled back over and sighed into my pillow.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

It was raining. Not that gentle, delicate rain either. It was pouring from the sky in buckets, so cold it made you shiver so hard your teeth chattered. I could only just see what was around me in the misty night and I kept wishing I couldn't. I didn't want to see this. I'd never seen so much blood in my life. So red. Thick and oozing and warm despite the ice in the air around us.

"Chanyeol..." Hearing my name from his lips made my skin crawl and my hands were shaking.

"Seojun. Why..." I breathed.

"I love you so much..."

"So WHY!" I shouted into the night and he lifted his trembling hand to touch my face. It felt like ice too.

"Promise me...that you won't ...forget me..."

"Seojun..." My voice cracked with emotion and he smiled at me even as blood leaked from his mouth.

"Don't forget me, Chanyeol." He whispered and I watched the light in his eyes disappear.

"Seojun..." I tapped his cheek. No. No...he was just asleep. Or he'd fainted right. Too much blood loss. I needed help. I needed a hospital or...

"Chanyeol...He's gone." I heard behind me and I wanted to lash out at whoever it was with my fists but I couldn't let him go. Gone? No, my Seojun wasn't gone. He wasn't... I needed help.

"He needs an ambulance." I muttered.

"He's gone, Chanyeol." Someone else said firmly behind me and I did whip my head around then. I would smash their face in. Whoever it was. Tae-Moon stared back at me with a hard face and I wanted to beat him to the ground. How could he just stand there and not help me. I needed...

I looked back down at the man in my arms and I startled so hard I dropped him. Baekhyun? Impossible. It was Baekhyun though, with his beautiful lips and that tiny spot beside his mouth. Pale skin and delicate hands hanging loosely at the side of his body.

"Baekhyun?" I said out loud, touching him carefully. He didn't move. Raindrops slid down the side of his face as he laid there and I couldn't stop shaking. "Baekhyun? Baekhyun, what ..." I shook him harder. "Wake up. Baekhyun, wake up. WAKE UP!" He looked so small and so stiff. What was he even doing here? What was happening? Was I going crazy?

"Chanyeol, we have to go..."

"No..."

"Chanyeol, the sirens..."

"NO!" I yelled and fought back when Tae-Moon moved to grab me. "Beakhyun? Baek...Baek...BAEKHYUN!"

I gasped as I sat up quickly, reaching out blindly in the darkness of my bedroom. Fuck. I couldn't catch my breath and my chest hurt so much. I held my hand to it as I tried to calm down. It was just a dream, Chanyeol. Just a dream.

I hadn't dreamt of Seojun in months now...almost a year. Why now? And why had he suddenly become Baekhyun? I groaned out loud and flopped back on my bed, keeping one hand on my heaving chest and wiping my tears with the other. I knew Baekhyun and Seojun looked alike, but these days I was finding a lot more differences than similarities. Yes. Baekhyun was completely the opposite of Seojun. My mind was just fucking with me.

"Fuck." I moaned out loud and clawed hard to find the will to get out of bed. When I had a grasp on my last shred of sanity, I stood up and made my way to the shower.

"You OK?" Se-Hee asked when I yawned for the 5th time during his weekly debriefing. I nodded with my hand over my mouth.

"I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep."

"I heard the big man was here." He said, closing down the notebook app on his tablet.

"Yeah. He was just checking on things." I mumbled.

"Because of the bodies?" He asked tentatively and I flinched.

"No. Because of that fucking nutmeg drug kids are into these days." I growled. "He brought in a new shipment with Tae-Moon the other day for us to push." It was the nature of the beast. People heard of a new drug and were willing to drop big bucks to experiment, even if it was once. It was never once. Especially the hallucinogens. Those ones sold fast.

"I see..." He said and drummed his fingers on the table. "Well, if that's all for today, I need to get back down there and work on this month's cocktail menu."

"Yeah, that's all." I shooed him away and sighed when I was alone again in my office. Maybe that was it. Sitting around here, alone with my thoughts and overanalysing my dream from this morning was driving me crazy. I needed to get out of here. I needed to find something to do. Maybe there was something else I could add to my games room that would keep my interest for longer than a month this time.

"Gonho?" I said into my phone. "Call Yong-soo. I want to go for a drive."

"Down here." I said to Yong-soo and he turned down the street until he parked in front of the specialities toy store that catered for those of us who had much bigger wallets than most, but still had a little Peter Pan Syndrome.

The shop was large and open and walking into it was almost instantly relaxing. There was so much to look at. So many toys that caught my eye. I lingered by the car section while a salesperson showed me a toy car that actually transformed into a robot like a Transformer, but they didn't have Optimus Prime so I drifted off to the arcade games.

In the end I couldn't find anything that grabbed my attention long enough for me to throw money at it, but I was happy just having a second to breathe and forget about everything. The fresh air was nice and maybe when I was feeling more myself, I'd come back and look again.

"Hey!" I heard just as I was getting back into the car and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. Baekhyun? There...down the street at one of the apartment buildings, I could see a person falling over their feet as they tried to climb through a bush. Baekhyun was running right behind him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the hedge and throwing him against a wall.

Whoever it was wasn't going down without a fight though and he took a swing at Baekhyun. My dream from this morning flashed before my eyes and I sucked in a breath, taking a step in their direction, but I shouldn't have been worried. Baekhyun stepped back quickly, missing the blow and kicked the man in the leg, making him drop to his knee. He did something so quick I couldn't even see, but all of a sudden the man was in the ground with his hands cuffed behind his head and Baekhyun moved to lean against the wall as he caught his breath. Even from here I could see he was sweating hard and his cheeks were pink. How long had he been running?

"Hey, Officer. Can you at least cuff me properly? Am I supposed to just lie on the floor like this?" The man shouted and Baekhyun spat on the floor.

"Shut up. This is your fault, Mr Huang." He sneered. "If you hadn't run, you wouldn't be on the floor." He pushed off the wall and took out a phone from his pocket. "Jin-young? Yeah, I got him. Can you ask patrol to come to – "

"Boss?" Yong-soo asked carefully and I realised I'd been standing there at the side of the street with the door open.

"Sorry." I muttered and gave Baekhyun one last look before I got back in the car. I was surprised. As tiny as he was, Baekhyun had managed to hold his own against whoever it was he was chasing. I guess he wasn't quite as delicate as I always pictured he was in my head. Of course he wasn't. Police officers were trained to fight. Baekhyun definitely knew how to fight. Unlike Seojun. Hadn't I said it myself this morning? Baekhyun was nothing like Seojun.

Why couldn't I stop thinking about him though?

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

Mr Huang ranted and raged all the way back to the police station, but I was used to suspects reacting like that so I ignored him. The other officer though...

"Oh my GOD, Can you SHUT UP! Fucking hell." He spat.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Mr Huang shouted from the back seat.

"Then why did you run?" Officer Moon flung back to him, almost losing control of the car.

"OK, OK. Just...calm down." I said to him, grabbing the steering wheel when the car swerved.

"Everyone runs when the police show up with handcuffs." Mr Huang said with an incredulous expression. "Don't they?"

"Only the guilty ones." I mumbled and turned up the radio so we couldn't hear him ramble anymore.

"Thanks." Officer Moon said sheepishly and I shrugged.

"Happens to all of us."

Booking Mr Huang took longer than I would have liked considering I'd just come off a long ass shift and was ready for bed like, 6 hours ago. Paperwork was a nightmare. Sign this, verify that. At least I hadn't fired my gun. Each bullet had to be justified with its own set of papers...Why did you fire your weapon? The suspect was running away. Why did you fire your weapon again? The suspect was STILL running away. Jesus. Chanyeol's no paper rule was suddenly looking very appealing.

Chanyeol... I felt like I had been thinking about him too much lately. I could have sworn I saw him earlier when I had been chasing Mr Huang down the street on Main. No, I was just seeing things. I hadn't had to run like that in months and I was just light-headed. I made a note to head back to the gym and work on my cardio. I was getting lazy.

"Baekhyun." I grimaced when a hard slap fell on my back. "You still here?"

"Paperwork." I grumbled and Hyun-Jae scoffed.

"Tell me about it." He sighed. "I had to make 2 sets of copies of 30 sheets for Narcotics. 2!"

"Why can't we just email this shit to each other, like normal people." I murmured.

"You know how Commissioner Son is about hard copies." He shrugged and I let out a yawn when I was done typing.

"Done. God." I moaned and rolled my shoulders, making Hyun-Jae stare at me open-mouthed when he heard the loud cracking.

"What the hell was that?" He cried.

"That was my back saying I need my bed. I'm outta here." I waved at him and started tidying up my desk. When had I eaten so many cookies?

My phone rang just as I pushed my way out the front doors of the station.

"Hello?"

"I got a match for the material in the vic's mouth." Hae-won said without bothering to answer my greeting and I wanted to throw myself on the floor and cry like a 4 year old. This was a joke, right? I had been so close to going home.

"You did?" I asked, already kissing my beauty sleep goodbye.

"It's a pretty generic t-shirt material." She answered. "But the dye is unique, apparently. There are only 6 shops in Korea that had that colour in stock. I'll email it to you in a second."

"Thanks, Hae-won." I muttered sleepily. She hadn't needed to look for the origin of the material for me so I was beyond grateful that she had actually taken time out of her busy schedule to make my life easier. I was getting swamped with so many cases and with Jin-young getting pulled for training every once in a while, it felt like I was only just treading water sometimes.

"Don't mention it. I need to get back to work, so - "

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later." I hung up and there was a beep as her email came through. I skimmed it and saw most of the stores on the list were close to where I was. Time to do a little more snooping.

"Sorry, Detective. I don't remember anyone coming in to buy that specific shirt colour." The bored girl behind the desk mumbled. "We have too many customers for that."

"Does the store have any CCTV?" I tried, grasping at straws.

"Nope." She made the P pop and I wanted to shake her. My unsub might have been here and the fact that she was acting so blasé was driving me crazy. She didn't know that though so I refrained from losing my shit with her.

"Are you sure? Nothing outside maybe, or at the front - "

"No." She shrugged. "We don't have that much of a problem with shoplifters, so we don't need cameras. Boss says it's a waste of resources." It was a long shot anyway. I had no idea how long ago he could have bought it, and most small stores only kept footage for the week. My first vic had been almost 3 weeks ago now.

"Thank you." I said, slapping my hands on the table and turning to head out. I stumbled when I bumped into someone. "Oops. Sorry. I ...wasn't watching where I was going." I murmured, a little stunned by how pretty the eyes that were looking back at me were. They were green. So green they looked fake. They had to be contacts, right? No one had eyes that green. He blinked at me slowly, then tilted his head and offered me a smile.

"It's OK. Neither was I." His voice was soft and there was something about it that made me want to lean in closer, just to listen to him speak some more. Quite the opposite of Chanyeol's deep rumble. I sucked in a breath and mentally shook myself. Focus, Baekhyun. You're supposed to be working. Not checking out guys.

This was a new thing too. Before, I never really paid much attention to people around me, but there was something that meeting Chanyeol had prodded inside me. Now I was checking out everyone, trying to compare them to him to see if he really was as handsome as my dick kept making him out to be. This was probably the first person that came close. He was hot, I'd give him that. But he just didn't have the height to give him the same presence Chanyeol had...or those damn ears.

"Sorry." I mumbled again when I realised I'd been staring at him longer than was appropriate and I hurried out of the store.

The next two stores garnered the same results and I sighed with frustration. Just when it felt like I would maybe catch a break in this damn case, I hit a damn wall. It was starting to look like the only way I would get another clue, was to wait for my unsub to strike again and hope he maybe get sloppy and leave behind a clue that could tie everything together.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"Good morning, everyone." Commissioner Son said as he adjusted his belt and moved up to the podium in front of the room. "It's time for the monthly report." He started and everyone settled into their seats. There was projector set up behind him, but like Hyun-Jae had mentioned, Commissioner Son preferred hard copies so he ignored it and flipped through the papers in front of him.

"Violent Crimes. The robberies in Area B. We have some new patrollers in that sector set up at night so you'll have to liaise with them about what to look out for." He looked over his glasses in their general area. "Narcotics, we have some new info about a warehouse on 5th that – ."

I listened with one ear only because I was still half asleep, but Comm. Son skipped over Homicide for some reason so I guess there was nothing to report.

"Detective Byun, Can you come to my office please?" He said when the meeting ended and I saw Jin-young shoot me a worried look from across the room. Damn it. His office again?

"Yes, Sir? You wanted to see me?"

"Sit." He pointed down. I sat. Was this was our Canine Unit felt like? "Where are we with the serial killer?" He said gruffly and I understood why he hadn't said anything in front of everyone else now. Yes, most people who killed only did it once in the heat of passion so if the same person went after a second person, reasonable inference would be that he could possible go after 3. Especially when the unsub was as smart as this one and could clean up after himself. News of a serial killer on the streets of Seoul though would cause a sort of frenzied panic and it was better to keep news like that from leaking as long as possible.

"Sir, I have tried to investigate every clue we could find and frankly all we have is a lot of fingerprints, but without a suspect to match them too, I'm stuck." I said with a shrug. "The evidence hit a wall."

"I thought we had surveillance tapes." He said with a frown.

"Not good quality inside the club." I muttered. Chanyeol probably had it like that for a reason. It wasn't like he couldn't afford better cameras. It just made it harder to identify his clients if his club got busted in a drug raid. "The one outside was covered by the killer so we have nothing."

"Damn it." He grumbled, pawing at his desk and digging around until he found a box of cigarettes. We weren't exactly supposed to smoke in here but no one was going to say that to Comm. Son's face, now were they? He tapped one out of the box and stuck it in his mouth. "I need this to disappear as quickly as possible, Byun." He mumbled around the butt in his mouth. I nodded as he lit it with a match.

"I understand, Sir."

"Do you?" He raised his eyebrow at me. "We don't need civil rights unions knocking at our door because they think we're doing a slack job because it's a bunch of queers getting killed. No offense." He lifted his hand.

"None taken." I said drolly. He was right. It didn't matter if I was working my ass off. If the news stations got wind of this, there was only one way to report it. Unsolved. Nothing else mattered in the news. They'd spin whatever story they wanted about why and it would be just the shit storm our station did not need at the moment. "I'm working as hard as I can, Sir." Was all I could offer. He gave me a flat look and a single nod.

"You're dismissed. I have work to do."

I grabbed all my case files for the Club Eleven murders and took them home with me. I read every single page of my notes, Jin-young's notes, and Hae-won's medical reports. Then I read them twice. Nothing particular was jumping out at me though so I ate my supper and jumped into bed. Maybe when I woke up, everything would magically make sense.

Nothing changed in the morning light and it made me even grumpier even though it was my day off. I couldn't take a day off, really. My mind was still going, trying to fit the small puzzle pieces I'd been given into a vague picture of something for me to look for. Anything. All I could figure out was that if we went by the killer's current pattern, his next murder would be this weekend again... I had to go back to the club and talk to Chanyeol.

"Detective?" I looked up when Chanyeol entered the club. He handed his coat to one of the men behind the bar and came over to the table I was sitting at. Yeah...Green Eyes might have been beautiful to look at, but there was something about the way Chanyeol moved, even doing something as simple as hitching up his pants before he sat down, that looked sexy. "You look different." He said.

"I do?" I blinked slowly? I guess I did. I hadn't thought about changing from my jeans and a loose hoodie when I'd left the house earlier. "It's my day off." I shrugged.

"And you're spending it here?" He asked with a wry laugh.

"People don't take a day off from dying." I said calmly and I must have hit a nerve because he paused and his lips thinned slightly.

"What do you want?" He said eventually, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. I only let myself be distracted for a split second.

"I just wanted to make sure you were on the look-out this weekend. There is no evidence that links my two victims so they might be completely random. Random is bad. That means we have no motive right now, and there's nothing stopping him from taking a third."

"You want me to tighten security?"

"I want you to call me as soon as you see anything suspicious." I replied. "Don't handle it yourselves, you'll just mess with my shit and I'm not in the mood for that right now." I said plainly and his expression didn't change.

"Noted."

"Good." I said tersely. "I'll hang around close by so ...as soon as you see anything." I repeated and he hummed gently.

"Understood."

"OK." I said because honestly I hadn't expected him to agree so easily. Was this someone who really had ties with the Korean mafia? He bent over way too easily and it was making me anxious. I stood up quickly, almost knocking over my chair. "I just wanted to let you know."

"I appreciate it." He said ...just a little icier than was polite.

"Right... Bye."

I was driving on auto-pilot and I let out a soft curse when I realised I'd driven back to the station by habit. Oh well...since I was here, I might as well check if Hae-won had left anything new for me.

"Hyung." Jin-young called out and I froze. Fuck. I had forgotten about him. And when had he switched to calling me hyung now... "I thought it was your day off?"

"I forgot something." I said and he nodded, biting his bottom lip as he looked at me. Uh oh.

"Hyung, I heard that the morgue is cremating Kang Shi-Yeok today." That wasn't what I expected him to say.

"Today?"

"Mmm. In a couple of hours." He replied with a sigh. "I was gonna go, you know. Since his mom is a raging bitch. Someone should be there to take his ashes, at least." He said quietly and for the first time I actually looked at Jin-young carefully. He might be young and still filled with that precious rookie glow that would disappear after the next few dead bodies he saw...but he was a good kid too.

"I'll come with you." I offered and his eyes widened.

"You...will?"

"Yeah, I have nothing else to do." I said, looking back at my empty email inbox. "Why not?"

It was depressing, being underground in the crematorium. Hot, and sticky and the smell in the air...I ignored all of it resolutely and stood next to Jin-young in the viewing window. The undertaker had just delivered the body and it was now being prepared for the raging inferno a door so small it was hard to believe a human being could fit in there. In the end, all we are is flesh and bones, I guess.

"Does your mom know you're gay?" Jin-young asked me suddenly.

"My mom?" The undertaker opened the door and bright orange flames jumped around inside the pit. "Yes, she knows I'm gay."

"So she's OK with it?" He pressed further, looking at me now instead of the box that held Kang Shi-Yeok being rolled in.

"She is, I guess. I mean...my parents didn't really say anything when I came out." I mused. I'd been 18 and fully prepared to be kicked out of the house...even had a bag packed upstairs and some money I'd been saving for 6 months... But they'd just carried on eating dinner like I hadn't said anything and asked me about college.

"I was lucky too." He said with a sigh and stuck his hands in his pockets, leaning against the window instead of facing it now. Was he trying to distract himself? "My mom threw me a coming out party and invited all my friends and family." He grinned at me, but I was slightly horrified.

"What?"

"Yeah. It was the best day ever." He laughed. "It was like a rainbow threw up in our house."

"You know...I suddenly understand a lot more about your personality now." I said and he laughed again, but he sobered up when we heard the clang of the oven door and the flames inside the crematorium intensified, making the room hotter.

"I just felt bad for him." He whispered. "That no one would be here for him. 24 years is like..." He swallowed hard. "There should be someone here." I reached out to squeeze his shoulder gently.

Jin-young accepted the jar from the undertaker with a deep bow and we walked out of the mortuary together slowly.

"We should try one more time, right?" He said.

"Try?"

"We should take him home." He said fiercely. "Maybe she won't be so much of a bitch when she sees..." He glanced down at the jar. He looked like he wanted to cry.

"OK. We can try." I said carefully. I didn't have much hope though. The kind of hate that radiated off his mother didn't seem like it would disappear quickly for anything. Even her dead son's ashes.

It seemed I was right too. I knocked on the door, and introduced myself to Mrs Kang again but she just stared at the jar in my hands coldly.

"Mrs Kang. Your son was cremated today..." I said cautiously. "There was no one to accept his ashes so we...brought them over for you." She looked at me. Then back at the jar. The door closed in my face without her saying anything and I was too stunned to move for a minute.

"Jesus, you know, just when I thought she'd be a fucking HUMAN BEING - " Jin-young started shouting and I pulled him away from the door.

"We tried." I said and he scoffed, kicking at some dirt on the ground. He was about to kick at something again when the door opened behind us again. A grey haired man hurried over to us.

"Officers. I..." He breathed.

"Mr Kang?" I asked tentatively. He nodded but he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were glued on the jar.

"Please...My wife." He coughed quietly and put a hand to his chest. "I apologize." Jin-young scoffed again and I sent him a glare to shut him up.

"Did you want to take this, Sir?" I asked and he reached out to take his son from me. His hands were shaking but he caressed the ceramic lightly.

"Thank you." He said and when he looked at me his eyes were shining. "I really am sorry about my wife. You see..." He looked back at his front door. "When she was younger, her father ran off with a boy. It left her mother devastated. She shut down. She didn't take care of her kids. She didn't speak ever again until the day she died. Soo had to take care of her siblings alone. It really made her..." He sighed heavily. "But I love my son." He said firmly. "Thank you again. For bringing him home."

"It's no problem, Sir." I said and he gave me a small smile before he turned back, walking back up his pathway sluggishly. I heard a sniff and caught Jin-young as he wiped under his nose.

"Fuck." He muttered and looked at me with round puppy eyes. "I really wanted to hate her..." He sighed. I hooked my arm around his shoulder and led him back to the car.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"Keep an eye on the bathrooms."

"Sure, Boss." Gonho nodded, typing on his phone as he walked away. As annoying as Baekhyun had been bossing me around the other day, there was a chance he was right. We had to be extra careful this weekend. Gonho had rolled his eyes when I suggested guards at the bathroom doors, but he knew as well as I did that one more dead body would be chaos.

The doors opened at 19:30 as usual and I went up to my office to watch over things from my window. The crowd was small. It always was this time of the night, everyone coming in heading straight for the bar first to get in a few drinks in their system before they felt like dancing. Behind me, the video screens for the cameras in the club were open and I had the same radio as the rest of the guards so I could listen in for problems. It was silent for now.

As my eyes flittered over the club, I wondered where the little detective was. He said he'd be nearby, didn't he? Sitting in a car, maybe? The only places in the vicinity were other clubs and bars and I couldn't imagine Baekhyun in any of them. His face was either pinched or tired every time I'd seen him. I hadn't ever seen him smiling and relaxed. A brief flash of a limp and bleeding Baekhyun from my dreams entered my head and I closed my eyes quickly. Fuck. Stop thinking about that, Chanyeol. Focus.

I checked my watch. 9 PM. It was closer to the time Baekhyun had told me to watch out for so I went over to the cameras, taking the radio on my desk with me. To be honest, I didn't really know what to look out for as suspicious behaviour in a club. Everyone here was young and horny and were, naturally, sneaking off to dark corners to jump each other's bones. How would I know if anyone was the killer, leading someone off to strangle them? We hadn't gotten a good look at him last time. He could be anyone in this club right now.

"Gonho?" I tapped on the radio at around 10. My eyes were starting to water from staring at the screens for so long.

"Quiet here, Boss man." He replied and I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. Were we worrying for nothing? Maybe Baekhyun was wrong. Maybe whoever had killed the two men had some sort of beef with them and –

"Shit." Came through the radio.

"What is it?" I hissed, looking up at the camera feeds. I spotted Gonho dashing for the door in the basement level. "Gonho?"

"I heard screaming." He huffed and sure enough, a terrified looking female ran out of the door just as he swung it open on the camera feed.

Gonho tried to make a grab for her, but she threw her hands in the air and let out another shriek. She carried on screaming and soon she was on the ground level, running through the crowd of regular club goers. By now people were starting to realise that something was wrong and stopped dancing, looking around to see what the screaming was about.

I don't know if anyone had heard or seen anything, but soon there was a wave of people running for the door and I dropped the radio, heading for the door. Shit.

The noise once I hit the mezzanine was loud and I winced as I flew down the stairs. Hopefully none would be hurt trying to get out. I was pushing past a still groggy looking couple when I felt a strong hand grab my wrist.

"Chanyeol."

"What are you doing here?" I growled at an angry looking Baekhyun.

"I told you to call me if you had trouble." He shouted and there was another scream from somewhere in the club. Baekhyun froze and reached for his gun that was still strapped to his hip. Shit, had he really come in here looking like that? His police badge was still hanging from his neck and it swung back and forth as he dodged people racing for the entrance. "Stay here." He barked and I scoffed as he disappeared down the hallway. I pulled out my own gun that was tucked in the back of my pants and followed behind him.

"Fuck." Baekhyun was snarling as I entered the room. "How?"

"I don't know." Gunho was looking up at me with wide eyes. "I don't know what happened. We were watching all the exits."

"I told you to call me." Baekhyun repeated and shoved his gun back into its holster.

"Is there another one?" I asked and Gonho nodded once, his face tight. Damn it.

"In the basement bathroom. We...didn't put a guard there. It would have..." He glanced at Baekhyun briefly. "It would have made the clients nervous." I gave him a pat on the back as I passed by him and trailed in after Baekhyun. He had the heels of his hands on his eyes and he looked small again.

"Baekhyun..." His back stiffened and he shot me a venomous glare over his shoulder.

"Don't."

"Hey, we tried. OK? I had everyone watching - "

"Bullshit." He hissed and kicked at the door of one of the stalls. I was shocked when his foot actually made a hole in wood. "I told you to be careful. I told you to CALL ME!"

"HEY!" I raised my voice now. "There was no reason to call you because we didn't see shit until the screaming started."

"What are you even doing down here?" He asked incredulously.

"This is my club." I said as I tucked my own gun back in my pants. His eyes followed the movement and he sneered at me.

"So you were going to what, come down here and fuck up my investigation? What is it with you mafia bastards and your inflated egos?" He growled and I could feel my jaw click as I held back the need to clock him in the face. "Get out."

"You can't just - "

"This is a crime scene. You could be stepping on my evidence." He rumbled. We stared at each other heatedly for a long moment before I rolled my shoulders and left the room. I knew when to pick my battles.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I was pissed. Beyond pissed. I shouldn't have trusted Chanyeol when he'd agreed to call me so easily. It burned to realise how stupid I had been and I couldn't even speak I was so angry at myself. I ignored him as he and his guard, Gonho if I was remembering correctly, muttered amongst themselves. I had to focus.

This body was different from the other ones. Unlike my other victims, this one had been discovered pretty much right after he had been killed so there was no stiffness in the limbs. His neck hadn't had time to bruise too much, but faint purple marks were still visible around the throat. There was another difference too... the angle of the head didn't seem natural. I tilted my head and peered down at it carefully.

"We have a problem." Chanyeol's deep voice sounded behind me and I startled a little.

"Fuck." I whispered, holding on to my chest as my heart tried to beat out of my chest. "Of course we have a problem." I said, looking at him evenly.

"Not this." He replied, avoiding looking down. "Someone called the police."

"What did you expect?" I rolled my eyes. I had been strolling close to the club when I'd heard the screams and dashed inside, almost getting trampled on my way to the back where everyone seemed to be running from. If I hadn't been so close by, I would have gotten the call from station instead of Chanyeol first.

"Look. You know what happens when someone calls the cops to a night club?" He asked, pulling out his phone when it beeped. "Reporters."

"Shit." I groaned and he nodded, tapping at the screen. "I need to get my M.E and my partner in here. Can they come in the back? I really don't want anyone to see them..." Taping off the club would just draw an even bigger crowd and the media attention was exactly what Comm. Son had been warning me about.

"I have an idea." He said looking at me with a grim face.

"An...what?"

"We can bring them round the back, but ...the reporters will just be drawn that side with all the commotion. No one besides the girl who first saw the body, saw anything. I'll just speak to a few reporters outside. Make them think it was someone who was drunk that mistook a partier who passed out for a dead body."

"That's..." I chewed on my bottom lip because I was still mad at him, but his idea wasn't the worst. It might actually work. "OK. Thanks."

"It's a shit show out there." Hae-won said as she snapped on her gloves and handed me a pair.

"Still?"

"Yeah. Your boy is doing a pretty good job handling the reporters, though."

"He's not my boy." I grumbled with a frown. I couldn't even imagine Chanyeol being a boy. He was all man only. "He's a colossal asshole. I TOLD him to call me."

"He has your number?" She grinned at me and I lifted my arm to punch her, but she ducked out of the way.

"Shut up." I glared at her and waited for Jin-young to get his camera ready so he could take photos.

"I'm just saying. He was staring at your ass pretty hard earlier." She opened her medical bag and took out some swabs.

"Can you focus?" I hissed at her, pointing at my latest vic, Shin Won-Hyuk, 22. Still so fucking young.

Jin-young kept quiet as he took a few photos of the body and moved on to take more of the rest of the bathroom.

"You were right. Neck is broken." Hae-won said as she moved it back and forth in her hands. "That is different."

"I was thinking about it. It was much quieter here. The noise level isn't the same as it is upstairs so maybe he didn't have the time to stick to his M.O." I could see a little piece of cloth still in his mouth, but if he'd been fighting back and making a noise, my unsub might have made the decision to end things quicker by snapping his neck instead of waiting for him to pass out like he usually did. Maybe the young girl Chanyeol had spoken about had been the catalyst... "He must be pissed. He got interrupted."

"Well...let's hope he made a mistake then." Hae-won grunted as she reached into her bag and took out a pair of tweezers. I handed her a small evidence bag and she tugged open the vic's mouth to get the cloth out.

"I'll get you tox reports as soon as I can. I think I can push for propriety this week."

"Thanks." I closed the door and waved when Hae-won started the van. Jin-young had arrived with her so he was catching a ride back to the M.E centre to fetch his car.

"Text me when you get to the station." I told him. I needed to see if there was any damage control I needed to attend to with Comm. Son. He nodded once and gave me a small smile as they drove away. I sighed heavily and looked around the dark alley way. What a mess.

"I'm going to go now." I muttered to Chanyeol who was sitting at one of the stools by the bar. "I have everything I need."

"Uh... You might want to stay put for a bit." Se-Hee, the manager, said with a quick look at the doors.

"What? Why, I thought the reporters were gone?" I blinked at them.

"Some of them." Chanyeol said as he swallowed the rest of whatever was in his glass. "A few are being persistent. They think we're hiding something." He looked at me up and down. "You aren't really dressed like one, but that gun screams cop. They might start wandering why an officer stayed behind."

"Shit." I huffed and I took off my badge that was hanging from my neck, sticking it in my pocket. He was right. And I wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving my service weapon behind in a club full of mafia gangsters to fetch later. How was I going to get back to my car? I'd parked it almost 3 blocks away... "Can you give me a ride?" I asked Chanyeol and his face wrinkled slightly.

"Yeah, I don't need rumours spreading about me hanging out with the police...Just sit down. It won't kill you." He said and stood up, sliding his glass across the table to his manager. "I'll get you something to eat."

"Hey." Someone was tapping on my shoulder. "Come on, don't sleep here. Your neck is going to kill you."

"Hmm?" My eyes fluttered open and I was surprised by how close Chanyeol's face was to mine. "Are they gone?" His lips pinched and he shook his head.

"Kwang-Do says he can see some hiding across the road." I groaned sleepily, rubbing at my eyes and Chanyeol sighed as he stood up. "Come. I have a bed upstairs."

"In your office?" I asked, confused.

"I told you I live upstairs, remember?" He had. I was just still half asleep. Urgh. I got up from the hard chair I'd been sitting on and my back cracked loudly.

"God. Why the fuck are your chairs so uncomfortable?"

"They aren't meant for sleeping on." He said, sounding amused. "And if they were comfortable, no one would ever get up to dance."

"Right..." I sniffed and shuffled up the stairs behind him. He led me up into his office and then looked at me briefly before he put a code in a security panel and a door slid open, revealing an empty elevator. "Fancy." I quipped and he snorted, stepping inside. I hesitated for a second. I didn't really know what was up there. Chanyeol might look handsome and harmless, but he was still very dangerous. He'd already expressed how much he hated the police too. What if this was a trap?

"Are you coming in or not?" He huffed and against my better judgement, I followed him inside. The promise of a bed was too tempting right now.

He turned on a few lights and at the end of a long hallway, he opened a door.

"If you look in the bottom drawer, there should be something for you to sleep in." He said softly, stepping aside to let me walk in.

"Thanks." I mumbled and he grunted as he shut the door behind me. I unclipped my holster, took out my gun and dropped it heavily on the chest of drawers near the bed. If I was at home, I would unload it and keep the magazine separate but maybe it would be better to sleep with it ready here. My badge and my phone joined it next.

I found an old shirt and some sweat pants in the bottom drawer like Chanyeol said and was surprised when they fit. I dragged myself onto the giant bed and burrowed under the sheets like a mole, curling myself around the pillows and yawning again. So warm. I purred happily and rubbed my face against the pillow. They smelled good too. Woody and a little spicy. What was that? I let myself sink into sleep before I could think about it too much.

At around 4 in the morning, my bladder woke me up.

"No..." I complained, burying myself deeper in the blankets, but a few minutes later it was ready to burst so I hurried out of bed and dived into the bathroom I'd seen earlier. "You couldn't wait one more hour?" I mumbled.

The call of nature answered, I stumbled back to the bedroom and was about to get back inside when I heard a frustrated groan. Was Chanyeol still awake? I opened the bedroom door and peeked outside. It was dark everywhere except for a room with a thin sliver of light under the door. The noise sounded again and I left the bedroom to go investigate.

I had my hand on the handle, wondering if Chanyeol would be OK with me snooping around his house in the middle of the night when the door opened suddenly and he was standing in front of me. I couldn't help it. My mouth dropped open when I took in the sight of him standing there in only a pair of cotton pants, the rest of his caramel-like skin on display, muscle rippling under the skin when he shifted on his feet and folded his arms over his chest.

"What are you doing?" He asked me roughly.

"I heard a noise." I explained, coughing lightly and looking away from him before my dick betrayed me again. I glanced into the room behind him and I was shocked when I saw what was inside. "Wow..."

"What? Are you disappointed it's not a shooting range?" He asked and turned around, heading back inside the room. Now that he wasn't blocking my view, I could see just how big it actually was. The room was filled with every sort of game you could possibly imagine. There was a foosball table in one corner. Some arcade machines and a few car and bike simulator games in another. A mini basketball court, a poker table, a pinball machine and right in the centre, a dark, expensive looking pool table covered in grey felt.

"This is definitely cooler than a shooting range." I blabbed out loud and he looked at me carefully. I ignored him and went over to the pool table, brushing my hand over the edge of it lightly. It even felt expensive. The balls looked shiny and new and were stacked neatly in a triangle, waiting for someone to break.

"You want to play?" I almost jumped. How did he manage to sneak up on me all the time?

"Can I?" I don't know why? It was late and the reporters were probably gone now and I needed to get home so I could start looking through all the new evidence we'd collected...

"Sure. I'll get you a cue." Chanyeol said and he strolled over to the wall, picking a silver cue off the rack and taking a shiny fancy looking black one as well. He handed me the silver one and placed the white ball on the table carefully. "Have you played before?"

"A little." I lied. I'd been playing billiards for close to 10 years now. My father had taught me and when I'd had time, way way before I'd joined the police force, I used to play every night at the bar that was on my street. It had been a while, though.

"You can break." He offered and I lined up my cue so I could take the shot.

"You're such a fucking liar, do you know that?" Chanyeol said after I'd sunk 7 balls in a row and was leaning down to sink the 8 ball. I laughed sharply and it made me miss my shot.

"Fuck you." I sighed and leaned back against the table to watch him play. He stared at me for a few seconds before he took his first shot. After he sank 3 balls in one shot, it became clear to me that I had underestimated Park Chanyeol.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked with a laugh and he smirked, coming round to my side of the table.

"Move." He checked me with his hip and I gaped at him as he sank another two balls in one turn.

"Are you cheating?" I spluttered and he looked offended.

"Do I look like I'm cheating?"

"Yes." I scoffed and he pursed his lips, leaning on his cue stick and bending down to peer into my eyes. I got a whiff of that woodsy spicy fragrance I'd smelled in the bed earlier and my heart stuttered ever so slightly. Had I been sleeping in Chanyeol's bed? Where had he been sleeping? Had he even slept at all? I took a step back, but the table was right behind me and I didn't go far.

"How about we have a little wager." He said quietly.

"A ...bet?"

"Mmm." He hummed and finally moved back, chalking his stick with a quick flick of his wrist.

"What do you want to bet?"

"That you're full of shit." He laughed. "And I can beat you without my trick shots."

"Bullshit." I spluttered. I don't know how long he'd been playing for, but I was sure I had more experience than him. "We'll play three games then. And if I win..." I raked my brain for something I thought would be intensely embarrassing for him. "You have to get down on your knees and apologize for cheating." His face went slack and I giggled when his mouth fell open.

"What?" He shook his head. "You know what, OK." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Because I won't lose." He said firmly.

"What about you." I said, picking up my stick again while he rearranged the balls.

"Me?" He eyed me sideways as he slid the triangle on the felt. "If I win...you can get on your knees too." He said softly. "And apologize to me for lying."

"Bring it." I said, lifting up my stick so I could break.

"Fuck." I muttered when Chanyeol ended the last game, banking the 8 smoothly. "Are you serious?" I whispered to myself and Chanyeol chuckled as he laid the cue stick on the table.

"Come on." He leaned against the table again. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth but I shuffled forward slowly. It burned to swallow my pride, but a bet was a bet.

"You're such an asshole." I muttered and he laughed out loud, shifting so he was standing properly again, towering over me as he took a few steps towards me.

"Kneel." He said, still laughing.

"I don't want to..." I moaned pitifully. I knew I was pouting but I didn't know what I could do to stop it. I glanced up at Chanyeol and my breath caught in my throat at how he was looking at me. He was looking at me like he wanted to ...

"Kneel." He said again, softer this time. I shivered. It felt like he had whispered the word on my skin and I could feel it prickle with goose bumps. I couldn't even breathe properly. His eyes were dark and looked so deep, I felt like I was drowning in them. His smell was driving me crazy...when had I started to feel so weak? My knees were shaking and I couldn't stand any more. So I gave him what he wanted. I kneeled.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I could see it in his eyes, the second he gave up resisting. It was beautiful to watch and I had to bite my tongue to keep from swallowing it. Baekhyun sank to the floor so slowly in front of me, it was like he was melting. He held my gaze, eyes wide and dilated... Fuck, he was gorgeous.

"Say it." I pushed the words out of my mouth.

"Say what?" He raised his eyebrow and I wanted to wipe that smirk off his smart mouth so badly.

"Say 'I'm sorry I lied to you, Chanyeol.'..." I prompted him and his jaw ticked ever so slightly. His lips puckered and I was instantly distracted. They were so pink...

"I'm sorry I lied to you, Chanyeol." He said eventually.

"You don't look sorry." I said quietly and there was a small sparkle in his eye that told me I was right. "Say it again. I want you to mean it this time." He huffed and moved to stand up, so I held him down with a hand on his shoulder. "Baekhyun." He sighed loudly and I'm pretty sure he was shooting daggers at the floor, but when he looked back up at me, his eyes were strangely serious.

"I'm sorry, Chanyeol." He said softly. "For lying to you." Right now, he really didn't look like Seojun at all anymore. He was soft and alluring and warm and he was so close to my dick that I could feel his breath on my thighs. Shit. I wanted to open my mouth and tell him to get up...tell him to go back to bed so I wouldn't have to be tempted by his lips...but...

"Chanyeol..." He said my name again and I didn't even try to fight how quickly I got hard. My heart was beating like a drum in my chest...I wanted to touch him so badly. I trailed my hand up the side of his neck, curling around the back and when he moaned softly after I raked my nails along his skin, I got so hot and dizzy with want...

He didn't say anything to me, but I could feel his hands on my legs through my pants. They were climbing up slowly and I let out a small gasp when Baekhyun dipped his head forward, his forehead just barely pressing against me. My fingers drifted up into his hair when his hands finally reached for my zip.

"You smell so good." He muttered and I let out a strong huff when he pulled down my pants, leaning forward and mouthing my cock over my underwear.

"Baekhyun..." I panted, but he ignored me, lips still working down the front of my crotch. I tightened my grip in his hair and he stilled, leaning back so he could look up at me again. He looked incredibly sinful breathing heavily and pink lips open in a soft O. I needed to feel that mouth on me right now.

I growled softly when he licked his lips and I couldn't get my cock out fast enough, gripping it in my hand and pushing it lightly against his lips. He was still looking at me when his mouth opened for me beautifully, like a flower. Why was that so hot? His eyelids fluttered closed when I slid over his tongue and I pulled out, tapping at the side of his mouth. It should have looked ridiculous, but it just made me even harder.

"Hey. Look at me." I whispered and his eyes opened again. I pushed back inside his mouth and let out a long moan. Fuck, that felt good. Every time I slipped back into his mouth it was like sinking into the warmest kind of heaven. I let go of his hair and cupped his cheek gently, brushing my thumb over the dent in his cheek when he started to suck and I was gone.

I didn't want it to be over so quickly, but Baekhyun and his fucking mouth... it only took a few more thrusts and when his tongue curled along the underside of my cock, I shuddered and came in long drawn out spurts inside mouth. As I was pulling out, a small drop of my come dribbled out the side of his mouth and I pushed it back in with my thumb. Baekhyun hummed as he sucked and I felt it ripple all through my body.

I tugged him up off the floor and lifted him up on the edge of the pool table. He grunted softly but it melted into a whimper when I stuck my hand inside his sweat pants and wrapped it around him.

"Chanyeol." He groaned and I squeezed my hand harder, starting to stroke him quickly. The first few twists were dry and he hissed, reaching for my arm and gripping it tightly; but he sighed and relaxed against me when he started to leak steadily and it made my hand slick.

"Look at you...I didn't think you could look more beautiful when you were sucking my cock, but look at you..." His cheeks were bright red and his hair was starting to stick to his sweaty face, his pink lips swollen and open wide as he panted loudly. "Fuck, that's sexy." I growled as I leaned forward to kiss him along his neck and I moaned happily when he trembled in my arms, crying out softly as he came in my hand.

I wasn't even sure what I was mumbling any more. I dragged my tongue up the length of his neck and nibbled my way up to his jaw. I only intended to kiss him once, just once... I was curious about what his lips felt like. But the second my mouth pressed onto his, it was like a drug. His tongue darted into my mouth and I wanted to suck on it for hours. When he whined into my mouth, I felt a subtle twitch down below, but before I could do anything about it, Baekhyun gasped quietly and pushed me back away from him.

"Fuck." He whispered, eyes wide with horror.

"Baekhyun..." I tried to hold him in my arms, but he pushed me again, harder this time and slipped off the side of the pool table.

"Shit." He swore loudly and fixed his pants.

"Baekhyun - "

"I have to go." He mumbled and started for the door. I reached out and grabbed his arm, but he pulled out of my grip easily and walked faster now. "I have to go." He said again and he was out the door a second later. What the hell had just happened?

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I didn't waste time changing back into my clothes from earlier. I just mashed them into a ball, grabbed my gun and phone off the table and got out of Chanyeol's apartment as fast as I could. I tripped out of the elevator and into his office, jogged down the stairs into the club and groaned in frustration when I got to the front door and found it locked. Shit.

"Need some help?" My heart jumped into my throat and I fell against the door when I spun around to see who was behind me.

"Jesus, what is wrong with you people?" I gasped and Gonho held up his hands.

"Sorry. I just...the alarm system went off. I came to check."

"Oh..." I breathed and held my bundle of clothes closer to my chest. "You're security, right? Can you open the door for me?" I asked.

"Sure." He gave me a smile and I stepped out of the way so he could unlock it. "Here you go." He held the door open for me and I mumbled my thanks as I left. It was still dark and I couldn't see anyone on the street, reporters or otherwise, so I nodded at Gonho and started walking down the road in the direction of my car.

"Who pissed in your porridge?" Hyun-Jae asked when he sat down at his desk. I glared at him over my computer screen.

"Shut up." I muttered and went back to typing up my report. I WAS annoyed. I'd gotten home, had a shower, brushed my teeth...had another shower because I could still smell Chanyeol on my skin and gone to bed completely determined to forget that last night/this morning had never happened. Until I'd gotten dressed for work this morning and couldn't find my badge. I'd been in such a hurry when I was leaving that I must have left it behind. How the fuck was I supposed to get it back?

"Did Hae-won send in anything?" I asked Jin-young when he made his way to my desk that afternoon.

"No. Only that the material in the mouth is consistent with the other two victims and that there was no evidence of defensive wounds on the body."

"And we're still waiting for toxicology?"

"Yep."

"OK." I flexed my fingers and handed him the files I'd printed this morning. "No next of kin for Shin Won-hyuk. He was an orphan, adoptive parents died a year ago in a fire."

"Man..." He sighed and flipped through the papers.

"I still can't connect any of my victims together." I muttered, looking at my computer screen. "He can't possibly just walk into a club and randomly pick someone to kill right at that moment. There has to be some sort of link between them. But none of them knew each other...they didn't work together...didn't even live in the same area."

"They all look the same." Jin-young said quietly and I paused in shock.

"What?"

"They all look the same." He repeated. "Young. Skinny. A little on the pretty side. They have the same cheekbone structure if you look really closely. They all even have curly hair." He pointed out and my mouth fell open.

"They...you might be right."

"What does that mean?" He asked me, his brown eyes wide.

"That...maybe they remind him of someone." I said slowly. "Maybe someone he hated."

"Or loved." Jin-young said quietly. "You said so before, strangling is personal. And I mean, passion is personal. It would makes sense. Especially if he hates himself for it."

"He never touches them though." I frowned. There was never any evidence that our unsub did anything more than lead them somewhere private before he killed them. "He didn't even kiss them."

"He can't stand it." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I ...I see your point." I bit my bottom lip and stood up quickly. "Come on. We should go to the profiling lab and see if that changes anything."

"Coming." He scrambled behind me and we walked down the hall deeper into the building. As we were passing the break room though, something on the TV playing inside caught my eye. "Hey, is that Mr Park?" Jin-young asked.

The screen flickered and there was a close up of Chanyeol's face as he spoke to the reporters in the street. He didn't smile once, but I could see one of the reporters to his side smiling at him like an idiot. Yeah, don't let that face fool you. He's an asshole. Just at that second I remembered how Chanyeol had held me in his arms while he whispered to me just before I came in his hand and my whole body buzzed instantly, goose bumps prickling my skin.

"Are you OK?" I coughed when I realised I'd been standing there like a fool, staring at Chanyeol on the screen.

"Yeah. I think I might have a headache." I replied and Jin-young's forehead wrinkled with concern.

"I have some tablets at my desk if - "

"No. No, it's fine. I just need something to eat." I muttered.

"If you're sure..."

"Let's go. We need to get there before Narcotics gets back." I tugged on his arm.

"Baekhyun."

I pounded the bag in front of me harder and growled as I lifted my leg to give it a solid kick in its padded guts.

"Baekhyun. Nǐ zài zuò shénme?"

"Go away." I panted and moved to kick the bag again, but Yixing stepped in front of me and pushed it away, making me stumble. "What - "

"If you want to break things, find another gym." He said in Korean and I huffed at him, taking off my gloves.

"I'm sorry. I'm just angry." I said and he nodded, letting go of the bag to pat me on the shoulder.

"You know I don't really want you to find another gym, right?" He smiled at me and I stuck a finger in his dimple.

"I know." Zhang Yixing had been a member of our police trainee course, but he'd quit when he realised police work wasn't for him. I was glad. Yixing was the most beautifully innocent person that I had ever met and I hoped he stayed that way for as long as possible.

"Good." He wrapped an arm around my neck and led me to the practice mats that were empty. "You want to tell me what's wrong?"

"Work." I grunted and he tilted his head at me.

"Confidential?"

"Yeah." I sighed and started going through my Hapkido hyeong slowly to calm myself.

"How's things with Sehun?" He asked and I froze.

"We broke up." I mumbled and he winced.

"Now I understand the ..." He pointed back at the punching bag.

"I'm not angry at him." I said and went back to my Pyong Ahn Sa Dan. I wasn't. I understood why he'd left. I'd seen it happen enough to my colleagues that we almost expected it now.

"You're not?" Yixing asked, sitting down to watch me. "It seemed like... it was just a little bit more than just 'work' though." I let out a grunt and tried to focus on my form.

"It's nothing."

"You missed a punch." He commented and I pretended to kick him in the head. "You did!"

"Stop distracting me." I laughed and he mimed zipping his mouth shut.

Still, it took me three tries to get through my forms in the end.

Fucking Chanyeol.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I was insanely tired as I drove myself back home from the gym, but I knew that it was going to take me a while to fall asleep tonight. There was too much going on in my head and until it all made sense to me, it would keep me awake as long as possible before my body collapsed from exhaustion. Sometimes I hated my brain. I pulled into my driveway and just stepped out of the car when I noticed a dark car parked in the street in front of my house.

"Fuck." I muttered when I saw Chanyeol leaning against it, looking far too sexy in a long dark overcoat, hands in his pockets. I shut my door quickly and schooled my expression as I walked over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too." He said dryly and pulled a hand out of his pocket. My police badge tinkled and swung in the moonlight as he held it out for me.

"You forgot something." I reached out to grab it, but Chanyeol kept a tight grip on it.

"Let go."

"Aren't you going to say 'Thank you'?" He raised his eyebrow. "Do I have to make you get on your knees again?"

"Shut up." I hissed and tugged harder, making the chain for my badge slip out of his hands. "Thanks." I mumbled and shoved it in the pocket of my police issued hoodie.

"No problem." He said quietly.

"You still didn't answer me." I grumbled. "What are you doing here?" I looked around at my quiet neighbourhood. Chanyeol didn't look like the type who would just happen to be driving by. Wait a minute... "How the hell do you even know where I live?" He chuckled darkly and tucked his hand back in his pocket.

"You think cops are the only ones that run the streets?" He asked and I gave him a look. He stayed silent and I sighed deeply.

"Look. You shouldn't be here."

"Hey, I did you a favour, OK?" He frowned at me. "Would you have preferred I show up at your work? I'd like to see how you explained that to your boss." My cheeks lit on fire and I curled my hands into fists so hard my knuckles cracked.

"OK. Thank you. You gave me my badge back. I appreciate it. You can go now." I said tersely and Chanyeol snapped out his hand one more time to grab my hoodie.

"Baekhyun..."

"Don't touch me." He let me go quickly.

"We need to talk about - "

"Nothing." I said loudly. "We have nothing to talk about. Unless you have some information about my murders in your club, we have...nothing." I finished softly and he held my gaze as we stood there in the dark street.

"If that's what you want." He said in the end.

"Exactly what I want."

"OK."

"OK."

Silence.

"Enjoy the rest of your evening, Baekhyun." He said, bowing his head ever so slightly and ducking into his car. The engine started and I stood there, watching him drive off.

"Do we have anything from the lab?" I asked Jin-young as I drank the rest of my morning coffee. It tasted horrible. Like the flavoured mud that my nephew had made once and given to me when I had been busy and hadn't noticed what I was drinking until I was throwing it up. Fun times. But I drank it because I'd slept like shit and I needed to actually be awake to do my job.

"Hae-won said she got a match for some of the prints on the bathroom doors but they all don't fit the profile."

"Keep them open just in case though. I'll look through them later. Still no DNA?"

"Nope. Not a stitch. Not even trace amounts of DNA from the person who must have folded the shirt when our unsub bought the shirt." He sighed.

"Maybe it came wrapped already. That would explain it being clean." I mumbled.

"Maybe." He looked at me doubtfully.

Jin-young and I sat at my desk for the rest of the afternoon going over all our most recent evidence.

"Did Mr Park send over CCTV this time?" I shook my head.

"No, there was no need to. Chanyeol was watching the cameras at the time of the murder and he didn't see anything suspicious."

"And you trust him?" He blinked at me.

"I trust that he doesn't want his club to turn into a media circus. If he says he didn't see shit, I believe him." I admitted grudgingly. "He wants us out of his hair as fast as possible."

"You know, if we could figure out his criteria for picking his victims... maybe besides just their looks..." Jin-young mumbled as he scratched his chin. "We could just send someone to the club..."

"You mean, use someone as bait?" I frowned at him. "You can't seriously expect Commissioner Son to agree to send in an innocent citizen as bait."

"Well, it doesn't have to be an innocent citizen." He sat up straighter and fixed his tie. "You can send me."

"I think that's a great idea."

"What?!" I gaped at the Commissioner like he'd suddenly grown two heads. "Are you...we can't send in Jin-young." I objected.

"Why not?" He looked at me evenly. "From what I see, he looks very similar to the victims. Just needs to touch up a few things and he's golden. If he can get us closer to the killer before the media find out they've been lied to, even better."

"But, Sir. He's just a rookie. He has no experience in the field."

"It's just going to the same club I go to every once in a while, hyung. It wouldn't be any different. And I can defend myself."

"If he doesn't drug you." I shot back.

"Tox reports show that he never drugs his victims. You know that."

"He might start." I said vehemently but Jin-young just looked at the Commissioner who nodded and stood up from his desk.

"If you think you can do this, then you have my blessing. But make sure you know what you're doing. And do it right. Someone's life depends on it."

"Commissioner." I complained but he ignored me.

"I have a dinner reservation that I can't miss." He tipped his head at the both of us and left his office. Shit.

"Jin-young. Please...don't do this."

"You know that this guy is crazy smart, hyung. How else are we supposed to catch someone we can't find?" He asked me in a strong whisper.

"By following the evidence." I protested and he spluttered indignantly.

"What evidence? Huh? Hyung. Just trust me on this. This is going to be simple. I'll go in there, and if he doesn't approach me, fine. But if he does, and we catch him...wouldn't the risk be worth it? Those three men...they didn't deserve to die like that. To be tossed on the floor, like they're nothing. They can't mean nothing. We have to help find their killer." His eyes were burning with a flame I knew I wasn't strong enough to put out. Whether I agreed with this or not, Jin-young was going to do this. He was just the right type of naïve to do it too.

I sat back in my chair with a thump and rubbed at my tired eyes.

"Fuck."

"It'll be OK, hyung. I promise you. We'll find him."

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"What's going on?" I asked Se-Hee when he entered my office. I was facing the window that gave me a view of the club down below. It was packed. Not that I minded a full house. Money was money...but this was definitely more than I usually expected for a regular weeknight.

"After your little stunt on TV, you seemed to have developed a little bit of a fan club." He said, joining me by the window.

"What?" I glanced to the side and he smirked at me.

"Everyone keeps asking the bartenders where you are. I don't even think they care about drinking and dancing." He laughed and I scoffed out loud.

"Tell me you're joking..."

"Look." He pointed to the corner of the bar where someone was wearing a T-shirt with my face on the front of it.

"Jesus..." I whispered in shock and he laughed again, patting my back fondly.

"If I were you, I would enjoy it while it lasts. Have fun. Get laid." He spun on his heel and headed back to the door. "If you see someone you like, call me. I'll send him up." He snickered at me and I gave him the finger just as he closed the door.

"Fuck." I muttered and rubbed my hands over my eyes slowly. Fan club? What the hell? How was that even a thing? I mean, I didn't really consider myself particularly handsome even when people have said it to me over and over again. Usually there was some sort of agenda behind it. I'd never experienced something like this before. Did some of these people really just come here for me? They didn't even know me...

I looked over the crowd again. I was glad that when the club had been built, Uncle Tae-Joon had chosen a double-sided mirror for the office. At least no one down on the club floor could look up and see me right now. My eyes flickered over the faces below me and I winced when I saw another person wearing my face on a shirt. Who was selling those? I had to find a way to burn their stock before they sold any more.

I was about to say fuck it and head back up to my apartment for the rest of the night when I saw him. My breath caught in my throat and I hurried to pull my phone out of my back pocket.

"That was fast." Se-Hee laughed.

"Officer Byun is downstairs. Send him up please." I hung up before he could comment and leant forward, putting my face right up against the glass to watch him. I could see Se-Hee make his way through the crowd and tap Baekhyun on his shoulder. They spoke for a little bit and then Baekhyun was looking up, his eyes staring right at me. I knew he couldn't see me, but I could feel his eyes pierce into my chest and make my heart beat faster. When was the last time I had butterflies?

It took ages for them to get to my office, and when they did, I waved Se-Hee away silently.

"Hi." Baekhyun said, staying by the door and rocking on his feet like he was uncomfortable.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

"My case is still open."

"Right..." As he'd said the other night... the only thing we would to talk to each other about, was in connection with his case. "Do you want to sit?"

"I'm fine." He said, eyeing my desk. "I won't be staying long." I nodded slowly and walked around to the front of my desk, rolling up the sleeves of my shirt and sitting on the edge of it.

"So. I assume you're here because you need something." Please need something.

"Unfortunately."

"No."

"Chanyeol."

"I agree with you. This plan is stupid and there are too many loopholes for shit to go wrong...but I'm not about to let the SMPD into my fucking club, installing cameras everywhere. Are you crazy?" I could feel my voice raising a little.

"It's insurance. I need to keep Jin-young safe." He insisted.

"Bullshit. What about all the other shit that will get recorded on those tapes. You think your friends are just going to let it go?"

"They'll have to." He shrugged.

"They won't." I said firmly and stood up from my desk. "My answer is still no. Get out."

"Chanyeol..."

"I don't like repeating myself." I said in a deep growl but he just came closer.

"Please. Look." He fumbled with his phone and tapped it a few times. He showed me the screen and I had to breathe deeply to keep from gasping. "Look at them. Someone came in here...and killed these boys. I need to find him, Chanyeol. I might hate what Jin-young is trying to do, but I can understand his desperation. I can't sit around, waiting for one more victim, hoping he'll make a mistake."

"No."

"Chanyeol!" He came closer still and I tore my eyes away from his phone screen. I hadn't seen all the bodies, and the ones I had, had been stiff and their faces red and a little swollen. It felt like I was hallucinating, but I couldn't deny how much they all looked like Soejun. Like...Baekhyun. "OK, we can leave the cameras. We'll ...I need bodies then. I need officers in plain clothes in the club while he's here so they can help if shit hits the fan."

"Baekhyun..." I said in a warning tone.

"Please." He said again. Softer this time. His eyes were wide and dark and he looked so fucking cute right now. I ground my teeth for a while because I was annoyed at myself for bending so easily and because I knew Tae-moon would be pissed when he found out but I let out a heavy sigh and gave him a small nod.

"Thank you." He breathed. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much it's been bothering me..." He mumbled and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Don't make me regret it." I muttered and he nodded vigorously.

"I won't. I promise." He huffed and ran both hands through his hair, looking much more relaxed.

"Will you be here?"

"Here?" He asked. "With Jin-young? Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You should be careful." I mumbled and he looked irritated.

"You know, just because I'm small, it doesn't mean I can't defend myself, OK?" He hissed.

"That's not what - "

"I have a black belt in Hapikdo." He interrupted me.

"That's ...great. But it's not what - "

"And I'm starting to train in Krav Maga. I'm not completely useless." He ranted.

"Can you shut up for more than a second?" I said gruffly. He pursed his lips and probably wished he could stab me in the face with the look he was giving me. "I know you can handle yourself. I was just saying you should be careful."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me stupid questions." I whispered and Baekhyun stiffened. We gazed at each other for what felt like ages before he sucked in a breath and dropped his eyes.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"I have to go." He murmured and I lunged forward to grab his arm.

"Stay." His hand curled into a fist.

"Let me go."

"Baekhyun..." I said his name softly, like I was trying not to spook him and dragged him back to me.

"Let me go."

"What are you afraid of?" I slipped my hand into his hair and he shivered in my arms when I raked my nails over his neck.

"I can't do this with you." He breathed.

"Why?"

"I ..." He panted softly when I dipped down to nibble at his neck lightly, the back of his head balanced on my hand carefully. He was leaning on me so heavily that if I moved my hand, he would fall to the floor like a stone. "I'm a police officer. And you're ...you. I can't do this with you."

"You already did." I said and he brought his hands up to push at my chest. I pulled him even closer to me and he wriggled in my arms until my mouth trailed up along his neck and pressed against his lips. He froze with a gasp and I took advantage of his open mouth.

Kissing Baekhyun was like kissing fire. A soft, warm, silky fire that burned at my lips and made it hard to breathe. The more I kissed him, the longer I wanted to keep kissing him and I didn't even care if I was breathing or not. He made a noise in the back of his throat and I dragged my thumb along his neck. He did it again. Fuck, that was hot.

I didn't even realise I'd been pushing him back until he slammed up against the wall and he grunted quietly. I kept my mouth on his as my hands travelled down his body, tearing at the front of his pants.

"Chanyeol." He moaned my name and I bit his bottom lip gently, slipping my hand inside his pants and sighing happily when my hand closed around his hard length. His head hit the wall again and he hissed, but I didn't let go of his lip. Baekhyun's pants fell to the floor with a clink and the second mine did too, I tapped his leg to make him step out of them. He didn't protest. I had his legs wrapped around my waist in a flash and I couldn't stop the satisfied groan that left my mouth when he started rocking his hips against me slowly.

I pressed Baekhyun up on the wall while he ground on me and he panted when I let go of his lip to kiss him again. His hands came up to my face and he tilted my head back, fingers digging into my skin roughly as he moaned into my mouth.

"You're so fucking sexy..." I mumbled when he let me breathe and he tucked his head into my neck, breathing heavier and bucking his hips faster. He whimpered when my hand curled around the both of us. "Are you close?" He nodded faintly and I groaned as I kissed my way down his neck, biting his shoulder gently when I felt him tremble. He let out a small whine as he came and I was seconds behind him, pulsing in long draining spurts.

Both of us were too sweaty to stay upright on the wall for long, so I let Baekhyun go when his legs loosened and let my hands roam over his skin.

"Come upstairs with me..." I whispered in his ear and he moved away from me. "Baekhyun..."

"I have to go to work." He said and picked up his pants quickly. I watched him get dressed wordlessly and when he was done straightening up, he sighed loudly.

"You don't have to say anything." I offered. He turned around to look at me and after a long pause, nodded once. He started walking to the door and it felt like he was dragging a part of me with him. The part of me that didn't want to let go. To let him leave. "Baekhyun."

He stopped by the door.

"I'll see you on Saturday."

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I woke with a start when my alarm beeped loudly and sat up in my bed quickly. Shit. I groaned out loud and rubbed my eyes as my heartbeat slowly started to return to normal. God, what time was it? I had set my alarm for 6am. There was no way it was...

A glance at my clock on the wall proved me wrong and I fell back on my bed with a bounce.

"Urgh..." I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. I didn't want to go to work today. I wanted to lie in bed and wallow; indulge in the misery of my colossal moment of stupidity. Well, it was the second time I was stupid, but numbers didn't matter. I shouldn't have allowed anything to happen between Chanyeol and I. Not only was it stupid, but if anyone at work found out...

I moaned out loud again and covered my head with my blanket. Fuck. If anyone at work found out I had slept with Chanyeol, I would probably get suspended. There was definitely nothing in any of the evidence that we collected that made me think Chanyeol was a suspect...but the fact that the murders kept happening in his club where he lived and worked, meant I should be at least a little more careful. Sleeping with a potential suspect would ruin anyone's career.

I heaved myself out of my bed and into the shower. I stood under the hot spray, trying not to shake and breathed deeply to keep myself calm. I was so fucked. I was beyond fucked. There was nothing I could do about it though, except make sure it never happened again. I just needed to avoid Chanyeol for the rest of the time working this case. Which would hopefully not be for much longer.

I opened my fridge and stared at its empty shelves grumpily. Damn it. My stomach rumbled loudly, and I clicked my tongue as I slammed the door shut. If there were times when I found myself missing having Sehun around... it was definitely now. At least when he'd been here, food had always been in the fridge. Neither of us were very good cooks, but ready made meals at supermarkets these days weren't too bad. It looked like I was going to have to go shopping today.

"Did you talk to Mr Park?" Jin-young said and I peeked at him from behind my computer screen.

"Yes."

"And?" He waved his hand to prompt me.

"He said no." I shrugged. "But, he agreed to have a few officers around inside if things go sideways." I wasn't too worried about anyone noticing we had guns on us. There were some members in the club that were allowed to carry them, so the regular party goers would hopefully just assume we were one of them.

"OK. That's good." He nodded and tapped at the table, drifting off to talk with Suki from Major Crimes.

"Baekhyun." Hyun-Jae popped up beside me. He mimed stapling something and I picked it up, pretending to throw it at his head.

"Why don't you buy your own one?" I muttered and he laughed.

"For what? I can always just ask you. Thanks." He placed it back on my desk and leaned against it as he flipped through the pages. "Ah. I really hate paper."

"So does – " I clamped my mouth shut just before it slipped out. I slapped myself mentally and tried to change the subject. "Are you going to the office barbeque next week?"

"I wish." He mumbled. "Have to go to parents evening. I mean, my kid is pretty smart. She's never failed a test in her life. What else do I need to know?" He blinked at me.

"You're asking the wrong person." I laughed. "I don't know anything about kids."

"Doesn't your brother have kids?"

"They live in Busan. I ever see them." I said quietly and he tsked.

"Right..." He sighed softly and checked his watch. "What time do you get off? You want to grab dinner?" My stomach pinched excitedly at the mention of food and I licked my dry lips.

"I'm on call til midnight." I had to pull in some extra hours to have time to sit around and keep an eye on Jin-young this weekend.

"Ouch. I'll leave you to it then." He gave me a salute and headed towards the station doors. I watched him with envy for a minute before getting back to typing up a report for one of my other cases.

A school teacher had locked an unruly pupil in her classroom and forgotten about him, so he'd spent the night in there, freezing and hungry. The boy, who was only 8, had been sick already. The doctor suspected acute pneumonia, which was why he'd been making a noise, according to his friends, trying not cough in class.

In the end, the cold had gotten the best of him and he'd passed away this morning. The teacher had tried to argue that she wasn't responsible for his death, but the fact was, if she hadn't locked him in the classroom and forgotten about him, that little boy might still be breathing. Sometimes I wondered about the kind of people we trusted to look after children.

I stumbled out of the station at five past midnight and drove on auto-pilot to a grocery store nearby. I was standing in front of the fresh produce baskets when there someone laughed lightly next to me.

"Stuck?"

"Huh?" I blinked at the person beside me and grunted with embarrassment when I saw who it was. His eyes were still just as green as they had been at the clothing store and I had to admit, there was something about him that made me blush. He nodded at the fruit in front of me.

"You've been staring at the apples for the last 7 minutes." He said.

"Have I?" I cleared my throat and lifted a had to scratch the back of my neck. "I don't really know what to pick." I said and he smiled at me.

"It's just apples."

"Yeah, but...I don't like the hard ones. They make my teeth hurt. My ex-boyfriend always knew which ones to get but now..." I let out a huff and he hummed gently. "I mean, I've been tired lately and I can't cook for shit, so I figured I need a vitamin boost. Apples are good, right? Otherwise they wouldn't say the whole apple a day thing. They say grapes have more Vitamin C than oranges too, so I should probably get some..." I rambled awkwardly and Mr Green Eyes chuckled as he reached into the fruit pile. He picked up a packet of apples and handed them to me.

"These should be fine."

"Thank you." I smiled at him and he stepped closer to me.

"You know, my cooking isn't half bad. If you're interested in something a little warmer than apples." He said and I gulped nervously. The look in his eyes made it clear that dinner wasn't the only thing he was offering. I don't know why I was hesitating though. Green Eyes seemed like a nice guy and he might not make me FEEL as much as Chanyeol did with just one look, but he was most definitely the better choice, wasn't he?

"Um...I have...work. In the morning." I said haltingly. "So I'll have to say maybe another time?" It came out like a question and he nodded at me.

"Of course." He picked up another pack of apples and put them in my basket for me on top of my boxes of frozen dinners. "Call me when these run out." He handed me a card and held my gaze for a second longer before he walked away down the aisle.

I blew out the breath I'd been holding and looked down at the card.

Yun Il-Sung.

I tucked the card into my pocket and went to go pay for my things.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

Tae-moon looked at me with a blank face before he fell against my desk laughing.

"You're joking, right?"

"They'll be here on Saturday." I said simply and his face straightened.

"You're actually fucking serious."

"Why would I joke about this?" I stared at him and he scoffed.

"You know, Kwang-Do said you've been going crazy lately, but this is..." He shook his head back and forth slowly. "Wow." I sighed silently and folded my arms over my chest.

"It's just for one night."

"Maybe."

"I need them to find whoever is killing these people in my club." I grumbled. "It's bad for business to have people dying and cops showing up every week."

"Are you sure you're not just offing these guys yourself so you can see that sweet ass cop Se-Hee's been mentioning?" He winked at me and I wanted to slap that look off his face. I almost did, but he'd probably tell his father and I needed him to stay away from the club for a while. Tae – Moon and I might have been raised together, but he was Tae – Joon ssi's biological son. He always came first.

"Are you just going to sit there and bitch and whine, or say what you came here to say?" I said, mildly irritated. He looked at me like I was crazy and took out a cigarette from his jacket, flicking a match and lighting it as he observed me.

"Appa wants you to double the usual stock this weekend. How the fuck are we supposed to do that with cops around?" He mumbled around the butt. I had no idea, but I had to trust Baekhyun when he said they were willing to turn a blind eye. What else could I do?

"We'll make it work." I muttered. "You can't change anything though, or it will look suspicious. Just make sure your VIP's don't start any shit while they're here." I gave him a look to remind him of the last time someone had had one too many pills and started hallucinating.

"Oh, come on, that was ONE time."

"It was three times, and I still have bullet holes in my bar. It's fucking mahogany, Tae – Moon." He huffed loudly and blew out a long stream of smoke.

"Fine, I'll talk to them."

"I'm serious." I warned him.

"I said I'll talk to them." He said, sounding like when he'd been a sulking teenager. "I can handle my boys. Can you?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I stared him down and after a while he caved, shrugging and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing. I'll see you Saturday." He said and promptly left my office. I heaved out a heavy sigh and sat down in my chair. Well, that hadn't gone as badly as I thought it would. I'd expected to argue for much longer. I knew I had made the right decision but...

I couldn't help but feel just a little sick. I don't even know why. I just... everything was just ...confusing lately. At some point, my life had slipped into a rhythm I was fairly comfortable with and it was all shot to shit right now. I liked knowing what I was going to happen during my day the second I woke up. Now, every day was a surprise and it was making me feel off balance.

"Boss. Delivery." Gonho said from the door and I nodded as I clicked off my screen. I yawned as I walked down the stairs, and again when I signed for my stack of boxes. I hadn't been getting any sleep lately. I don't know what kept me up more; my recent nightmare or laying in my bed at night and thinking about Baekhyun. The courier tilted his head as he looked at me.

"Thanks." I mumbled and handed the paper with my signature back to him.

"Hey...are you Mr Park?" He said looking up at me with shiny eyes. Uh oh...

"No..." I said bluntly. He didn't listen.

"You are!" He blabbered on. "I saw you on TV. On the news. With that... Cool. I knew I recognized this address..." He peeked around me to look inside the club and I rolled my eyes, gesturing to Gonho to help me get the boxes inside and upstairs.

"You're getting pretty famous, eh, Boss?" He grunted as he got to the top of the stairs.

"Famous, my foot." I grumbled. "Go get the last box and meet me in the office." He smirked in my direction but left quietly while I carried the box over to my desk. I slid my drawer open and took out the small knife sitting inside. I sliced through the tape and opened the flaps carefully. Inside, in a special silver case, was the brand-new set of pool balls that I'd ordered when I'd gone to the games room store. They looked great. The second I'd seen the transparent balls, I'd fallen in love with them. Now looking at them made my chest ache and my lungs feel airy.

"Here you go, Boss." He put the last box on my desk and I nodded.

"Thanks, Gonho." I whispered and he left, closing the door gently behind him. I looked at the box of balls one last time before I closed it and lifted it again, taking it with me as I made my way upstairs to my apartment.

I dropped the box on the card table in my games room and took out the silver case. I packed away the balls currently on my pool table and rolled my new ones onto the felt. They really did look good, the grey felt making the white numbers on them pop. I gathered the balls to one side and fit my new black triangle around them, then took a step back to admire them.

It didn't take long for my mind to wander though. The last time I had even been in this room, I'd had Baekhyun moaning and writhing on this table. I rolled my neck to loosen the sudden tightening in my shoulders, but I couldn't stop myself from getting hard. He'd looked especially delicious that day, hair a little fluffy and his face soft with sleep. I should have given him something of mine to wear though. I don't think any of it would have fit, but it hurt more than I thought it would to see him in Seojun's things.

I sniffed sharply and spun on my heel, walking straight to my bedroom. I tugged open the bottom drawer roughly, but my hands were shaking so much I couldn't make them take his clothes out. Fuck. Still so many years later and I couldn't get him out of my system. He was worse than any of the cocktail of drugs he'd been taking, honestly.

I slammed the drawer shut and went to bed.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"I'll come visit you when I can." I said into the phone.

"I'm not getting any younger."

"Neither am I." I rumbled and she laughed.

"Cheeky boy. I have to go. It's going to rain soon and I still have laundry outside."

"OK, I'll talk to you soon. I love you." I crooned as I hung up.

"New boyfriend?" Jin-young said from the door and my mouth dropped open a little. He looked...

"No, that was my grandmother." I mumbled, walking around the desk to get a closer look. "When did you..." I pointed at his mini-makeover and he shrugged slightly.

"Last night. Is it close enough?" I took in his curly hair and skinny jeans.

"Just about." I shrugged. He was a little taller than the other victims, but I didn't think it mattered too much. I reached out to pick at some fluff on his collar. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I had to ask him one more time.

"Absolutely. We need to figure out who this guy is so we can stop him."

I didn't have time to go home to get dressed, so I took my bag into one of the bathrooms and got dressed in the cubicle. I hadn't worn these particular leather pants in about a year or so, and they were tight when I slipped them on, but they still buckled so I let out a relieved sigh. I wanted to skip the Jacket I'd brought because it seemed like a warm night and the club would be even warmer with all the bodies packed inside, but I needed something to hide my gun. The chest holster actually looked cool with this outfit, I mused. I turned up the sleeves and fluffed up my hair quickly but there was not much I ould do with it. The heat was definitely making it curlier than usual.

"Holy..."

"What?" I bristled when Jin-young stared at me open mouthed.

"Are you wearing eye-liner?" He stammered and I pinched my lips.

"Let's go." I grunted and he hurried behind me as I tossed my bag over my shoulder. I heard a wolf whistle when we entered the bull pen and it was like it opened the doors to a wave of cat-calls and rude noises.

"Fuck all of you." I shouted when I got to the doors and when it closed, I could still hear them laughing.

We met up with the other officers that would be joining us at the club tonight outside and we all jumped into our separate cars. We didn't need to speak. We'd had enough meetings during the week.

"Press the button as soon as you feel like you see something suspicious." I said to Jin-young and he nodded, fiddling with the watch. "If the unsub does target you and he takes it off you, it'll text all of us that it was removed and we'll come and find you."

"I know."

"So don't forget and take it off for some stupid reason."

"I know."

"And don't - "

"I won't." He interrupted me.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say."

"Don't go anywhere isolated where he could possibly block off the exits so we can get to you." He rolled his eyes. "You've said all of this to me 3 times already." I glared at him in the dark car, but he just smirked at me.

"Whatever. We're almost there."

Chanyeol was waiting for us at the door when we arrived, leaning on the wall next to the bouncer and rolling something around in his hand.

"Good evening, gentlemen." He said dully and pushed off the wall. I swallowed uncomfortably when I noticed he'd been playing with a cue ball. He tucked it into his coat pocket and coughed as he surveyed us. His eyes met mine and immediately my heart started to falter. I wanted to look away, I really did, but he was looking peculiarly handsome tonight, with his dark hair slicked back and wearing all black. His eyes stayed glued to my face for only a moment longer than appropriate before he tilted his head towards the door.

"Follow me." We trailed behind Chanyeol as he led us to the dark corner by the coat room. "These are the guards on duty with you tonight." He introduced them to us and they all gave us stiff bows but pretty much exuded the usual amount of contempt for the police force. "They'll be reporting to me, obviously, but feel free to consult with them throughout the night."

"This is boring." Sun-Kyun complained in the earpiece.

"That's because you have a stick up your ass." Kang-Hee mumbled.

"Do you want me to come shove a stick up your ass?" Sun-Kyun grumbled and I sighed.

"Hey. This line isn't for domestic issues." I said quietly and the noise in my ear quieted down. I took a sip of the coke in my glass and swirled it round slowly. Technically all of us were on duty so we couldn't drink, but I wish I could have. I caught another glimpse of Chanyeol when the lights changed. His back was to me, but I knew it was him from the height alone. I almost swallowed my tongue when the guy hanging on his arm snuck his arm around his back and tried to slip it into the back of his pants.

Chanyeol's hand snapped out and he gripped the boy's arm, turning to look at him. It didn't look like he said anything, but the by held up his hands and said backed away a bit. I knew what that felt like. Sometimes Chanyeol didn't need to say anything at all to tell you what he was thinking.

I shook my head to clear it and turned my attention back to where it was supposed to be. Jin-young was still dancing with a group of people he seemed to know and I hadn't noticed anyone approach him yet.

"We meet again." I heard next to me and I swiveled in my chair quickly.

"Il Sung?" I blinked at him in surprise. "What are you..." I gestured around me.

"Ah, I'm having fun tonight." He smiled at me and sat down in the empty chair.

"Of course."

"It's nice to go out once in a while. And Club Park is great. They have the best cocktails."

"Well, the chef here is pretty good too." I'd been surprised when I'd eaten here last time. Maybe I should order another bowl of fried wantons while I was here...

"He is. The best dumpling soup in Seoul."

"Really?"

"Definitely." He tapped on the bar before he leaned on it, looking at me carefully. "Did you like the apples?"

"Oh, they were great." I ran a hand through my hair and blew out a strong huff. "But they're almost done. I might have to take you up on that offer for dinner."

"I might have exaggerated just a bit when I said I could cook." He grinned at me. "I can only cook three things and it gets a little boring at the end of the week." I laughed softly and finished off my glass of coke.

"I see." I was a little flustered when Il Sung raised his hand to touch my hair gently. He pushed a few strands that were in my face away and tucked some behind my ear.

"I'll have to learn something - "

"Baekhyun." I froze at Chanyeol's deep voice right behind me. When had he gotten so close?

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

Tae-moon was tense and annoyed and I didn't blame him at all, but he was irritating me.

"Go downstairs if you're going to act like this." I grumbled to him and he snorted, swallowing his drink and disappearing in the direction of the basement.

"He's just nervous." Se-Hee said and I rolled my eyes. We were all nervous, but I had trusted Baekhyun before and he hadn't let me down yet. I snuck another glance at him sitting by the bar. What the hell was he even wearing? God, when I'd seen him walking up to us in those leather pants, I'd had to recite the alphabet over and over in my head to keep my thoughts focused. I didn't even want to think about the eyeliner...

"Tell me when Fei Ling gets here." I said and was about to move upstairs to the mezzanine when Boy Toy number #5 slid up to me.

"Chanyeol..." He smiled widely.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him. I thought I'd been clear with him about where we stood with each other. I glared at Se-Hee who was conspicuously ignoring me, typing away at nothing on his phone.

"I had to come see you." He purred and leaned closer to me. "I was thinking we could go up to your office again..." He giggled and slipped his hand under my jacket, trying to put his hand in my pants. I huffed internally and grabbed his hand quickly before he felt my gun. I glowered at him for a few seconds and he sighed, holding up his hands.

"Sorry." He said. "I just missed you."

"Go home." I replied and he pouted. It looked stupid on him. Baekhyun had pouted once, when we'd been playing pool in my games room. I don't even know if he'd realized he'd been doing it, but his face had pulled into an adorable scowl when I'd sunk another ball. Then he'd sighed and pursed his lips, pouted in my direction and closed his eyes like Toben, my dog, did when I shouted at him. My mind wandered for a second while I thought about when I could go to my sister's house to visit him, when I caught sight of a man sitting down close to Baekhyun.

"I came all the way out here just to see you." Boy Toy said and my eyes went back to him.

"I can call a taxi for you." I said and he laughed.

"You can call one for me later." He said, walking his fingers along the arm of my jacket. I pulled his arm off me again.

"Look, kid." I said plainly. "What's your name?"

"I..." He blinked at me. "Myung-jun."

"Myung-jun, I'm sure you're a really nice boy..." I started. "But whatever you're looking for with me, I can't give it to you." I looked up at Baekhyun again and he was still talking to the same guy. They were sitting closer now. Did they know each other? He didn't look like one of the officers he'd come in with so they probably weren't work friends. What then?

"But - "

"Excuse me, I have to go do something." I said, already moving away from him.

"I might have exaggerated just a bit when I said I could cook." The man said. "I can only cook three things and it gets a little boring at the end of the week."

"I see." Baekhyun replied and I could feel my jaw tick when the stranger reached up to fix Baekhyun's hair.

"I'll have to learn something - "

"Baekhyun." I said sharply and I could see his shoulders tense. He turned around slowly and frowned at me.

"What?"

"Can I speak to you for a second?" I said and eyed his companion pointedly. Who was this guy? His eyes were so green... They were glaring at me fiercely.

"Speak." Baekhyun said, not moving.

"Alone."

"I'll go." The strange man said and nodded at Baekhyun. "Call me." He said and gave me one more dark look before he left. I don't think I'd ever met anyone with eyes that green before in my life, but something about him was familiar...

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun hissed at me.

"What am I doing?" I pointed in the direction Green Eyes went. "What are YOU doing? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I am working." He huffed and fluffed his hair. His eyes were blazing with anger and he'd never looked sexier. Fuck, that eyeliner...

"I didn't realize the SMPA are paying you to hook up with strangers." I muttered but he must have heard me because he rolled his eyes and got off his chair.

"Il Sung is not a stranger." He said haughtily and I wanted to punch him in the face. The need coursed through me so violently, I had to take a deep breath and flex my hands to calm down. "And I have to socialize. I'm here to look like everyone else, remember? I need to blend in so I can keep an eye on Jin-young."

"Come up to my office." I tilted my head and Baekhyun scoffed out loud.

"I'm not going to your office." He grunted.

"Why?" I moved closer to him and he took a step back, making him knock into the chair behind him. "Scared?"

"Shut up." He said. "I just told you I have to watch Jin-young."

"You can see him pretty clearly from up there." I replied. "My viewing window has an ariel view of the whole dance floor." I reminded him and he paused.

"How does that help? I'll be too far away to do anything." He said. Good, I cheered in my head. He'd be close to me and far away from the danger. Even if he didn't find his killer tonight, I would feel better if Baekhyun was upstairs with me if Tae-moon and his crew started acting up. He wasn't even wearing a vest. I stared at his half open shirt, hating and loving it equally. Baekhyun snapped his fingers in my face and I blinked out of my stupor.

"There are enough of your friends and my guards to keep him safe."

"Can you just go so I can do my - "

"Come upstairs." I interrupted him. "Please." There was a short break in the music to let me say it softly and with enough emotion for Baekhyun to falter in his reserve. I saw it in his eyes when he sneered at me, but sighed like he was disappointed in himself.

I closed the door behind me and Baekhyun wandered over to my desk, stripping out of his jacket. I had to remember how to swallow, watching how his back moved as he took it off. Shit. The leather holster strapped onto his chest came into full view and I licked my lips.

"Is this what you do every day?" He asked as he looked through the window. "Look down on everyone like they're commoners?" He had a smirk in his voice and I tsked.

"I don't think I qualify as royalty."

"Having money is enough." He commented and I joined him by the window.

"I didn't grow up with it." I shrugged.

"No?" He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Mm-mm." I shook my head. "We grew up on the streets. My sister and I. It was rough. I didn't think I'd survive until I met Tae-Joon ssi. Couldn't believe it when he took in all three of us."

"Three?"

"I...Me, my sister and my boyfriend. Seojun." I mumbled.

"You have a boyfriend?" Baekhyun spluttered.

"Ex." I sighed.

"What happened? He realized you were an asshole and left?" I stilled and looked at him carefully.

"I'll let it go because you don't know me." I said in a heated whisper. Baekhyun fluttered his dark lashes at me and I turned back to the window. "He died."

It was quiet for a long time before I felt a small hand on my back.

"I'm sorry."

"I said it's fine." I said roughly.

"Still."

Silence again.

"How did he die?"

"None of your business." I muttered.

"Of course."

The mood in the room had dropped from its tense awkwardness earlier when Baekhyun sighed and checked his watch.

"Does anyone have anything to report?" He said, pressing on whatever it was in his ear. "It's almost Midnight. We're reaching the end of the unsub's kill window. How can there be nothing?" Just as he finished speaking there was static on the radio clipped to my hip.

"BOSS!"

"Gonho?"

"Boss...shit...OK, wait. Damn it."

"Gonho?" I shared a look with Baekhyun who started moving towards my door quickly.

"He was in the bathrooms again. I was doing the regular checks and just walked in and found him lying on the floor."

"Shit." I scrambled after Baekhyun. "Don't touch anything." I shouted at him.

"But Boss...I think he's still alive."

Baekhyun pushed past the guards standing by the door to make sure the other patrons didn't go inside and skidded to a stop in front of the body on the floor.

"Huh?" He breathed. "It's not..." I reached his side just as i was thinking the same thing. "Where's Jin-young?" He asked into his earpiece as he bent down.

"Myung-jun?" I said softly. Baekhyun froze and looked up at me.

"You know him?"

"Boy Toy number #5." Se-hee said from my side. When had he gotten here? Baekhyun looked at me oddly but turned his attention back to Myung-jun. He pulled out some gloves from God knew where and touched his neck gently, leaning over him and putting his ear without the earpiece in it to his mouth.

"Holy shit, he's still breathing." He gasped.

"I'll get the car." Se-Hee said and left the bathroom.

"Car?" Baekhyun said as he pushed Myung-jun's eye lids back. "Does anyone have a torch?" I handed him my phone and dropped to a squat next to him.

"We can't call for an ambulance." I explained. "It would just cause chaos again. And besides, it's faster. The average ambulance response time in Seoul is over 15 minutes." I checked...after Seojun. Baekhyun shone the torch into Myung-jun's eyes. I don't know what he was looking for, but he nodded and handed back my phone.

"OK. Well, how will we get him out of here, then? We can't move his neck too much." I pinched my lips and steadied myself before reaching out and picking Myung-jun up in my arms carefully. I tucked his head in the crook of my elbow to keep it still.

"He's fine." I said when Baekhyun squawked. "Gonho."

"Got it." I followed behind him as he cleared the way for me to the back of the club.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"Is he going to be OK?" Jin-young asked me as we stood next to each other looking through the door into the hospital room. I had volunteered to be on guard duty to look after Myung-jun until someone from the station could come in and watch him.

"I don't know. The doctors say they don't know how long he was deprived of oxygen for. We'll only know when he wakes up." I replied quietly.

"IF he wakes up." He whispered and I curled my hand into a fist. If. I was angry. With as many police officers and twice as many of Chanyeol's guards surrounding the club, the unsub had still managed to get past all of us unawares. The fact that Gonho had even decided to go into the bathroom at that time at all had been luck. If he'd been just a few minutes earlier he might have caught him...

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Sorry?" I blinked at him. "What for?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I thought...that if I tried hard enough to look like the other victims, that he might pick me. But he didn't. I must not have done a good job."

"No, don't be ridiculous." I muttered and gave him a pat on the back. "This isn't your fault. It's mine. I don't have enough variables yet for the profile to stick."

"If it's not my fault, then it's not yours either, hyung." He said and I smiled at him.

"Go home, Jin-young. Get some sleep. You have class tomorrow."

"But - "

"I'll call you if he wakes up." I lied and he nodded hesitantly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He sighed and looked into the room one more time before he left.

"Want some?" Chanyeol asked with a deep rumble and I had to fight to keep my voice neutral.

"I'm fine."

"It's just coffee."

"I said I'm fine."

"Baekhyun."

I ignored him.

"You should have it while it's still hot." He tried again. I sighed loudly and took out my phone to check the time. They had better send someone over quick or I was going to punch Chanyeol in the face.

"Suit yourself." He said haughtily and took a sip before pushing the door open and stepping into the hospital room. I watched him as he set both of the paper cups down on the table and walked over to the bed. The small part of me that had been simmering with jealously ever since I'd heard that our latest victim was someone Chanyeol had been with before, burst into flames and I wanted to take that hot coffee and toss it in his face.

What the hell was wrong with me? I should be happy. I had been pissed at Chanyeol when he'd interrupted my conversation with Il Sung earlier. I'd been hoping that if the night had ended with no sign of the unsub, I might have gone over to his place for a late dinner and maybe...something more. But the second I saw Chanyeol pick up Myung-jun carefully and carry him to the car for us to take us to the hospital, Il Sung had become the furthest thing from my mind.

I hated how delicately Chanyeol had wiped Myung-jun's head with a handkerchief from his pocket and I hated how he spoke softly to him now, touching his face again. I couldn't hear him, but Chanyeol's face was soft with emotion and a patience I'd never seen on his face when he spoke to me. I scoffed out loud in disgust and tapped at my phone again. When the hell were the other officers going to get here?

I hung up the phone with a groan, staring up at the rotting ceiling of the SMPA police station and wished the world would finish fucking with me already. I'd had enough, honestly. Just how much more was I supposed to be able to take before it was appropriate for me to lose my shit?

"Hey sexy." Hyun-Jae said with a smirk as he got to his desk.

"Fuck you." I hissed with venom and his eyes widened.

"Well, good morning to you too." He mumbled and clicked his pen. "I take it last night didn't go as planned?"

"It was bullshit." I slammed my file on the table and pulled out a new set of medical gloves from my desk drawer. I had to get to another homicide across town. "Everything is just bullshit lately." I muttered. "And now I have a witness for my latest homicide, but she's a 60 year old landlady who is also clinically blind."

"Ouch..." Hyun-Jae winced sympathetically. "What kind of shitty month have you been having?"

"Tell me about it." I grunted and waved as I left.

I was just putting on my seat belt when my phone rang.

"Please tell me he's awake." I muttered.

"Nothing yet." Chanyeol replied and I groaned out loud, banging my head against the head rest.

"Fuck."

"They said it might be a few days. They still don't know."

"I'm so fucking sick of this case." I sighed. "I don't have a few days. If someone interrupted this guy and he finds out Myung-jun is still alive, he's going to be furious and he might go off his usual MO."

"His MO?" Chanyeol asked.

"He might come back for him and decide strangulation isn't worth it anymore." Just doing that would mess with his ingrained schedule and if he decided waiting once a week wasn't enough anymore... I was screwed.

"Don't worry about sending officers down here. I'll have a few people watching him from now on." He answered and my chest squeezed tight.

"You don't have to - "

"I want to." He replied. "I owe him that much."

"If that's what you want..." I whispered, trying to clear my throat as quietly as I could.

"Baekhyun..." Chanyeol started and my spine straightened.

"I have to go." I said tersely and hung up quickly.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"Kwang Do, I'm going to head home for a bit." I told him and he nodded as he checked his watch.

"Sure, Boss. If I'm not here when you get back, have a good night." I slapped him on the shoulder and tugged my phone out of my pocket as I walked up to the bank of elevators.

"What?" Baekhyun answered gruffly and I held back a sigh.

"I was just calling to give you an update."

"Is he awake?" I heard rustling in the background and a muffled curse as something fell.

"Not yet. They said that there's a little swelling in his brain so they're waiting for that to ...are you OK?" I asked just as an elevator dinged and the doors opened for me.

"Hold on." He huffed and there was some more rustling for a while. "Sorry. My noodles ..." He sighed again. "What were you saying?"

"You know what, I'll call you back." I said and hung up before he could answer.

I hit redial when I got out of my car.

"Chanyeol, you know some of us are busy people and - "

"Open the door."

"What?" He breathed and I put down my package so I could knock on the door. There was a moment of silence and then the door in front of me swung open. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought food." I said, picking up my package again and shoving it into his hands.

"What?"

"I think the correct response would be 'Thank you'." I said and pushed past him into his house.

"Wha - I ...Who said you could come inside?"

"You were the one who said you didn't want your neighbours to see me." I blinked at him and he sneered as he closed the door.

"That doesn't mean you can just walk in." He muttered and opened the packet in his hands. "What is this?"

"I already told you it was food." I said, taking off my jacket and hanging it over the back of the chair he had been sitting on. The laptop on the table was still on and I could see scribbles of his notes beside it.

"Don't look at those." He said, slapping at my hand when I tried to flip through his notebook. "I mean...Why are you bringing me food?" I shrugged and leaned my hip against the desk.

"You mentioned noodles when I called. I was going to get food anyway so I brought you something better." I mumbled. To be honest, it wasn't really just about feeding Baekhyun. When I'd heard he was eating noodles at this time of the night, his conversation with that green-eyed idiot from this weekend had flashed through my mind. Now there was no reason to call him, right? At least for tonight.

"Chicken and beer?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"What, you don't like chicken?" I frowned.

"I don't like beer." He shot back and dropped the food on the table. "Wait here. Don't touch anything."

Baekhyun groaned loudly and sank back into his seat, patting his stomach gently.

"Oh man, that was good."

"It would have been better with beer." I shook my half empty can.

"Cola is just fine. And I'm working." He mumbled, closing his eyes. I downed the rest of the can quickly and squashed it in my hand.

"You're always working."

"Perks of being a - " I let out a loud burp and Baekhyun's eyes flew open. "Did you just..." His nose wrinkled cutely and I laughed. "Don't laugh, that was disgusting."

"Oh come on, everybody burps."

"Not like that." He replied with wide eyes and I leaned forward in my seat so I was closer to his face. When I burped again, he spluttered and waved his hands in the air. "Jesus, get away from me."

"Now you do one." I said.

"Never."

"Come on!" I opened my mouth and he slapped his hand over it quickly.

"If you burp in my face again, I'll throw you out the window, I swear." He laughed. I held up my hands to show acquiesce and he moved his hand.

"I still say beer is better." I grumbled and he stuck out his tongue at me. He rolled his eyes at me and stood up.

"You need to go home. I have work to do and you stink." He said.

"I feed you and you're kicking me out?" I gasped and he pursed his lips stubbornly. "In case you forgot, OFFICER, I was just drinking. Do you really want me back on the road right now?"

"You're barely even buzzed." He eyed me carefully. "And it's DETECTIVE. There's a difference."

"Whatever." I waved away his explanation and stood up too. "I can just stay here, right?"

"EXCUSE ME?"

"You slept over at my house." I argued and his mouth slammed shut. His jaw ticked minutely and he ran a hand through his curls before he grunted in defeat.

"Fine. You can stay."

I took the spare toothbrush Baekhyun had given me and brushed my teeth while he went back to his work laid out on the dining table. After I washed my face and my hair to get rid of the hair gel, I undressed and shuffled back into his bedroom. It was much smaller than mine, and the colours were lighter, but I liked it. It suited him.

I almost laughed when I slipped under the covers and my feet hung over the end of the bed. I had forgotten mine had been custom made for a reason. Fuck, he was tiny. I rolled over and wriggled around until I was lying on the bed diagonally and it was only marginally more comfortable. Baekhyun was right, I was still fairly sober and I could have driven myself home easily but I just...didn't want to leave just yet.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but when my eyes opened later, I saw Baekhyun getting undressed next to his chest of drawers. I let my eyes rove over his back as he took off his shirt. The muscles under his skin rippled and I followed the lines of his curves all the way down as he dragged his sweat pants down over his ass. I felt a sharp pang of regret that I hadn't gotten a close look at it yet. Fuck, it was perfect. Round and soft and -

"Go to sleep, Chanyeol."

"I was waiting for you." I said hoarsely and he looked at me over his shoulder.

"I have to go to the hospital and check on Myung-jun." He replied.

"My guards will call me if anything happens." I muttered. "You should come to bed."

"I'm not sleeping with you, Chanyeol."

"I - "

"There's no space. Where am I supposed to sleep?" He kicked the corner of the bed and I tapped on my chest.

"Here." He snorted out loud and put the shirt in his hand on.

"Baekhyun..."

"I'll sleep on the couch." I sat up quickly and grabbed for his hand before he could get very far.

"Just sleep here. I'll behave. I promise." He looked at me like I was speaking Mandarin. "I promise." I held up my pinky finger and he scoffed softly, smacking it away but after a moment he joined me on the bed.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I was so warm. I snuggled deeper into my blankets and sighed happily when even warmer hands slipped around my waist and pulled me closer. My skin tingled deliciously when a stubbled chin dragged along the side of my neck and warm breath blew across my jaw before a soft kiss pressed against it. Thank God I had the day off today so I could lie in and enjoy...wait a minute...

My eyes flew open just as my alarm starting ringing somewhere in my room. Shit.

"Turn it off..." Chanyeol groaned and I scrambled away from him as I felt around in the dark for my phone. I found it in my pants on floor and swiped my finger across it to shut it up. I threw it at him when he rolled over and covered his head with the blankets.

"Hey. You need to go." I stammered as my heart beat frantically in my chest.

"Baekhyun. The sun isn't even out yet." He mumbled into the pillow.

"I have to go to work." I lied and he didn't even twitch. "Hey."

"I don't know what's louder." He grumbled, pushing the covers back. "You or your alarm."

I stumbled to a stop when I got out of the shower and found Chanyeol was still in my house, head stuck inside my refrigerator.

"I don't have any food." I said almost proudly. "So you'll have to leave if you want breakfast."

"What are you talking about?" He blinked at me when he stood up again, sliding a jar of pickled vegetables across my table until it gently hit a dish piled high with eggs and sausages. What the hell?

"Where the fuck did that come from?" I mumbled, forgetting about wiping my hair and drifting towards the delicious smelling food on the table.

"Your cupboards."

"You can cook?"

"Why does that surprise you?" He sniffed and opened the jar with a pop as he sat down. It just did. He didn't look like type who knew his way around a kitchen. And judging from the smell, he wasn't half bad either. "Hurry up and get dressed. Then we can go visit Myung-jun and I'll drop you off at work."

"I can drive myself." I said, my hackles raising a little.

"I'll drive you." He said firmly.

"I - "

"If you keep making me stare at your nipples..." He said quietly. "I'm going to assume it's because you want me to taste them again."

I bolted.

"Anything?" Chanyeol asked as he slipped out of his coat and handed it to one of his guards.

"No one has come to see him other than the nurses." The man answered, looking at me briefly over his bosses shoulder. "He hasn't woken up yet." That sent a spike of worry through me. If he hasn't woken up yet...how long would he be like this? I needed him to wake up so he could tell us if he remembered anything about his attacker.

"Did you find his parents?"

"Not yet, Boss." The other guard answered. "They might be out of the country." Chanyeol stepped into the room and walked over to Myung-jun lying in the bed. He brushed his hand softly over his forehead and I had to bite my tongue to keep from making a disgusted noise.

He had some balls, that was for sure. He'd been in my house just this morning teasing me about my nipples of all things and here he was acting like a doting boyfriend right in front of my face. Inconsiderate asshole.

"I wasn't very nice to Myung-jun the other night." Chanyeol said quietly. "Or any of the ...other nights. So I feel like I should at least make sure he's OK as long as I have the chance to. To make up for being an ass." He looked up at me.

"O...K?" I stared at him blankly. What exactly was I supposed to do with that information?

"It doesn't mean much more than that." He said. "Me being here."

"It has nothing to do with me." I murmured and he smiled as he sauntered closer to me.

"Baekhyun. Can I just - "

"Boss." One of the guards poked his head in the room. "Mr Kim wants to see you."

"Today?"

"Now." Chanyeol coughed and shook his head.

"I'll see him later. I still have some business to take care of." He muttered looking at me pointedly.

"I told you I can drive myself." I mumbled to him and rolled my eyes because it was too late now. My car was back at my house. "Never mind. If Myung-jun isn't awake yet, I can just catch a taxi."

"Han-myong can drive you." He tossed his keys in the air and Han-myong caught them one handed.

"Boss?"

"He needs to go to work." The guards eyes widened and he chewed on his lip as he looked at me. I just sighed silently and turned on my heels, heading out the door and back to the elevator. Just as the doors were closing, Han-myong skidded into the elevator and heaved a sigh of relief, smiling at me a little.

"You don't have to drive me to the station." I said, fiddling with my sleeves.

"It's cool. I was getting bored standing around anyway."

"What are you doing here?" Hyun-Jae asked when I sat down at my desk. "I thought it was your day off..."

"I have no fucking idea." I grunted and paged through the papers lying on my desk. "I couldn't sleep."

"You can't sleep..." He blinked at me incredulously. "So you decided to come to work?" I shrugged. I hadn't known how else to get away from Chanyeol for the day.

"Where's Jin-young?"

"The shooting range." Hyun-Jae tsked and flicked a piece of paper in his hand. "Want to help me with something?" He asked.

"Why not?" I huffed. I had nothing else to do right now.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I gaped at Hyun-Jae.

"You said yes! You can't back out now." He grinned at me evilly and I wanted to pull my hair out. I settled for elbowing Hyun-Jae in the ribs violently. He chuckled as he set down his mini evidence collection kit.

"What the hell happened?" I asked as I stared at the car in front of me.

"Most likely gang related. No one else carries that much ammo on a regular weekend." He groaned when he snapped on a pair of gloves and handed me my own pair. "Mai says there should be at least 70 shell casings in here. We need to collect them all and mark the make and calibre on each pack."

"Oh my God." Looking at the car, there had to be more than 50 on this side alone. The other side of the car was just as damaged and the windscreen ...

"Come on. I want to be out of here by lunch time." He clapped his hands and we got to work.

"I'm only seeing .44s and .22s. What about you?" Hyun-Jae asked.

"I got a couple of .223s..." I muttered and peered at the one in my hand. Why was there American Military Grade ammunition in what seemed like the street version of a cat fight.

"Shit."

"Are you sure this is gang related?" I peeked around the open car door at Hyun-Jae sitting with his own packets of collected shell casings.

"It looked that way. My vic is the only witness. She gave us some street names of the guys they saw ditch this car." He grumbled and scratched his chin. I looked down at my hand again and rolled the bullet around in my hand, holding it up to the light. Semi-automatic AR-15s... If this really was gang related, then we were in deep shit.

"Bet you're glad you switched to Homicide now, huh?"

"Hardly." I muttered.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"Where have you been?" Mr Kim demanded as soon as I stepped inside the meeting room in his private house just outside of Seoul.

"I've been busy." I said as I pulled on my sleeves and sat down in the last empty chair. I hadn't even wanted to come. These meetings didn't involve me anymore but it was hard to say no to Uncle Tae-Joon sometimes.

"Busy." Tae-Moon snorted and faced his father. "Did you know he's been seeing someone?" Mr Kim paused with his hand in the air.

"Would this be the same young man I met in your office recently?" He asked me and my desire to leave increased exponentially.

"You've met him?" Tae-Moon asked eyes wide.

"He seems nice."

"He's a cop." Tae-Moon half-yelled and everyone in the room went silent. I ignored the eyes staring at me and focused on my adoptive father. His face gave away nothing.

"Right. As I was saying... We seem to having a problem with a few of the next shipments."

"Appa." Tae-Moon said but Uncle Tae-Joon stopped him with a stiff hand and he continued with the meeting.

"Did anyone hear about the shooting last night?"

"The one in Jongno?"

"That one." Ye-Sung snapped his fingers. "I heard the Americans were trying to get to Jang Dong-Min. His car has more holes in it that a sieve."

"I heard about that. But it's nothing to worry about. The Americans are not a threat right now." Mr Kim said as he stood up. "Our biggest problem right now is cutting off all trade ports for those new party favours. Let me know how it goes. Chanyeol. Come with me."

I got a few more looks around the table as I got up and followed Uncle Tae-Joon to the sliding doors that let to the garden at the back of the house.

He was quiet as we walked down the path until he got to the little bridge I used to love to hang my legs off of when I was a kid.

"Chanyeol."

"Tae-Joon ssi. Do we really have to do this?"

"I'm worried about you." He looked at me seriously.

"There's nothing to worry about." I sighed.

"I think you having a little fling with the law enforcement is not 'Nothing to worry about.' Hmm?" He coughed and glanced down at the water again. "This can only end badly."

"Really, everyone is just making a mountain out of a mole hill with this." I mumbled. "Even if he is a police officer, like you said...it's just a fling. It's not like we're getting married." I said, my throat getting tighter with every word. I meant them, but Baekhyun didn't feel like 'just a fling' entirely. There was something special about him even now.

"Good. Have your fun and walk away." He said plainly. "You don't have time for this right now. You need to come home soon."

"I already told you I'm not coming home." I whispered.

"It's time to grow up, Chanyeol. What's in the past is in the the past. Everyone else has moved on."

"Everyone except Seojun." I said getting irritated now. "He doesn't get to move on."

"How can he when you won't let him rest in peace?" Uncle Tae-Joon hissed angrily. "I've given you years. Soon it will be time to give them back to me." He spat and walked off back into the house. I flexed my hands and huffed out a heavy breath. Damn it.

My phone was still silent when I drove back into Seoul later that night, but I still drove over to the hospital to check on Myung-jun.

"Nothing new, Boss." Gonho said and gave me a pat on the back as I went into his room. He looked so different lying there in the bed. He was usually full of energy and seeing him look so still was disturbing.

After checking that the nurses weren't slacking, I left him another set of new clothes and got back in my car. I gripped the steering wheel as I stared at the street lights for a long time wondering if going home right now was something I really wanted to do. At this time of the night the club would be busy but it was always quiet upstairs. And cold. I started the car when my mind was made up.

"What are you doing here?" Baekhyun asked as soon as he opened his door. I held up the packet of food in my hand.

"You hungry?" He blinked at it with his mouth open for a while.

"You brought me food yesterday already." I had. I was going insane, I really was. But I didn't want him to sit around long enough to consider calling that green-eyed weirdo from the club for dinner. It was driving me crazy just thinking about it.

"I know Police Officers are busy, but eating is generally something normal people do often." I said blandly. He raised his eyebrow at me and I held up the other packet in my hand. "I brought cola too. No beer." He kept me standing like that for ages before he huffed and took the packets from my hand. I trailed behind him and closed the door behind me.

"You're going to make me gain 200 pounds." Baekhyun grunted as he sat back, biting into another piece of chicken. The oil made his lips shiny with grease and they looked tantalizingly delicious and pink. "Yixing is going to kill me."

"Yixing?"

"My trainer." He groaned and wiped his mouth with a napkin before he reached for his can of cola.

"Ah." I nodded and stood up to tidy up.

"Do you go to the gym?" He asked me and then looked like he regretted it, swallowing hard. "I mean... You look like you do."

"I have a private gym in my apartment." I answered with a small smile.

"Of course you do." He mumbled as he followed me into the kitchen. "You probably have a piano too." I stared blankly at him and he laughed. "Don't all rich people always just have pianos lying around?" I did have a piano actually but I didn't say anything. "Hey, you don't have to do the dishes..."

"It's fine."

"I can do them." I knew as soon as I had no reason to be in his house anymore, Baekhyun would want me gone.

"Don't you have work to do?" I nudged him away from me and he drifted back to his living room.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"Don't you have work to do?" Chanyeol pushed me gently and I shuffled into my living room a little defeated. I didn't know what to do. I'd been dead on my feet after going to work on my day off and I'd come home intent on crashing until my alarm rang, when Chanyeol had shown up at my door.

Honestly I'd forgotten to eat during the day and the second the aroma of hot fried chicken had hit my nose, my stomach had pinched desperately. I wanted so badly to send him back to where he came from but it smelled so good and he had looked so sad... Still looked sad.

I picked up a case file I was working on but I couldn't focus. What would make a man as self possessed as Chanyeol sad? The only time I had ever seen the same look on his face was when he'd been talking about his ex...

When I shifted my case files to my unsolved box, a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. I sucked in a breath when I picked it up and saw it was Il-Sung's card. It was a plain card; black and white with a simple font. I had forgotten about Il-Sung. Should I call him back? Chanyeol had interrupted our conversation at the club, but I was still interested and I might be busy right now but when I had time -

A slight pain started in my chest and I rubbed at it gently. As much as I tried to think about Il-Sung and his green green eyes, all I kept seeing in my head was sad dark brown ones and legs that went on for days and big ears and -

"You should really get a dishwasher." Chanyeol mumbled as he ambled out the kitchen.

"I live alone." I scoffed and stuffed the card in my sweat pants pocket.

"Did you just move in?" He asked as he looked around the nearly empty house.

"No." I stacked the rest of my papers on my desk in the paperwork box. "I've been here a few years." He raised his eyebrow at me but said nothing. We stared at each other in silence for a good minute or so before Chanyeol sighed quietly and picked up his coat.

"I should go. I still have some people watching Myung-Jun so I'll call you if - "

"You don't have to go." It slipped out of my mouth unconsciously. He stilled with one arm in his coat. "You don't have to." I coughed gently to clear my throat and fiddled with the stapler on my desk.

"Aren't you busy?" He asked softly.

"I'm always busy." I shot back and shifted on my feet uncomfortably. This was bad. I could feel it in the way my breathing changed and my chest squeezed. I should be focusing on someone normal like Il-Sung. Someone like Chanyeol would always be a problem, whether they wanted to be or not.

"Baekhyun - "

"I'm gonna go take a shower." I mumbled and made my way down the hallway to my room. I tossed my clothes on the floor while I waited for the water to heat up and I was climbing into the steamy glass cubicle when I heard the bathroom door behind me. I held my breath for too many seconds waiting for the shower door to open and when Chanyeol stepped inside and trailed his fingers up the length of my wet back, I let it go in a shaky huff.

The water was loud and I couldn't hear much besides my own ragged breathing when Chanyeol dragged his lips along the back of my neck. I was hard already but feeling his mouth on my neck made me gasp with how painfully I needed him to touch me more.

"God..." I muttered and I leaned back as his hands curled around my waist and pulled me flat against him. I could feel him hot and heavy on my back and I closed my eyes to savour the feeling. I reached back to hold on to him and I could feel him groan when my hips started to roll slowly. When was the last time I'd felt like this? The thought made my heart beat faster.

I tilted my head to give him better access to my neck and he latched onto it greedily, biting at my flesh and lapping at it tenderly with his tongue after. I shivered when his hand disappeared between my legs and he tapped on my thigh lightly.

"Open." He ordered huskily in my ear. The small part of me that didn't like to be told what to do almost resisted just to see what he would do to me, but I was tired and it felt so good, my legs fell open obediently. I moaned softly when his warm fingers ventured between my crack and fuuuuck.

"Chanyeol..."

"I know." He grunted and reached out to turn off the water. With the noise gone, the sound of my own harsh panting filled my ears. "Come on." I let him drag me out of the shower and tripped over my own feet until I landed on my bed with a huff. I sucked in a sharp breath when I looked up at him looming over me. Jesus, did people really have bodies like this? All lines and curves and endless bronze skin...

I didn't have long to admire the man in front of me before he was on top of me and going for my neck again. He was going to drive me crazy at this rate.

"Please tell me you have - "

"Side drawer." I gasped and he crawled over me to reach it. While he was digging around in my drawer for lube and a stray condom, I leaned up and dragged my tongue across his skin.

"Baekhyun." He laughed, but I did it again and he growled low in his throat. I shifted down a little lower which put my face right in line with his cock and wrapped my hand around it so I could suck on the tip. Chanyeol hissed above me. "Shit." I purred happily while he squirmed above me until he pulled back sharply and slipped out of my mouth.

"Don't. I don't want to come so quickly." He murmured and sat back, tearing open the condom with his teeth. I watched him put it on with hungry eyes and opened my legs for him again when he crawled between them. This time when his fingers pushed inside me, the sting wasn't so bad. "Fuck, if you feel like this on my fingers..." He moaned as he slipped another in, thrusting them slowly in and out.

"Fuck me..." I whined softly and Chanyeol took his own sweet time before he pulled his fingers out and pressed against me with his cock. He took his own time again still, working the tip inside so slowly I thought I was going to die. "Chanyeol... faster."

"I don't want to hurt you." He grumbled and I almost laughed. I looked down at him between my legs.

"You won't." I breathed. "Please..."

"Just let me - "

"Fuck, Chanyeol, I won't break." I whispered. Still he was moving too slow. "Chanyeol, if you don't - " He slammed so hard into me that my breath left me in a whoosh and my lungs stopped working. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was reach out to grip his arms tightly, digging my nails into his skin.

"Baekhyun?" He whispered. "Are you OK?" I could barely make my mouth move and my eyes were starting to tear up and I was blinking rapidly as I stared up at the ceiling. Fuck, WAS I OK? After a few seconds my breath came back to me and I sucked in a deep one as I assessed how I was feeling. The pain had passed now and all I felt was... "Baekhyun." Chanyeol's face appeared in front of mine.

"I'm fine." I mumbled and pulled him closer to me, sneaking my arms around him and clawing at his back. "I'm fine." I said again and finally, FINALLY he started to move.

I rolled over and shut off my alarm when it started to beep. Urgh, was it that time again already? I squinted in the dark at my clock and groaned out loud when I saw my phone wasn't lying. I almost got a fright when something...someone shifted in the bed. Shit. Chanyeol's dark hair was poking out from under the blankets and I had to take a moment to wonder if I had in fact been that stupid. The dull ache that radiated through my body told me that I HAD and I sighed silently. Fuck.

I got dressed for work slowly and quietly so I wouldn't wake him up, clipping on my holster and grabbing my badge, hanging it around my neck.

"Hyung?" I froze when I saw Jin-young waiting for me at my desk, a tall cup of coffee in his hands and a smile on his face.

"Jin-young. You're here already?" I took the coffee from him with a small nod if thanks.

"I had to come in early for a briefing." He shrugged. "I had breakfast at the café across the street so I got you a coffee." Hyun-jae, who was watching from behind his computer screen snorted softly. I ignored him.

"Thank you. I needed it." I moaned as I sat down too hard. Jesus, fucking Chanyeol.

"I thought you had the day off?" Jin-young looked at me with a frown.

"Please. This sad bastard came in yesterday because he was 'couldn't sleep'." Hyun-Jae piped up.

"What?" Jin-young spluttered and I shrugged.

"I was bored."

"You what the best way to get some sleep is?" Hyun-Jae said as he grabbed his stack of reports. "Get laid." I balled up a loose piece of paper and threw it at his head. He cackled loudly when it bounced off his hair.

"Shut up. Jin-young is a baby!" I yelled after him.

"You do know I'm like, old enough to have sex, right?" He laughed next to me.

"Whatever." I grumbled.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I rolled my shoulders and groaned as they popped loudly. I'd been at this crime scene for four hours now and it was starting to grate on my nerves

"Can we speed this up please? I'd like to solve this case before next year." I grunted and the M.E shot me a dark look.

"I'm moving as fast as I can." I returned his stare with one of my own and he muttered under his breath as he went back to work moving the body onto the stretcher with help from his assistant.

Once the body was up, I motioned to Jin-young to start taking photos again. The amount of blood on the floor was enough for me to agree with my initial assessment that the victim, 45 year old Kim Hye-rim, was killed in this room. That meant the blood in the bathroom was probably from the killer washing his hands before he left.

"Did you manage to get some plaster?" I asked him when he was done and pulled on some fresh gloves.

"Right here." He patted a box next to his feet and I nodded once.

"You can go cast the footprints outside. I'll finish up inside."

"Sure."

I collected some more samples and put them away carefully in my evidence bag. It looked like most of the blood was the victims, but there were a few drops away from where the body had been that I was hoping was the killers. With the defence wounds on my victims arms and legs, she hadn't gone down without a fight.

The drive back to the station was quiet; Jin-young was asleep in the passenger seat and only stirred when I nudged him gently after I parked the car.

"Come on. We just need to drop this off then you can go home." I coaxed him out of the car and he mumbled sleepily.

"I'm fine. I can - "

"You can fill out paperwork tomorrow." I interrupted him and he sniffed, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"Thanks, hyung."

"Don't worry about it."

Jin-young left not long after he'd dropped off and labeled all the evidence he'd been responsible for and I yawned as I sat down at my desk again. To be honest I was just as tired as Jin-young but I was scared to go home. What if Chanyeol was there again, waiting for me? I had left him alone in bed this morning and I wasn't sure what he was thinking now. I wasn't sure what I was thinking now either. Once, twice...three times. It would be ridiculous to call it a mistake again. I had just been infinitely weak and stupid. Why did I turn into a useless pile of hormones when he was around?

I shook my head and tried to focus on the work in front of me. Blood swabs. DNA samples. Fingerprints. The list was starting to blur in front of me when Fei Long from the Organized Crimes AKA Gang Unit came up to my desk.

"Can you look over these for me quickly?" She asked, handing me a few sheets of paper.

"What is it?"

"You were working with Hyun-Jae on the car, right? He went home already so can you tell me if the casings are a match?"

"You found the other car?" I asked as I paged through her notes. "Yeah, it looks about the same." Magnums and AR-15s... I'd never seen Chanyeol with a gun, but if he'd grown up with the likes of Kim Tae-Moon, he had to have one, right?

"Thanks. I'll give this to my team leader then." She smiled at me and I pursed my lips as I gave her back her papers.

"You've been with the Gang Unit for a while now, right?"

"A few years." She nodded, leaning against my desk. "Why, what's up?"

"What do you know about the Kims family?"

"THE Kims?" She hummed and shrugged her shoulders. "Kkangpae born and raised. What else is there to know?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a file on ...Park Chanyeol, would you?" I asked carefully.

"Park Chanyeol?" She frowned. "I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

"Oh." I blinked and coughed lightly. "It's just...this case I'm working on. I keep ending up at his club, Grand Park."

"I can have a look for you if its important?"

"Please?" I gave her my best puppy dog eyes and she scoffed.

"Don't look at me like that. I'll be back."

When the file landed on my desk, I didn't know what to do. I'd asked for it on a whim in the hopes that I could put my mind at ease about what kind of man Chanyeol was. But now ...I was scared. What if I didn't like what I found inside this file?

It didn't seem very big which was a plus. I flipped the cover open but I took a deep breath before I looked down at it.

Park Chanyeol. 27. Other than his sister, no known living blood relatives. Adopted by Kim Tae-Joon at an undisclosed age. All of this wasn't news to me so I relaxed a little. It didn't seem like there was much to be worried about other than the fact that I could still get fired for sleeping with someone who was a part of an open murder investigation.

The next page made me pause. Open investigations. Lee Seojun. My lungs felt airy and I could hardly breathe until I read that Chanyeol had been cleared as a possible suspect in his boyfriend's murder, as well as a few of his close friends. Murder? Stabbed multiple times, declared DOA at SNU Hospital. Besides knowing how he died, there hadn't been much progress with the investigation. No useful evidence collected. No witnesses. No viable suspects.

I was about to take a look at the crime scene photos when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Ne, Omma."

"Are you still at work?" She asked and I checked the time. Damn, it was late.

"I'm leaving now." I gushed, standing up quickly and closing the file, tucking it in my bag and rushing for the door. "What is it?"

"When will you have time to meet someone if you're always at work?"

"I have plenty of time to meet people, Mom." I murmured as I got into my car. "What is it?" I asked again.

"I was calling to ask if you know where your father put his box of suits. He can't remember and I was thinking about donating a few."

"You..." I let out a half-crazed laugh. "You called me at 11:30 at night to ask about something DAD put away? I don't know where it is..."

"Well, can't you guess at least?" She huffed. "I've looked everywhere."

"Did you check in the garage?" I asked and she stayed silent. "Check the garage, Mom. I have to go, OK? I'm driving."

"Thank you, darling. I'll check there. Be careful, hmm?"

"You too. Love you."

I was just getting out the shower when I heard a knock at my door. My body froze and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I didn't get that many visitors who would come visit this late...

"Oh." I deflated when I saw it wasn't Chanyeol on the other side of the door, but one of his bodyguards. "Gonho, right?" He smiled briefly and held out his hands which were holding a large paper bag.

"My boss wants me to tell you that he's sorry. He's a little busy and can't come over, but he wanted to make sure you have something to eat tonight." I blinked at that and glanced at the bag again. More food? The smell coming from the bag was insanely tempting...

"He said he's busy?" I asked as I took the bag from Gonho's hands.

"Unfortunately." It seemed like a bit much that he sent his guard all the way out to my house just to say he was busy when he could have called just as easily. Not that I was complaining. My mother always said free food tasted better...

"Tell him I said thanks." I told Gonho who nodded seriously and left abruptly, stalking back to a black car idling on the road. I peeked inside the bag. Chinese. Nice.

I was surprised when the following day, Gonho was back at my door again with another apology and a bag in his hands. And the next day. And the next day again.

"Yah. Tell your boss if he doesn't know what to do with his money, he should buy a piano." I grumbled as I opened the door. There was so much leftover food sitting in my fridge it was starting to get ridiculous.

"I'll pass that along." Gonho said gravely and I sighed heavily when he left again. Honestly. What was Chanyeol trying to do anyway? Was this his way of avoiding me because of what happened the other night? Maybe he just didn't want to see me again and he thought food would be a good way to keep me happy. He wasn't wrong but... as the days had gone by, I'd started to miss him just a little bit. Only a little. He hadn't even called to give me updates on Myung-Jun anymore who was still unconscious in hospital.

"You OK?" Jin-young asked me when we got to another taped off crime scene.

"I'm fine." I mumbled and ducked under the tape, showing my badge to the on duty officer guarding the door. He stepped aside to let me through the door and as soon as I entered the house, I knew today was going to be a bad day.

"Holy fuck..." Jin-young gasped behind me and I pinched my lips. Holy fuck was right. Blood splatter covered the bare wall of the living room in front of us and slumped on the floor were two bodies.

"Is that - "

"Let's get to work. Hae-won will be here soon." I replied.

It was hard to keep a straight face as we worked our way throughout the house. Everywhere I looked all I could see where toys that the little boy in the living room had probably played with during the day while his mother went about doing what mothers did. Toys he would never play with again. My hands were shaking when I took a picture of a small hand print on the wall near the top of the stairs. Shit.

The mood was sombre when Hae-won finally arrived and declared the obvious cause of death. She squeezed my shoulder just before she left.

"Do me a favour?" She whispered. "Don't spend tonight alone."

"I'm fine." I lied.

"Baekhyun. Promise me?" She said firmly. "If you spend the night alone, all you'll think about is this. So promise me." I sniffed in exasperation, but I gave her a small nod.

"I promise."

"Good. I'll call you when I have time."

Even the weather was sombre when I finally left the station that evening. Cold and rainy. I didn't have an umbrella but I didn't even care how wet I was when I got into my car. I was about to take a left turn that would lead me to my house when I remembered my promise to Hae-won. Don't spend tonight alone.

I barely even thought about it before I veered right and headed towards Club Eleven.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I banged my head on the glass I was leaning on and heaved out a long sigh that made it mist over. There was a knock at the door and I saw Gonho's reflection as he strode inside.

"Thanks, Gonho." I muttered, not bothering to turn to face him. He must be annoyed with me by now, making him drive all the way out to Baekhyun's house just to deliver some food to him. Tae-Moon was here again tonight though. Watching me. I knew every night he was reporting back to his father, and for now it just felt easier to take a step back from Baekhyun for a second to let things cool down with Mr Kim. I did not need him breathing down my neck again any time soon.

"I have a message for you." Gonho said with what sounded like a smirk and I was intrigued enough that I did turn now to look at him now.

"A message? From who?"

"From your little detective." I raised my eyebrow at that. Baekhyun wasn't necessarily my anything...but I liked the sound of it.

"What did he say?" Before messages I'd gotten from Gonho hadn't been much more than thanks for the food.

"He said, if you don't know what to do with your money, you should buy a piano." He replied and I blinked at him.

"He said..." I blew out a choked laugh and rubbed my face sleepily. That little brat. "Thanks Gonho." I mumbled and waved him away. It was late anyway and I had no desire to go back downstairs and be subjected to not-so-subtle stares from Tae-Moon and his friends.

"I think I'm just going to stay in today." I told Se-Hee who frowned at me with concern.

"You sure?" He asked and I hummed as I straightened some bottles on the shelf. It was a public holiday today and because Tae-Moon was annoying me, I gave everyone the day off. Most of my staff didn't work too many nights in a row, but it was still good for moral to give them time off to cool down sometimes. Working in a club could be exhausting.

"Some of us are going to have dinner at - "

"I'll be fine." I said quietly and stuck my hands in my pockets. "Go out. Have fun. I'll just order a pizza."

"Are you sure you want to close for the night?"

"Do you want me to change my mind?" I shot back and he held up his hands.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Boss." He said, already at the door.

I went around the club straightening a few more things before I pulled up an app on my phone and ordered some pizza. I stayed downstairs to wait for it because it was easier, but kept the lights off and sat back in a chair by the bar. I could hear the gentle pitter-patter of rain as it started to fall outside.

I lost track of the time as I waited and when I heard the gentle rumble of a car, I stood up slowly, checking the time and pulling out my wallet. It should just be...

I froze when I got to the door. Baekhyun stood outside in the slow drizzle, looking at the club dejectedly. What was he doing here? He must not have seen me because he turned around slowly, shoulders sagging.

"Baekhyun." I called and he spun back around quickly. "What are you..." I took a few steps closer to him. "It's raining. Come inside."

"I didn't ..." He swallowed and looked back at the club. "I didn't know you were closed today."

"Come inside." I said again and gently pulled on his arm to drag him inside. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his hand while I closed the door and thanked me when I handed him a pile of tissues.

"I don't even know what I'm doing here." He said, almost to himself. I kept quiet and when he was done, I motioned for him to take off his wet coat and wrapped mine that I'd taken off around his shoulders. "It's cold." He muttered.

Outside, I saw the car for the pizza I'd ordered arrive and I tapped Baekhyun on his shoulder.

"Wait for me upstairs, OK?" I jogged over to the man and shoved a number of paper bills in his hand. "Keep it." I said when he handed me the pizza and tried to look for change. His eyes bulged.

"But it's - "

"Thanks." I waved as I hurried back inside and when I had everything downstairs locked up, I rushed up the stairs to my office. Baekhyun was stroking my desk absentmindedly when I walked in. I keyed in my code and when the elevator opened, he trailed in behind me slowly.

I don't even know why I'm here...what had he meant by that? Baekhyun sat silently in my kitchen, nibbling on a small triangle of pizza and picking at the toppings.

"Do you not like peppers?"

"Hmm?" He looked at me finally. I pointed at the plate in front of him.

"You picked them all off. Do you not like peppers?"

"Oh. No, I just..." He put the pizza down and shrugged. "I like peppers. I'm just not very hungry right now." He said and pushed his plate away.

"Is there anything you don't like? I've been sending you food but I didn't even ask..." He gave me a small smile and fiddled with the sleeve of my coat.

"Cucumbers."

"Cucumbers?" I tried not to judge people on what they liked and didn't like to eat but...How could you not like cucumbers? They barely tasted like anything anyway... I was about to ask him when he sniffed again and wiped his nose with my sleeve. "If you're done eating, you can go shower if you want. Get warm."

"Thanks." He whispered and got up from his seat, shuffling down the hall to my bedroom.

I followed after him without bothering to put anything away and took out something for him to wear; changing into something warm and comfortable myself and climbing into bed. I was just on the edge of falling asleep when Baekhyun came out of my bathroom. He put on the clothes I'd left out for him quickly and I was surprised when he didn't even hesitate before crawling in the bed with me. I opened my arms and he slipped into them without blinking, curling himself around me and settling in.

"Are you OK?" I finally asked when I was brave enough. There was a long silence and for a moment I thought maybe Baekhyun had fallen asleep already. When I checked, his eyes were wide open but distant.

"I don't want to be alone tonight." He replied.

"Did something happen at work?" His body stiffened slightly and I rubbed his arms gently, up and down until he relaxed and nodded once. "Do you want to talk about it?" More silence...but eventually Baekhyun sighed against my chest and started talking.

"I haven't been a detective long." He began. "But, I've been to a lot of crime scenes. A lot of them are...not good. They never are. But when there's a child...a small CHILD Chanyeol. 5 years old." He sat up to look at me now.

"This person...this ANIMAL. He walked into that house and he shot that poor woman in front of her child. I know he shot her first because upstairs..." His voice shook. "Upstairs there's a handprint of blood from when her son must have touched her. He touched her and he ran upstairs to get away and that fucking monster dragged him back down those stairs and shot him too. A 5 year old child."

"Baekhyun..." I reached out to touch his cheek lightly while his eyes shone with tears.

"I need to find him, Chanyeol. Do you know what a shotgun does to someone that small, huh?" He closed his eyes and two drops fell onto the back of my hand. "I need to find him. But all I can think about is how I haven't even solved the murders at your club and what if I can't find him too and I can't... I just feel so useless and - " I pulled him back in my arms as he started to cry and hiccup softly.

"It's OK. Shh,it's OK." I stroked his back and pressed my lips to the side of his head. It was hot and I could feel the vein in his head throbbing wildly. Fuck, I felt just as useless as he did. I didn't know what to do besides sit here and let him cry...

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

When I woke up, it was dark. It didn't feel like I'd been asleep long, but my face felt puffy and when I touched it, it was burning a little. Was I getting the flu? I slipped out of bed carefully and tiptoed to the bathroom to wash my face. I didn't look at my face in the mirror. It was probably red and swollen and awful. When I felt much better, I shuffled back to bed and just as I slipped inside, strong arms wrapped around my waist.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm OK." I whispered back and Chanyeol tucked his head between my neck and my shoulder. I was a little embarrassed. It had been a long time since I'd cried quite so dramatically and I felt hot all over again thinking about Chanyeol seeing me like that. He hadn't made fun of me though... He'd held me close and whispered nonsense in my ear until I'd calmed down and fallen asleep. Sehun hadn't been anything like that...

"You know... I don't like cops." Chanyeol said softly. "I never have. They're always so... arrogant. Like their uniforms suddenly made them better people. Like they aren't even human anymore. They are gods. In a way I guess they are."

"I don't understand." I mumbled.

"No one else in the world has the kind of power you have, legally." He sucked in a quick breath. "You have the right to decide who lives and who dies. Even the people who run this country don't have that kind of power."

"I've never really thought of it like that before."

"So I don't like cops. I don't like anyone having that kind of power over my life." He said and leaned up on his elbow so he could look down at me. I could just make out his eyes in the dark. "But I forgot...that you really are just human." I swallowed hard and raised my hand to touch his face lightly.

"It's hard sometimes."

"You'll find him." He said gruffly. "Both of them. All of them. I know you will."

"It doesn't work that way." I let out a small sigh.

"You will." He said fiercely and I wanted to laugh for some reason. He seemed so sure and he barely even knew me.

"OK." I said simply and dark strands of his hair fell on his face.

"I don't like it when you cry..."

"I don't cry often." I whispered.

"I don't like it...but if you need to, you can always come here." A large painful lump started to form in my throat and it took ages for me to make my mouth move.

"Why?"

"My house is soundproof." He said and I had to laugh.

"God, you're so..."

"Handsome?"

"No." I lied.

"Hey. Didn't you see all those people wearing my face on t-shirts?" He spluttered.

"You probably hired them."

"Hire - You are so full of shit, you know that?" He scoffed and lifted his hand to squash my cheeks. "Gonho told me about your little piano comment."

"I wasn't joking." It came out a little garbled.

"I already have a piano."

"I knew it!" I laughed and he let my cheeks go, flicking his finger on my forehead. "Hey!" I kicked him under the blankets and he shouted out loud.

"What the hell?" He hissed, lifting the blanket to look at his leg. "Is it broken?"

"If you have to ask, it's not broken." I snickered.

"Police brutality." He muttered and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be a baby. I didn't even kick you that hard. You didn't have to scream like that." He snorted and dropped the blanket, leaning over me with his hands on either side of my head.

"It's OK. I can make you scream too." He smirked at me.

"Oh, really now?" I asked softly when he lowered his body on top of mine and I could feel how hard he was against my leg. Uh oh.

"Do I need to remind you what happened last time?"

"Last time?" I asked breathlessly when his lips trailed up the side of my neck. The stubble on his chin was going to leave me red and scratched up again in the morning. I didn't care much.

Chanyeol left me alone and aching on the bed while he went to dig around in his drawers. Soft light flooded the room suddenly and I blinked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. Chanyeol was back on the bed moments later and I had to bite my tongue when he pulled off his shirt slowly. I don't know if he was doing it on purpose, but the way the light bounced off the shadows and crevasses in his skin...

My hands made their way up over his abs and I brushed my fingers along his pecs until I reached his nipples. Chanyeol hummed softly and the sound vibrated on my hands. I never was a big fan of muscles per se, but there was just something about the way Chanyeol moved that made it particularly sexy.

I slid my hands around his back when he leaned forward and pushed his way between my legs after he tugged my pants off. When warm fingers pressed inside me, I shivered underneath him and dug my nails into his skin. Jesus, that felt so good.

He spent way too long teasing me and by the time he finally did push into me, I was dying.

"Fuck." I gasped when he thrust into me so hard I saw stars. He did it again and I held on tighter. "Chanyeol...Fuck me..." I whimpered.

"Are you going to scream for me again?" He whispered in my ear and I groaned, arching up into his touch.

I tried not to scream. I really did....

My phone started ringing and I had the most violent urge to grab it and throw it out the window. Are you kidding me? I had barely been asleep for 10 minutes. Shit. I moaned pitifully and crawled off the bed to find where I had left it. On top of the drawers, right? I blinked rapidly when I got there and found my phone, screen still black, sitting silently.

"Turn it off." Chanyeol mumbled under the blankets.

"It's not mine." I yawned and dived back in the bed, covering my head with a pillow. Maybe if I hid under here long enough...

"Gonho. What the fuck? It's like, 4am." Chanyeol grunted sleepily.

"Sorry, Boss." I heard over the speaker. "But you told me to call you as soon as anything happened."

"Speak. Quickly. You have 10 seconds." Chanyeol murmured.

"He's awake."

"Hmm? Who's awake?"

"The kid. Myung-Jun. He just woke up a few minutes ago so I called the nurses and ..." I sat up on the bed quickly.

"He's awake?" I asked.

"I ...Detective? Is that you?"

"Is he OK? Can he speak?"

"I really don't know yet. The nurses are still inside." I shared a look with a wide eyed Chanyeol. I pleaded with my eyes.

"We'll be there soon, Gonho." He said and hung up.

"Thank you." I sighed and he shrugged.

"I would have gone now too either way."

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

Chanyeol decided to forgo parking underground and pulled up outside the front of the hospital, switching off the car with a flick of his wrist and I hesitated. I didn't want to leave the warmth for the cold, stinging rain outside. Even in Chanyeol's super warm hoodie, it had still prickled when we'd left his apartment.

While I was debating if getting out of the car was worth it or not, Chanyeol had made his way around to my side of the car and opened the door for me.

"Damn it." I sighed and stepped out, but despite the cold, no rain fell on my head. I looked up quickly and blinked at the giant black umbrella. I hadn't even seen him pull it out...

"Let's go." He said, pressing his hand on the small of my back and guiding me towards the hospital doors. It was a brief walk to the elevators and Chanyeol gave me a look when I spent the ride up to the third floor rubbing my hands together to keep them warm.

"What?" I pouted at him. "It's fucking freezing in here. Why is the AC on?" I muttered and followed Chanyeol when the doors pinged open.

"Gonho?"

"They just left." Gonho pointed down the hallway to the nurses station while looking at me only for a brief second. "They said you can go in, but he might still be loopy."

"Thanks." I said as we walked past him into the quiet room. I stayed back as Chanyeol walked around to the side of Myung-Jun's bed. His eyes fluttered open when he felt Chanyeol touch his forehead.

"Hey. I heard you finally woke up." Chanyeol said and the stars in Myung-Jun's eyes made me want to roll my eyes. I didn't though. It was hard being petty with someone who almost died. Myung-Jun pointed at his throat and mimed talking with his hands. "You can't speak yet?" A single nod. Great. I kept my sigh to myself and pulled out my phone so I could text Jin-young to meet me here when he woke up. Maybe he would bring coffee too. I hadn't remembered to grab any on the way over.

"I know it's hard, but can you try? This is Detective Byun Baekhyun. He's looking into what happened to you that night at the club. Do you think you could tell him what happened?" Chanyeol sat down on the edge of the bed and Myung-Jun had a small frown on his face. He shook his head carefully. "You don't ...want to tell him? Oh, you can't remember?"

I bit my lip in frustration when he nodded. Fuck. My whole investigation right now was hinging on whether or not Myung-Jun could remember who had attacked him. It was getting too close to the weekend again for me to just be sitting around like this...

"Baekhyun?" I looked up at Chanyeol when he called me. Sometimes, when he said my name the right way, my skin would prickle and crawl with goose bumps... "Can you move out of the way, Myung-Jun can't see the TV screen." The tingly warm feeling in my stomach sank like a ball of lead and landed somewhere on the floor next to my jaw. I blinked at him slowly and caught the small smile on Myung-Jun's face. I took a quick look behind me and there was no way I was even blocking the TV at all. Maybe my hair was brushing the bottom of the screen but that was...what the fuck was there to watch on TV at 4 in the morning anyways...

"I'll be outside if you need me." I muttered and left the room, trying not to bang the door on the way out.

"Hyung." I wanted to cry when Jin-young appeared in front of me with a large cup of coffee. Fuck, it was cold in here.

"Oh my God. Gimme." I cried and he laughed when he handed me the cup. I ignored him and took the cup in my sleeve covered hands. "So warm." I groaned and held it up to my cheek.

"Hyun-Jae ssi was right." He smirked.

"Hmm?"

"He told me once that the only thing you loved more than your job was coffee."

"Hyun-Jae needs to keep his mouth shut." I muttered as I took a sip. The first hit of caffeine was glorious.

"So...our witness is awake?" He asked as he sat down on the chair next to mine.

"Awake...seems OK. The only catch is...he can't remember anything." I sighed.

"That sucks."

"I know."

"It's so close to the weekend..."

"I know." I said again, gritting my teeth now. Was I honestly never going to catch a break with this case? It seemed like the universe was intent to shit on me lately. "We should go back to the station. We still have that Song case to work on and waiting here is pointless." I said quietly as I stood up. I debated going back in the room to say goodbye to Chanyeol but...

"What are you...wearing?" Jin-young asked and I had to take a second to focus.

"Huh?" I stared down at Chanyeol's hoodie that came almost all the way down to my knees with the sleeves so far past my hands it was nearly comical. "Oh. I was...at a friend's house. It was raining and my clothes got wet." I smiled at him and pushed him towards the elevator. "Let's go. Before Commissioner Son has a hernia."

"I got it." Jin-young held up the papers and I reached up to snatch them from him.

"How?"

"I am a man of many talents." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"If you're telling me you slept with Judge Jung to get this warrant..." I started and he punched me in the arm.

"Shut up. I got it, OK? We can go now, right?"

"I have to call the fugitive squad first." I said and just as I was about to dial, the phone rang in my hands.

"Hello?"

"Baekhyun, is that you?"

"Hae-Yool, is that you?" I asked and Hyun-Jae poked his head around his monitor.

"Is that Hae-Yool?"

"Hae-Yool is on the phone, guys!" Someone said loudly and the entire bull-pen froze before chaos descended.

"Whoa, OK, everyone. I'll just put her on speaker phone. Jesus." I grunted and dropped the phone.

"Hae-Yool!" Hyun-Jae cried and there was giggling over the phone.

"How is everyone? I miss you guys so much."

"Yeah, well. You were the one who ditched us." Someone else grumbled while I was hip-checked out of the way by someone. What the ... I let it go because I knew how much everyone missed Hae-Yool too. As the only other active detective on the force at the moment, the station had been hit hard when she'd announced her maternity leave just before I was promoted.

"Have you popped yet?"

"She's not a balloon, dude?"

"She's more like an aquarium..."

"That is disturbingly accurate..."

"Can you all shut up so we can actually hear her?"

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I wriggled my way out of the crowd around my desk so I could check who was calling. I could lie and say my heart didn't thump just a little harder when I saw it was Chanyeol, but...

I hadn't had a chance to speak to him since I left the hospital yesterday. His hoodie was still tucked neatly under my pillow in case he decided to come by again.

"Hey." I answered a little breathlessly.

"Baekhyun. You need to get here. Now." Chanyeol said sharply.

"I...now? Where is here?" I asked as I looked around the noisy room for Jin-young. "I have to go out on a - "

"Baekhyun. Myung-Jun. He remembered something just now." He said roughly.

"He did?" I dropped down from my tiptoes and gripped my phone tightly. "What is it? What did he remember?"

"He said he doesn't remember much. He was a little drunk that night and he... Anyway, he said he could only remember one thing. Green eyes..." It was like someone has punched a hole in my throat. Green eyes weren't rare in a place like Seoul with everyone copying their favourite idol and wearing coloured contact lenses and...There was no was he could be talking about -

"What? Did ...green eyes?" That couldn't be...

"Green eyes. So green they looked fake almost."

"No..." There had to have been other people at the bar who had green eyes.

"Baekhyun..."

"No. I ... what?"

"Baekhyun...that man you were sitting with. By the bar. He had green eyes, didn't he?"

"...Shit."

It couldn't be Il Sung...could it?

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

"Make sure you watch him." I whispered to Kwang Do as I stepped out in the hall to call Baekhyun. I had to take a second, close my eyes and suck in a deep breath because my hands were shaking. Whether it was because I was mad, or scared... I didn't know. It didn't even matter. What mattered was what Myung-Jun had just told me.

It felt like the phone was ringing for a lifetime before he picked up.

"Hey." I didn't know how much I was worried he wouldn't answer until I heard his voice on the other end. Jesus, the relief made my hands shake even more and I gripped my phone harder.

"Baekhyun. You need to get here. Now." I barked because, what the hell? Wasn't he supposed to be at work? It sounded like there was a party going on...

"I...now? Where is here?" He asked. "I have to go out on a - " Out? Like a date? My heart beat faster and I snapped my fingers at Wang-shun.

"Baekhyun. Myung-Jun. He remembered something just now." I wanted to reach through the phone and shake him by the shoulders. I handed my car keys to Wang-shun instead.

"He did? What is it? What did he remember?" He blurted.

"He said he doesn't remember much. He was a little drunk that night and he..." He had said he'd been feeling a little pissed that I'd pushed him away and was looking for a good time somewhere else, but Baekhyun didn't need to know that. "Anyway, he said he could only remember one thing. Green eyes..." Goose bumps prickled up my arms even as I said it.

"What? Did ...green eyes?" He stammered.

"Green eyes. So green they looked fake almost." I replied quietly. I'd only met the man once, but it was hard to forget his face...and those eyes. All I'd been thinking about for the past week was how to make Baekhyun forget about them, and now I couldn't help but wish I'd followed through with that brief macabre desire to order Gonho to beat the shit out of him...

"No..."

"Baekhyun."

"No. I ... what?"

"Baekhyun...that man you were sitting with. By the bar. He had green eyes, didn't he?" I asked just to make sure.

"...Shit." He whispered and my heart sank. If I was right...

"Someone is coming to pick you up. Don't go anywhere else." I said and hung up so he couldn't argue.

The entire time it took for Baekhyun to arrive at the hospital, I felt sick. So sick I couldn't stand and one of the nurses passing by had offered me a glass of water. I couldn't even swallow it. Nausea was spilling over from inside me and until I saw him step out of the elevator ahead of Wang-Shun, I felt like I was going crazy.

"Let me speak to him." He said before I could say anything. I stood up slowly and I walked with him into Myung-Jun's room. He was sitting up in bed, making a funny face while trying to eat a little seaweed soup. His eyes fluttered when he saw us enter his room, but he put his spoon down and sat sat up straighter.

"You remember Detective Byun." I motioned to him and he bit his lip as he nodded in my direction. "Just tell him what you told me."

"Everything." Baekhyun demanded and came to stand on the left side of his bed. With a little practice, Myung-Jun had managed to get his vocal chords working again, but they were still scratchy and terrible to listen to. I winced while he repeated his story to Baekhyun.

"He came up to you?" Nod. "At the bar?" Nod. "What exactly did he say to you."

"He said...I remind him...of ...someone." I curled my hands into fists.

"Who?"

"An old friend."

"I'm going to show you some pictures, OK? I want you to tell me if any of them are the man from the club." Baekhyun said, handing Myung-Jun his phone and telling him to scroll. "Take your time. Look at each one. Tell me if you see him."

Myung-Jun pursed his lips and his brow furrowed as he browsed through the photos. Some he scrolled by quickly, but some he tilted his head at and stared at for quite a while. His face pinched when he got to one in particular and he handed the phone back to Baekhyun.

"That's ...him. It's... definitely him."

"Are you sure?"

"His hair... is darker... now, but ...yes. Him."

"Fuck." Baekhyun swore softly and Myung-Jun blinked at him with wide eyes.

"Is everything...OK?"

"I have to go." Baekhyun grumbled and he was out of the room in a flash. I chased after him and found him furiously tapping at the buttons for the elevators.

"Where are you going? Are you going to find him?"

"Damn it." He swore and ran for the emergency stairs.

"Baekhyun!" I huffed and rushed after him again, my long legs catching up to him in a couple of strides. "Can you please just wait? I need to talk to you about something first." He wasn't listening. He hurried down the 2 flights of stairs and jogged out into the parking lot.

"Shit. I didn't..." He panted.

"I'll drive." I said quickly. "Just tell me where you're going."

"Home."

As soon as we got to Baekhyun's house, he flew out the car and ran inside. I found him at his table, papers scattering all over the floor. He flipped through a small book and when it didn't yield what he wanted, he threw it on the floor.

"What are you looking for?" I asked so I could help. I needed him to calm down so we could talk.

"A card." He muttered. "He gave me a card. It had ...an address." He answered distractedly and threw another set of papers on the floor.

"What colour?" I asked, sifting through the other papers on the table.

"Black and white." He said and groaned in frustration. "Where the fuck did I put it? I know it was here. I had it in my hand and then..." His eyes bulged and he slapped the desk hard. "YOU!"

"Me?"

"You ..." He waved his hands in the air as he shimmied around his desk and headed for his bedroom. "You came over. I put it in my pocket."

It was his clothes drawers' turn to be ransacked. Baekhyun dove inside the first one, pulling everything out of it and tossing it on the bed. He threw things here and there but didn't find the thing he was looking for. Second drawer...

"Here." He gasped and shoved his hand in the pocket of some sweat pants. His face was crushed when he pulled it out and there was just a small white ball of paper. "No..."

"Is that it?" He nodded morosely.

"I forgot about it when I put it in the washing machine..." He sat down heavily on the bed, but landed wrong and slipped down onto the floor with a thud.

"Baekhyun..." I sank to the floor next to him and reached for his hands.

"I'm so stupid..."

"You are not stupid."

"I'm too late..."

"No."

"His address was on the card..." He murmured, staring at the wall behind me. "Why didn't I memorize it..."

"It was probably fake." I said and Baekhyun pulled a face.

"Fake or not, it would have been SOMETHING. I could have traced - "

"Look, Baekhyun. I need to talk to you." I tried again.

"I don't have time to TALK, I have to - "

"Please. It's about your..." I sighed and squeezed his hands. "It has to do with your case."

"I'm listening..." He said, his eyes finally on me.

"I think I know why he picked my club. For the murders. Why he picked all those boys..." I said carefully.

"...Why?" I had to clear my throat before I could answer him.

"Seojun. It's because of Seojun."

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"I don't understand..." I mumbled and Chanyeol let go of my hands to run his fingers through his hair.

"Shit. OK." He started. "That night at the club, when I came to talk to you...I had never seen him before, I know that for a fact. But..." He shrugged his shoulders. "for some reason he seemed familiar."

"Familiar how?" I said carefully, my heart beating wildly in my chest. This was just too much right now. What the fuck was going on?

"I didn't know how. I swear." He stammered. "Not until I remembered something."

"Remembered what?"

"Let me FINISH!" He shouted and stood up, pacing in front of me now. "Seojun... He was a good kid. So good. But he ...when we moved in with Uncle Tae-Joon, he started to change. It took me far too long to figure out he was taking some of the drugs he was selling and even then I..." He shook his head. "Tae-Moon was pissed. Dealers are not supposed to take their own stock. We all knew that. It was too dangerous. But Seojun just wanted to BREATHE for the first time in his life and not worry about where his next meal would come from and ...

"It got bad. And then it got worse. Tae-Moon promised not to tell Uncle Tae-Joon if we fixed the problem so I got him booked in rehab. He was there for 21 days. I was so worried...but he came back and he looked healthier than he had in a long time and he kept going on and on about his new friends... I can't believe I forgot." He scoffed loudly and came to a stop in front of me.

"He kept going on about his friend with the pretty green eyes. I barely listened at the time. I was just happy he was back." He let out a heavy sigh. "He died 3 days later."

"He was stabbed." I said and Chanyeol flinched.

"He took some of the stock and the buyer refused to pay full price." He whispered. "The knife was his. He pulled it out but he was ...weak."

"You were a suspect." He raised his eyebrow at me for a second before he pinched his lips and sniffed hard.

"He called me. I tried to help but Tae-Moon knows they report stabbings and gun shot wounds at the hospital to the police. He didn't want us involved. They said a witness saw me drop him and run away."

"And Il Sung?"

"I don't know. I think maybe he heard that and he ...they form really close bonds in rehab. Maybe he still thinks that I did it and Uncle Tae-Joon bribed the police."

"That...is plausible." I muttered, standing up as well now. If he thought Chanyeol was responsible for Seojun's death it would explain picking Club Eleven in particular. A lot of things were making sense the more I thought about it. There was never any sexual assault because the point of the attack wasn't directed at them, but at Chanyeol. To either frame him for the murders or...to cause him pain. That was it, wasn't it? Jin-young had been the one to point out that all the victims looked similar.

I glanced over at my bag on top of the chest of drawers and I stumbled over to it. It was in here somewhere, if I remembered correctly because... there. I pulled out the file Fei Long had given me about Chanyeol and opened it again, flipping to the last page.

"Where did you get that?" He asked hoarsely from behind me but I didn't answer. I was staring at a crime scene photo of Seojun's body laid out on the floor. He really looked like them. He looked like all of them...

"I have to go back to the station." I said. Maybe I could find something on record that would give me an address. I'd grabbed a photo of Il Sung and a few other non-descript looking men around the same age off Facebook, but maybe if... "Wait, do you remember the name of the rehab centre? Maybe they still have his paperwork on the system?"

"It burnt down a few months after Seojun died." He said blankly.

"Shit."

"You need to be careful, Baekhyun." He said as I left my bedroom in a hurry.

"I need to find him."

"You need to BE CAREFUL." He said louder and his hand shot out in front of me to stop me walking out my front door.

"I know." I told him and his face didn't relax. "I will."

"Baek..." He huffed with annoyance. "You might be next."

"Don't be ridiculous." I grunted and he still didn't move.

"Don't you see why he picked you?"

"Picked me?" I sighed and shifted on my feet. I was itching to get outside. "He ...we met by accident, OK? I don't see what I have to do with any of the other victims, besides FINDING him and putting him away for good."

"You don't...Baekhyun...you, more than any of the others...you look just like him." He whispered.

"Like who?"

"Like Seojun." He said and I scoffed loudly.

"I do NOT."

"Baekhyun!" He shouted now. "Can you just be serious for a second?"

"I am being serious!" I raised my voice now too because I was angry.

"Then fucking..." He slammed his hand on the door frame. "LISTEN TO ME!"

"I am listening to you." I argued.

"What if you're next on the list? Tomorrow is -."

"I'm not on any list!" I shouted, ready to pull my hair out.

"Look at me." He said, grabbing my face with both hands and bringing his face close to mine. "He chose you because you look like Seojun. I need you to be CAREFUL."

"Did you?" I asked softly and he paused.

"Did I what?"

"Did you 'choose' me...because I look like Seojun." I asked and his lips pinched together. Jesus, he really had, hadn't he? "You slept with me because I look like your dead boyfriend...?"

"No." He said firmly but I was already pulling away from him and pushing my way through the door. "Baekhyun..."

"Fuck off, Chanyeol." I muttered. I didn't have time to deal with any of that. I had work to do.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I was fuming. I was so mad it took me a second to remember that Chanyeol had driven me here and I had to flag down a taxi to get all the way back to the station. The whole ride all I could think about was how stupid I was and my cheeks burned with shame. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fucking hell.

"What is it?" Jin-young asked when I finally got back.

"We have a suspect." I grumbled and sat down at my desk, typing furiously as I searched through the police database. It still grated to have to say that about Il Sung, but the longer I thought about it, the first place we'd met was at the clothing store where Hae-won had said my unsub had bought the shirts he'd used to gag his victims. Damn it. All this time...

"A suspect?" He dropped to a squat by my side and eyed my computer. "For which case?"

"The Club Eleven murders." I muttered and searched for a driver's license for Yun Il Sung. Nothing. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. No part of this case had been easy.

"Yun Il Sung?" Jin-young read over my shoulder. "Do we know him? How did you get a name so fast? Did Myung-Jun remember who attacked him?"

"Mmmhmm." I hummed, but I didn't explain that I hadn't gotten the name from Myung-Jun. I didn't have the time or energy to wade through that pile of shit. All this time I'd been mad at myself for possibly being involved with a suspect and by trying to avoid Chanyeol, I'd almost actually... I shook my head and let out a strong sigh.

"Focus, Baekhyun." I mumbled to myself. I needed to focus. I couldn't allow there to be any more dead bodies.

I was ready to pull my hair out. I couldn't find anything...NOTHING that would lead me to Il Sung. He was virtually a ghost. I was starting to think Il Sung wasn't even his real name at this point. It was ridiculous how easily he could be everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. A tiny part of me regretted turning down his invitation to go to his house for dinner. At least then I'd have an address to start from.

"Did you contact the fugitive squad?" I asked Jin-young when he got back to the bullpen.

"I did. I don't know when they'll start searching for him though. They said they'll do what they can, but they're swamped." We were all swamped with cases, but we were practically hours away from it being Il Sung's chosen kill time and if we didn't find him fast... My heart beat just a little harder in my chest with worry. This was getting out of hand now.

"We need to notify patrol units on the street." I said and shuffled the papers around on my desk until I found the photo I'd printed. "Put out a BOLO."

"We can send some to the club as well. Make sure we lock it down if we find him inside." I swallowed uncomfortably but nodded and waved the paper in the air.

"I'll get these out to the other officers." I said quietly.

When I was done with my BOLO report and the street units all had copies of Il Sung's photo, I knocked on Commissioner Son's door.

"What?" He barked and I stuck my head inside.

"Sir..."

"Detective." He grunted at me and pointed at the chair in front of him. When I sat down he prompted me to speak with his hands, but didn't look at me.

"Sir, I just wanted to report that we have a suspect for the murders at Club Eleven."

"Club Eleven?" He asked and I cursed silently.

"Grand Park, Sir. The serial killer..."

"The strangler." He huffed and stamped a piece of paper fiercely.

"Yes, Sir. The fugitive squad has been informed and they're out looking for him right now."

"So what are you doing here?" He looked up at me with a blank face and I pursed my lips.

"I...I just came to let you know, Sir. I'll be going out myself in a minute as well."

"Good. I hate laziness." He said plainly and went back to whatever he was doing. I hesitated in the chair but it was clear I was dismissed so I got up and scurried out of the room. I picked up my badge at my desk, shut down my computer and gave Hyun-Jae a pat on the back on my way out.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"You clocking out already?" He swiveled in his seat.

"Searching for a suspect." I said as I hung my badge over my neck.

"You have backup, right?"

"I'll call if I need it." I shrugged and Jin-young waved from the front door. "We're just looking for now."

"Be careful." He said and I blew him a kiss that he smacked out of the air.

"Let's go." I said, jogging over to Jin-young and we drove off in his car.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I didn't want to let Baekhyun just walk away from me without an explanation, but I didn't know what else to do. I barely knew how I would have explained myself anyway. He was wrong. I hadn't slept with him just because he looked like Seojun; it hadn't been like that at all...but I couldn't deny that that initial attraction had been sparked by his likeness, could I? Seeing him in Seojun's old clothes had made my chest ache, but also made me think that... Shit.

I drove back to the club slowly, looking out for Baekhyun on the road. It was only when I'd gotten in the car again that I'd realized I'd driven him home and he probably didn't have any way to get back to work. He must have taken a taxi though because I couldn't spot him anywhere.

"You look like someone just ran over one of your toy trains..." Se-Hee said when I walked around the bar. I didn't answer him and reached for a bottle of whiskey and a clean glass from under the counter, taking them with me upstairs to my office. I very rarely locked the door, but tonight I wasn't in the mood for company. I flipped the lock and sauntered over to my desk in the dark, poured as much liquid as I could fit in the glass and sat down on my desk, looking out the two-way window down into the club.

I didn't know if my mind was trying to shut down to keep me from losing my shit, but there was only one thought running through my mind right now. Had I killed Seojun? That was why this man... Il Sung was killing all these boys in my club wasn't it? To remind me that I'd killed him.

I may not have killed him directly, but moving off the streets and in with Uncle Tae-Joon had been the catalyst for his destruction and that had all been on me. My sister and Seojun...they'd both looked to me and trusted me. They would have followed me into the pits off hell if I had led them there. Maybe I had... It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Lights switched on downstairs and I watched my employees set up so they could start to let people in. They trickled in slowly like a stream until there was a river of moving people and I closed my eyes to pull myself together. I don't know how long I had them closed, but when I started to feel better and the alcohol had mellowed me out a little, I opened my eyes. I took one last sip from my glass and was just putting it down on my desk when I spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

Was I imagining it? I'd only seen Il Sung once before and the strobe lights downstairs could be making me see things but... I stepped up closer to the window and chills went down my spine when I saw he was looking up directly at me. Like Baekhyun had before, he had to know that I could see him. That look was too direct and too focused. I blinked and he was gone.

I stood by the window for a good 10 minutes but I couldn't see him anymore and my worry spiked even further when I saw Baekhyun walk into the club.

"Gonho. Lock down the exits and get Baekhyun upstairs right now."

"Boss?"

"NOW, GONHO!" I yelled into my phone and hung up. I unlocked my door, got my gun out of my desk drawer and tucked it inside the back of my pants, then headed over to my security camera wall. The screen were just switching on when Baekhyun burst in the door.

"I'm not a toy, Chanyeol. You can't keep calling me up here every time you want to play." He growled and I thanked Gonho who closed the door behind him.

"Il Sung is here." I said and his face changed immediately.

"Where?" He demanded and came to stand next to me, staring at the screens.

"I ..don't know exactly." I said and he shot me a venomous look. "I saw him out there, by the window. He was watching me."

"No one can see you downstairs." He argued.

"Exactly. But he was watching me. And then I blinked and I lost him."

"How long ago was this?" He asked and I missed hearing warmth in his voice.

"Maybe 15 minutes ago?"

"Maybe?"

"I can't remember." I shrugged and he raised his eyebrow at me. I saw his eyes go back to the bottle of whiskey on the table but he didn't comment about it. Instead he asked me to rewind the footage 20 minutes.

"Camera 3 should give us a good view." Both of us watched camera 3 carefully and I was about to give up and admit I was a little tipsy when I saw him. "There he is." I pointed him out and Baekhyun bit his bottom lip.

"So where did he go?" He muttered to himself, watching Il Sung melt into the crowd. I followed his dark head with my eyes and when he stopped next to a man dancing in the crowd Baekhyun gasped softly next to me.

"What?"

"I..." His eyes were wide as he watched the screen and Il Sung spoke to the man. He pointed to the doors and they started walking out. "No. No...no no no."

"What is it?" I asked and Baekhyun started patting his pockets frantically.

"I need...FUCK." He swore when he dropped his phone.

"Hey. What is it?" I asked and bent down to pick up the phone for him while he held a hand to his chest still looking at the screen. "Do you know that man he was talking to?"

"I think it was Sehun..." He whispered and I handed him his phone.

"Sehun?"

"My ex-boyfriend." He mumbled and tapped hard on his phone. "Come on... Jin-young....how many units are outside? Only 1? I need them to shut - Are you serious? Jin-young, he's probably already gone by now!"

"I asked Gonho to close all the exits before he brought you up here. He could still be down there." I said quietly and he switched off his phone.

"I need to go." He panted and ran for the door.

"Baekhyun!"

"I need to see if it's Sehun!" He shouted back at me and he was on the mezzanine before I could stop him. By the time I got down the stairs, Baekhyun was already pushing his way through the crowd, tapping people on the shoulder so he could see their faces. I blew out an irritated snort and went to find Se-Hee.

"Turn on the lights for me, will you?"

"What's going on? Is there another - "

"Just turn them on." I shouted over the music and a few seconds later, light flooded the club. The music stopped as well and everyone blinked in confusion as they tried to figure out what was going on.

I was tall enough to see Baekhyun nearer to the front of the club now, still searching and pulling on patrons arms to make them look at him.

"He's not here." He said when I reached him. He swung around looking even more wide eyed and frantic than before. "He's not here."

"If you just calm down, I'll get the guards to - "

"Sehun?" He called out loud and a few heads turned in our direction.

"Don't do that." I hissed and pulled him to a quiet corner. "Stay here, OK? I'll get Gonho to do a sweep with the others and we'll find him."

"He's gone." He just whispered and I sighed heavily.

"I'll be right back. Don't move." I found Gonho by the stairs, walkie talkie in hand. "Find Kwang Do and Wang Shun and come with me." I hissed at him and he nodded once. The two guards came running from downstairs.

"I need you to do a quick sweep for me. We need to find Il Sung and...a friend of Baekhyun's." I stammered. It didn't matter right now who he was. "I only saw them on the security cameras, but Baekhyun should be able to give you a better description of - Damn it." I stumbled to a stop when I saw Baekhyun wasn't still standing where I had left him. I don't know why I had expected him to.

"Boss?" Gonho asked and I scanned the room quickly, standing up on my toes. I spotted Baekhyun just as his curly head ducked around another one of my guards and he was out the door.

"Shit."

"Boss?"

"I ..." I huffed and ran for the front door but when I got there, there was no sign of him any more. Where the hell was he going?

"Mr Park?" I heard panting from beside me and I blinked at Baekhyun's partner as he held on to his knees while he caught his breath. "Mr Park. Have you seen Detective Byun?"

"I was just looking for him." I explained, putting my hands on my hips. "He ran out the door a few seconds ago. You didn't see him?"

"Me? No..." He coughed to clear his throat and stood up properly looking around at the empty street. "He was supposed to wait for me. The patrol unit was trying to break up a fight a few streets down but...they'll be here any minute." My lungs squeezed in my chest and I felt a little sick, the alcohol in my stomach sloshing around weakly.

"Are you telling me Baek...I mean, Detective Byun is out there chasing this freak by himself?"

"He's chasing after the suspect? By himself?" He asked, his mouth falling open. I spun around and met with Gonho back inside the club.

"We need to find Baekhyun. Now."

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

I had to find him. I had to find Sehun. It had to be him... Chanyeol's security cameras inside the club were ridiculously blurry but I know Sehun. I knew how he walked...how he danced.

My heart was beating frantically against my ribs and all I could think about was how all the other victims had looked when we'd found them. So still and broken. Jin-young wasn't going to get here in time. I pushed my way through the crowd and one of the guards stopped me by the door.

"SMPA. You need to let me through." I showed him my badge and he stepped to the side. I stumbled outside and looked both ways but I couldn't figure out which way they must have gone. I bolted to the right because that way led to the alley behind the club and skidded to a stop when I saw nothing but some boxes stacked to one side.

"Damn it. Where are you?" I whispered into the air and spun around in circles. If I were Il Sung, where would I go? I jogged a little ways down the street and I still couldn't see anything so I took out my phone and pulled up my contact list. I hadn't spoken to Sehun since we'd broken up but I hadn't been able to bring myself to delete his number from my phone yet. I was glad I hadn't now. I held my breath while it rang.

"Sehun?" I blurted out when he picked up. "Sehunnie, is that you?"

"Baekhyun?" My knees just about buckled when I heard his voice. "What - "

"Where are you?" I panted and leaned against the wall next to me.

"What does that have to do with you?" He asked sounding defensive.

"WHERE. ARE. YOU!" I shouted and I could hear him suck in an annoyed breath.

"I'm out."

"Sehun, I swear to God, if you don't tell me where you are right now..."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He groused. "I went out to a club, OK. But I'm on my way home now."

"Home...alone. Are you alone?"

"Again, what does - "

"SEHUN! Jesus." I muttered and kicked a stone lying on the ground.

"Yes, I'm alone, if you MUST know." He grumbled. "I thought I was going to hook up with this guy but he just put me in a taxi and sent me home."

"Stay home, Sehun. Do you understand me? If you see that man again, call the police."

"The police? What the hell is going on?" He spluttered.

"I don't have time to explain. Just promise me, stay at home. DO NOT open the door for anyone you don't know." I hung up and swore when my phone beeped at me. I should have charged it when I'd had time at work. I would switch it off to save the battery but I what if Sehun tried to call me later? I was sticking my phone in my pocket when I felt a presence behind me. I looked over my shoulder and right there in the dark, far too close for comfort, was Il Sung.

"Il Sung." I said softly and he tilted his head as he looked at me.

"Hello, Baekhyun."

It was all he said before his hand shot out and he slammed my head against the wall.

I moaned softly and moved to lift my hand to touch my head but I couldn't.

"Fuck." I muttered and the distinct taste of coppery blood in my mouth coupled with a pounding headache made me want to throw up. I rolled over onto my side and spat on the floor. It was too dark in the room to see how much was blood and how much was spit. "Ouch." I groaned and rolled again, trying to focus enough to figure out where the fuck I was and just how much trouble I was in.

On the plus side, I wasn't dead yet. Evidence from all of Il Sung's other victims showed he usually attacked them immediately. Why was he keeping me alive? I took a second to pull myself together and managed to curl myself up so I was sitting. The room I was in was big and very dusty; there were large windows on one wall and only one door. Great.

Il Sung had tied my hands together with industrial sized plastic zip ties which was a bitch because at least I could have figured out how to untie a knot or something. With nothing in the room, I had nothing to cut them with. I didn't even have my gun and badge anymore. He must have taken them. My phone... I realized it was gone just before the door banged open and a dim light switched on.

"Good. You're up." He said and walked into the room with a chair.

"Il Sung..."

"Ji-Hoon." He corrected me. "But that's not important." He set the chair down and sat down on it in front of me. "You, however...you are very important."

"Me?" I asked and blinked until a sudden bout of nausea passed.

"Yes, Detective." He nodded at me seriously. "I realize now that I'd made a mistake. I was trying to balance one with many and I failed. The many meant nothing. Not like you."

"I don't understand." I mumbled and I had to shift until I was almost lying down again. My head was throbbing so badly it felt like it was falling off.

"Park Chanyeol." He started. "You're a police officer, right? How often is it that the first suspect you look for is the partner of the deceased?" I didn't answer him, but it was standard to start an investigation with the people closest to the victim. It was just common sense. Strangers didn't often want you dead. "I was...away for a while, you see. And when I get back... a friend of mine tells me that a close friend of mine is dead."

"Seojun." I whispered and he pointed his finger at me, nodding once.

"Lee Seojun. Very good friend of mine. Good friend." His eyes went distant for a moment before he focused on me again. "This same friend tells me how its a shame they never arrested the man who killed him. Because ..." He held out his empty hands for me to see. "No evidence."

"You think Chanyeol killed Seojun." I said and he jumped out of his chair.

"I don't think. I KNOW." He spat and flung his arms in the air. "He told me what he saw. He told me and I read the police reports. It was him."

"It wasn't him." I argued. "Why would Chanyeol stab Seojun? He loved him." He'd never said it to me, but I had seen it in the way he spoke about him and fuck, the way he'd USED me as some kind of sick replacement...

"Seojun got caught stealing again." He huffed and sat down with a thud. "He would always steal the stock and Tae-Moon would complain for days, but he TOLD me Chanyeol had had enough."

"Wait...Tae-Moon?" I blinked at him in shock. "Kim Tae-Moon? HE told you Chanyeol killed Seojun?"

"Killed him like a dog. In the street." He stared at me with dark eyes, shaking his head and I jumped when a bolt of lightning flashed behind him and there was a loud rumble of thunder. "That hurt, more than anything. That he'd just left him there. In the cold. Dying alone..." He shook his head and sniffed hard. "It keeps me a wake at night. Thinking about it. It makes me sick."

"Listen to me, Ji-Hoon...Chanyeol didn't do it. He didn't kill Seojun." I said carefully.

"I had to make him feel what I was feeling." He ignored me. "Sleepless nights. Hmm? Nightmares. Every night I wished that what he did would eat away inside him. Then I heard about his club. Grande Park." He snorted. "I went to see him. It was like...he'd done nothing WRONG. I watched him...I watched him with all those boys and I wanted to remind him." He stared into my eyes again. "I wanted to remind him.

"But for some reason, it didn't seem to work." He reached out and patted me on the side of the head where it was throbbing painfully and I nearly passed out. "I didn't understand until I met you. I thought all the other boys meant something, but Chanyeol barely even flinched when they died." He took out something from his pocket and I saw it was my phone when he showed me the screen. "Look at that. 16 missed calls. It looks I finally found something that will remind him."

Shit. I kept my mouth shut while he turned off the phone and threw it to the corner of the room.

"Come on. We're going for a walk." He said and lifted me off the ground by my elbow.

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

It took forever to calm down the angry patrons as they were led out of the club 'too fucking early' as one or two of them had grumbled, but I was too stressed right now to worry about being polite or a good business man. I needed everyone to get the hell out so I could go out and find Baekhyun.

A sick feeling had started brewing in my gut around the time I lost sight of him, and it was gnawing at my insides like acid. He wasn't answering my calls and he didn't come back to the club. The longer I spent waiting for him, the worse the feeling got.

"Are you sure you saw him go this way?" Baekhyun's young police officer partner, Jin-young, asked me and I had to stop. I rubbed my hands over my face and prayed for my sanity while I tried to focus.

"No. I'm not sure."

"Then why are we going this way?" He asked. Because I needed to do something other than pace back and forth inside the club and wonder where the hell he was and if he was OK.

"If you want to look somewhere else, you're more than welcome." I murmured and carried on down the street, looking into ever dark corner that I could see. Still nothing.

"I just think we should regroup and we can have Patrol drive up and down the streets if - "

"You do what you need to do." I cut him off. He was starting to annoy me. You would think he would be just as anxious as I was to figure out where the hell Baekhyun was but it didn't seem like it.

"Hey, look." He grabbed the arm of my jacket and let it go quickly when I glared at his hand. "Look, I know you're like...worried the SMPA might be on your ass about it, but Baekhyun...he left on his own, OK? If anything happens to him, they won't blame you." I frowned at him.

"You think I'm worried because about your pissy ass police force?" I spat at him and scoffed out loud, spinning around and walking back up the street. I didn't have time for this. It had been too long already and the sick feeling had started to burn in my throat now. The last time I had felt like this...it had been on a similar cloudy night that had ended up being the worst night of my life.

I was pulling out my phone to call Kwang Do again when I saw something shiny lying on the floor by a wall on the side of the street. I don't know what drew me to it, but it was enough to get me running and I froze when I picked it up.

"Shit." I hissed and pressed redial.

"What is that?" Jin-young asked and I squeezed it tightly in my hand.

"Baekhyun's police badge." That night when he'd left it in my apartment, I'd stared at it for so long...rolling it around in my hand so much I knew the weight of it just as easily as I knew the weight of my gun. It was cold.

"Are you...sure?"

"1285. I know his badge number." I muttered. Was that blood on the edge of it? Why wasn't Kwang Do answering his phone?

"You...how?" Jin-young blinked at me, but I ignored him when Kwang Do finally answered.

"Boss?"

"Did you find anything?" I gasped. Please...

"Nothing. It doesn't look like he's been here." Kwang Do replied.

"He had his gun with him, right?" I asked his partner but he was just looking at me with a weird expression on his face. "Check if you can find his gun, Kwang Do. Not the spare one in the bedroom or the one in the safe. The service weapon. It should be in a black holster." I waited for him to look around but sighed with defeat when he still didn't find anything. "OK. Get back here. I found something and I need Wang Shun."

I hung up and looked down at his badge in my hand again. Where the hell WAS he?

"Get in here." I led Wang Shun into my office just as it started to rain outside and pushed him towards my desk. "You know computers, right?"

"Ah... yeah, a little." He answered warily.

"I need you to trace Baekhyun's phone for me."

"Trace...uh, OK." He sat down on my chair and it wasn't long before the sound of fingers flying on a keyboard filled the office. "Can I have the number?" I gave him my phone and he glanced at it only for a few seconds, then he was typing again.

"Can you do it?"

"I just ..." He bit his bottom lip as he looked at something on the screen. "The phone is off."

"Off? Can't you still just GPS track it?"

"It's not exactly...legal." He mumbled and peeked behind my shoulder at Jin-young who had entered my office quietly behind us.

"It's not. The SMPA has legal tracking methods that can - "

"How long will it take?" I asked softly.

"What? Well, I guess it takes - "

"Too long." I butted in. "Baekhyun hasn't been gone long enough for them to approve it. He hasn't been reported missing by a family member and tracking him without proof that he's in danger is an invasion of privacy, right?" I turned back to Wang Shun. "Find it."

"Hey, this really isn't - "

"If you don't want to find him, get out." I growled at him. "We don't need you."

"I want to find him just as much as you do." He said, raising his voice. "I just think we're wasting time here when we could be out on the streets with Patrol looking and - "

"Go think somewhere else please." I grunted and moved closer to the computer. "Have you found anything yet?" I asked when he stormed out of my office.

"I think so." He said, spinning the computer around for me to see. On the screen was a street map of Seoul and a red dot was blinking on a spot in the right corner.

"This says he's been in this building for the last hour and a half. The phone was switched off 10 minutes ago."

"Where is that? Gwangjin-gu?"

"Looks like it..." He hummed. "I think its by the new shopping mall they're building. My sister hasn't shut up about it in months. It's supposed to be the biggest mall in Korea."

"Call Gonho." I grabbed my keys on the table and started running. My heart was pounding and my hands were starting to sweat. I didn't like that Baekhyun's phone had been turned off. Had Il Sung turned it off? Or maybe his battery had died...either way, that meant Baekhyun had no way to call for help now. I needed to get to Gwangjin fast.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun:

"Move it." Ji-Hoon mumbled and I stumbled when he pushed me through another door. It was much lighter out here and from what I could tell, we were in some sort of shopping mall that was still heavily under construction. All of the shops were bare and there was still a lot of scaffolding and wooden planks lying around.

My head was still spinning and when Ji-Hoon pushed me again to direct me to a set of stairs, I tripped. I landed hard on a pile of steel pipes and they clattered all around me, echoing in the empty space. It was hard to break my fall with my hands tied together like this, and I hissed when one of the pipes dug into my side.

"Get up." Ji-Hoon sighed in annoyance. Thunder rumbled in the distance again and I couldn't help but think back to that night...was it only a few days ago? When Chanyeol had held me in his arms in his bed while I cried. Chanyeol... it was clear that he was the real target, wasn't he? Even if Ji-Hoon had me tied up and was planning to kill me, Chanyeol was the one he was really trying too hurt.

It made my chest ache. As mad as I'd been at him for bizarrely trying to sort-of use me as a replacement for his ex... Chanyeol had always been kind in his own way. He wasn't a bad person. I don't know what kind of twisted plans Tae-Moon had for his adoptive brother, but I couldn't let him get away with it.

I staggered up from the floor and while Ji-hoon was still distracted looking through the door down the stairs, I closed my hands around one of the pipes and swung it at his head with as much force as I could. I swore under my breath when he dodged it just before it landed, making it clang against the wall, the vibrations surging up my arms.

I was weak; my head felt like it was splitting apart and my arms were almost numb, but training and adrenalin helped me adjust quickly enough to lash out one more time and I aimed another blow at his side. I clipped his arm and when he hissed and dropped to the floor, I bolted.

I headed up. Ji-Hoon had been looking down the stairs and I didn't want to make his plans to drag me to my death any easier for him. I had no idea what he had set up down there and maybe if I could just get to the roof and see where the fuck this place was...

Halfway up my second flight of stairs I heard grunting and started to panic. I really should have aimed for the head to knock him out. I fell through an open door o the next level and scrambled around to look for something to cut the zip-ties. I needed to get free at least. I didn't have a my gun anymore, but my hands would do just fine. I gasped with relief when I saw a table bandsaw in one of the empty rooms and I ran over to it, sawing the ties over the teeth as fast as I could. They split just as I heard Ji-Hoon enter the room behind me.

I was prepared for him trying to grab me, so I ducked quickly and rolled under the table, kicking out at his leg. He growled low in his throat and reached under the table while I was still crawling away and dragged me out from under it. I kicked him again, but he slapped my leg away and dropped to his knees, his hands going for my throat.

I dived to the side and elbowed him in the face, but he barely flinched and I choked when his hands wrapped around my throat. I tried not to panic again, but his hands were so strong and my body couldn't help but fight the loss of air. I tapped at his hands but of course that was useless. I tried to suck in a breath and when I couldn't, I really started to get scared.

I gathered up as much of the last of my energy as I could and wriggle around under him, flopping about like a fish to try and get him off me. I dug my elbow into his sides and lifted my knees up as much as I could, pushing him away from me and when his hands loosened, I greedily sucked in some air, crawling away from him. Get up, Baekhyun, I screamed to myself, but all my body wanted to do was breath. I coughed and spluttered and clawed at my throat as I pulled myself towards the door but I wasn't fast enough.

Ji-Hoon was up already and on me again, picking me up and slamming me onto my back on top of the table. He slapped me across the face so hard I saw stars and grabbed my chin hard, his fingers digging into my skin.

"Baekhyun. Look at me." He hissed. "Fighting me ... will change nothing." He panted harshly in my face. "Stop it."

"Get off me." I gasped and surprisingly he let me go. I should have known...

Before I even realized he had my arm in his hands, he lifted it high and banged it against the table. I cried out and tried to pull out of his hold but he did it again and when I heard the bone snap, I started to scream.

"If you run, next time it will be your legs. Do you understand me?" He leaned in and whispered in my ear. I was surprised I heard it at all over the roaring in my head. Oh my God. I didn't want to believe it, but maybe I really was going to die here today.

I don't know how I made it to the stairs. The pain was so intense, all I could focus on was trying to breathe through it, and walking because that was what Ji-Hoon wanted me to do.

"Walk. Up." Up? I thought we'd be going down again... I blinked when we got to the top of the stairs and felt cool air. Were we outside already? A quick look around told me we were, in a way. The roof of the building wasn't quite done yet and plastic sheeting to keep some building material dry fluttered in the wind. My footsteps slowed when I considered that the only way I could get away now would be out the door Ji-Hoon had just barricaded with a large steel drum ... with my hand broken, would I be able to push I out the way? The wind blew my hair into my face and I thought about how far the roof was from the ground... jumping would be better than letting this sick man do what he wanted with me, right?

"Wait here. I have a call to make." He grumbled and walked away from me, going over to the stand by the door. I guess I had to feel a little flattered that he thought I had enough energy to escape still. I let myself collapse on a thick ledge of concrete and took a second to wonder what my parents would say when someone called them later to say I was... compared to when I told them I was gay, they had definitely kicked up more of a fuss when I told them I was becoming a police officer. For this reason exactly. I had a brief vision of my mother wailing about how she told me so and I wanted to laugh so badly. It bubbled in my chest but all that came out was a small sob. Shit.

"Shh, wait." Ji-Hoon said behind me and held the phone away from his ear as he peered at the door. There was a thud from the other side and we both stared at it when another thud rattled the frame. What the hell was that?

I was just standing up to ready myself for whatever was behind that door when the handle flew off, landing somewhere next to Ji-Hoon's feet and the frame splintered. I don't know whether I was relieved or not to see a very determined looking Chanyeol push the door open like the steel drum blocking it weighed nothing at all.

"Chanyeol..." I whispered his name into the wind, but he must have heard me because his eyes locked on mine.

"Baekhyun!"

Ji-Hoon was by my side in an instant and dragging me away, pulling out further onto the roof. I blinked when we got to a part that wasn't covered and rain splattered against my face.

"Chanyeol..." I said softly again. I wanted to cry. Why had he come here? How did he even know where I was? Had Ji-Hoon called him? That was the whole point, after all. For Chanyeol to see me die like Seojun had, helpless in the street.

"Damn it." Ji-Hoon hissed and skidded to a stop, jarring my arm. I shouted out when he let me slip to the floor and I held it close to my chest. Fuck, that hurt worse than anything I had ever felt in my life.

"Let him go." Chanyeol yelled over the noise of the rain. "It's over Il Sung. The police are already on their way." I'm sure Ji-Hoon had been about to shout something back at him, but suddenly over all the noise of the rain hitting the plastic, I could hear it. He must have too. It sounded like a helicopter. It was really close too. He looked down at me sprawled out on the floor and Chanyeol barreled into him while he was distracted. It was painful, watching them fight and being utterly useless, but Chanyeol had the advantage of size on his side and the fight ended quickly with Ji-Hoon's hands being squeezed behind his back. Just when I started to feel relieved that we'd caught him and it was all finally over, Ji-Hoon scrambled one more time and broke out of his hold. He pulled out a gun Chanyeol had in the waist of his pants and aimed. Fuck.

"Chanyeol!" I screamed when he dived at Ji-Hoon and the gun went off. It echoed into the night air and I held my breath when both of them fell to the floor. Only it wasn't a floor. It was so loud, that the sound was disorienting for a moment. It only sunk in when I saw the floor give and Ji-Hoon fell through the hole. Glass. The roof was glass. The glass cracked again and I gasped but Chanyeol didn't pause. He scrambled on his hands and knees towards me in the rain.

"Baekhyun. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." I muttered and he wrapped his arms around me to hold me. I cried out when he touched my arm and he pulled back fast.

"Baek - "

"I'm fine. We need to go." I said just as a SMPA helicopter appeared around the building next to the mall.

"Can you stand up?" He asked me and I nodded, but when I tried, I slipped on the water and landed hard again. The sound of cracking glass was unmistakable now.

"Chanyeol..." I whimpered with worry but he shook his head and helped me get up.

"It's fine. We can make it. Just get past the sky-roof. " He said and I leaned against him as he helped me get closer to the landing helicopter. I saw Jin-young jump out of the helicopter with Chanyeol's guard Gonho and I stepped as gingerly as I could but all I could hear was more glass breaking.

"Go." Chanyeol pushed me gently. "You need to walk by yourself."

"What?" I looked over my shoulder at him.

"I'm too heavy. It's making it crack more. Go. Be careful and I'll try when you're safe."

"What?" I said again and he pushed me harder.

"Go, Baekhyun, Quickly." He shouted and I shivered as I carefully walked the last couple of meters to the solid part of the roof where the helicopter had landed.

"Are you OK?" Jin-young shouted at me. "What happened?"

"I'm fine." I batted his hands away from me and spun around just in time to see the glass roof shatter and Chanyeol falling down into the dark.

"I... Chanyeol..." I whispered in shock and when my legs could finally move, I stumbled forward.

"WHOA wait." Long arms wrapped around my waist and I struggled against them.

"Chanyeol." I gasped and I looked over at Gonho who was looking at me with wide eyes. "What are you... what are you doing, we have to go get him." I said but he didn't move. "Gonho."

"Hyung. The roof isn't stable, we have to go." Jin-young said in my ear but I fought as hard as I could to stay on that roof.

"Gonho, we have to go find Chanyeol."

"The mall is 5 stories high. Do you really want to go down there and see him like that?" Jin-young said and I wanted to bash his face in.

"Let me go." I hissed.

"Hyung..."

"LET ME GO!" I screamed but his arms only tightened around me. "CHANYEOL!"

"Detective." Gonho reached out to touch my shoulder. "There's nothing we can do."

"Fuck you." I spat at him and whimpered as I tried to squirm out of Jin-young's arms. "Let me go, I need to go find him."

"Get him inside." Gonho said and I tried... I fought with every ounce of my strength but I was just too weak to put up enough of a fight.

"No... No...Let me go find him." I whispered and cold rain on my cheeks became hot tears. "Chanyeol..."

"Let's get out of here." Jin-young said to the pilot and I would have thrown myself out the door but I was strapped in securely and I couldn't unbuckle myself with one hand.

"Hyung." I ignored Jin-young as the helicopter started to lift off. "Hyung."

"He's not dead." I whispered to myself. "He's not dead."

"Do we have any shock blankets?"

"Give him some water."

"No, I think we should call Hae-won."

My stomach cramped when I heard that and I threw up. There wasn't much, but it was sour and vile and I felt like I was losing my mind. I couldn't stop shaking. Jin-young fluttered around the cramped space trying to clean me up but I ignored him still. I just couldn't... he's not dead.

I was in a daze when I was dropped off at the nearest hospital and I felt so hot it was like I was on fire. I couldn't hear anything...or see anything else.

'Go. Be careful. I'll try when you're safe.' Fuck. I should have made him come with me.

"Sir, can you tell me what your name is?" A nurse asked me and I blinked at her blankly. My name?

'Go, Baekhyun. Quickly'. Fresh tears burned in my eyes and when her face blurred, I closed my eyes. Shit.

"Sir?"

"Baekhyun!" The door to the room I was in banged open and a wet, frazzled looking Gonho stood there, breathing heavily. "They found him." He panted and my insides curled up like fists.

"Is he really..." I whispered.

"He's alive." He blurted. "He's alive."

Chapter Text

Chanyeol:

I woke up slowly. It was a strange feeling; like I was drugged. Sleepy but not tired. My whole body felt like it was heavy and it took me a lifetime to open my eyes. I frowned up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Where the hell... the beeps and hisses all around me were starting to make sense, but when I twisted my head to check if this was really a hospital, my neck twinged so painfully I had to gasp.

"Sir?" A soft voice said and a pretty looking nurse appeared in front of my face. She smiled at me and looked up the machine next to me. "How are you feeling, Sir?"

"...What happened to me?" I asked, but as soon as the words left my mouth I remembered. I'd been on the roof...fighting with Il Sung...

"You have a little whiplash and a nasty bump on the back of your head." She said as she fiddled with the machine. "Are you feeling any pain?"

"I ...no..." Where is Baekhyun? I asked myself. He was OK, right? I seem to remember him getting over to Gonho and his partner on time...

"Can you look at me, Sir?" The nurse said and suddenly a bright light was piercing one of my eyeballs. I blinked rapidly when she switched to the other one and then after a nod, she wrote something down on her clipboard. "I'll be right back with your doctor, Sir. He'll be able to give you more information and you can ask him some questions." I only had one question.

"Wait..." I gasped out and she looked up at me. "Is there anyone...here...um..." Maybe he hadn't come to visit me. I might have managed to save his life, but I couldn't help but remember how hurt he'd looked when he'd asked me if I'd slept with him because he looked like Seojun. The nurse stared at me for a second before a smile crept onto her face. She leaned forward and pushed a button on the side of my bed and when it stopped, she pointed down.

"I think this is who you're looking for?" She said and chuckled softly. "He hasn't left this room since he got here." A soft huff of relief left my lips and I lifted my hand to touch the top of his head. His hair was limp and wasn't quite as curly as usual. "I'll be right back." The nurse said again and I didn't even look at her as she left the room.

"Baekhyun." I said softly and brushed my hand over the apple of his cheek that was squashed on the bed near my leg, but he didn't wake up. I was surprised he hadn't woken up already with the nurse's talking, but I could see dark circles under his eyes. Besides some bruises and his arm that was now wrapped in a cast and resting beside him on the bed, he looked alright. I couldn't be more relieved.

I had thought driving to the mall had been the longest minutes of my life...until I'd gotten there and had to search for him. I was lucky Jin-young hadn't stormed too far away after his mini tantrum in my office and when he'd heard the location he'd offered to tag along. Too many cars had been out assisting at a violent street fight for them to offer backup so he'd called in a favour with a pilot friend in the SKY squad.

I combed my fingers through his hair lightly again and this time he stirred in his sleep.

"Baekhyun..." He sat up quickly with his eyes only half open.

"Chanyeol." He panted and blinked at me sleepily. "Chanyeol?"

"Hey sleepyhead." I smiled at him. He looked so adorable right now, red-cheeked and rubbing at his eye with his hand.

"Are you OK?" He asked me and looked around the room. "Do you need me to call the nurse? There's supposed to be one here. She was here earlier, I think. I can - "

"Baekhyun." I said and he paused with his hand on the call button. I opened my arms and looked pointedly on my lap. "Come here." He hesitated for a while before he climbed up onto the bed and let me pull him close to me. "How are you? Are YOU OK?" I asked him and he snorted into my shoulder.

"I didn't fall through a ceiling and survive." He mumbled and sighed as he melted against me. "I'm fine. I was just worried about you."

"I'm fine too." I said.

"You were unconscious for 2 days." He argued.

"I was catching up on some sleep."

"Liar." He huffed.

"Really." I muttered and pressed a kiss to the side of his head. "I hadn't slept since I left your house." He stiffened at that and sat up carefully. I wanted to keep him glued to my body but ... "I know you're still mad at me, but - "

"I'm not mad." He whispered and leaned forward again to let his head rest on my chest.

"It's OK if you are."

"I'm not." He said more firmly and reached up with his good hand to grip on to my hospital scrubs. "I don't ... it was a little weird, I'm not gonna lie. But I'm not mad." I wrapped my arms around him again and peppered his forehead with small kisses.

"I'm just glad we found you in time." I said. "Your arm..."

"It's ..." He bit his bottom lip and his eyes looked sad. "I guess I'll have to stick to paperwork for a while."

"I'm sorry." I said and he shook his head.

"It's not your fault. It was Ji-Hoon's." He sucked in a shaky breath.

"Ji-Hoon?"

"Il Sung's real name." He murmured and pursed his lips. "I thought he was going to kill me..." He whispered softly.

"Hey. It's over now." I said, tugging his head into the space between my neck and shoulder and rubbing his back lightly. "He's gone."

"I don't think I'll believe that until I see him on one of Hae-won's tables."

"I saw him." I replied. I hadn't thought about it until now, what had happened after I'd gotten Baekhyun to safety, but I remembered falling through the glass roof now. I remembered thinking that everything would be fine as long as Baekhyun didn't die in my arms like Seojun had and feeling relieved when the glass broke after he was safe. I was OK with falling as long as he didn't fall with me.

I remembered landing in the water and having the wind knocked out of me, banging my head on the bottom of the pool and stars flashing behind my closed eyes. When I opened them to see if I was still alive or not, there he was. He hadn't been as lucky as I had been, landing instead on the concrete that surrounded the pool and not in the water. His arm had hung lifelessly in the water, swaying back and forth like seaweed; a long trail of blood swirling under his hand in the water. I remembered his blank green eyes...

"I saw him." I said again. "It's all over now."

"I wish it were." He said and pulled out of my arms for the nth time, making me grit my teeth with irritation. Why couldn't he just stay in one place?

"He's dead. That's it." I said fiercely. "He can't hurt you anymore."

"He wasn't JUST trying to hurt ME." He said, eyes wide and reaching out to grab my arms. "That's the problem. It was you. He was trying to hurt you." I swallowed hard.

"He wanted to kill you to hurt me." I said blankly. Of course he did. It all went back to Seojun... "He really thought I ...killed Seojun?"

"He did. Because..." Baekhyun said quietly and pinched his lips as he tried to finish his sentence. "Someone told him you did."

"Someone?" I frowned. "The ...cops?" I asked and he shook his head.

"No, it wasn't the police." He said soberly. "Chanyeol..."

"Who?" Before he could answer me the door opened and in walked a man in a bright white coat.

"Mr Park? It's good to see you awake." He smiled at me and Baekhyun slid off the side of the bed sheepishly.

"I'll just be outside." He mumbled and I made a strangled noise. "I'll be back as soon as you're done." He said and nodded at the doctor before he left and closed the door behind him.

"Right, let's get a good look at you so your boyfriend can come back quickly." The doctor winked at me and pulled out another pen light.

"Boyfriend?" I muttered and glanced at the door again. The doctor shifted my face with a hand under my chin and shone the light in my right eye.

"You should have seen him when they first brought you in." He said as he moved over to the other eye. "He kicked up such a fuss they let him get his cast done in this very room." He eyes me over his glasses. "The Director was worried he'd break something expensive."

"He can be a little shit when he wants to be." I mumbled and he laughed out loud.

Baekhyun:

I sighed heavily when the door closed behind me and leaned against it. Fuck. How was I supposed to tell Chanyeol that Tae-Moon had been the one lying to Ji-Hoon. They were like brothers...it would be devastating...

"Is everything OK?" I heard Gonho ask and I stood up properly, turning to smile at him.

"Everything's great." I said. "He's awake." Gonho's eyes lit up and he glanced at the door quickly.

"Really?" He cried. "I ...I need to tell everyone." He said and took his phone out of his pocket with shaking hands. I left him to it and took a stroll down the corridor just to stretch my legs. They had been cramped from sleeping on that small chair next to Chanyeol's bed. There had been another bed in the room, but for some reason I couldn't sleep without feeling him next to me. As soon as I closed my eyes, dread started to choke me and I wondered if I opened my eyes, would he still be there.

I took a detour down the hallway that led to a vending machine that had been keeping me fed for the last two days and picked out a few more bars of chocolate and a packet of chips that would keep me going on sugar and empty carbs for another few hours, then I started to head back to Chanyeol's room.

"Where is he?" I heard a shrill voice and turned the corner to see a frazzled looking woman running down the hallway, her heels click-clacking loud enough to echo. "This room?" She panted and pointed at Chanyeol's door before pushing her way inside.

"Who the hell was that?" I asked but Gonho just snorted and answered his phone when it rang in his hand. I tucked my bounty into the front pouch of my hoodie that Jin-young had brought, and followed the woman inside Chanyeol's room. I froze when I saw her hanging over his bed and planting kisses on his face while she squeezed his cheeks.

"Yeollie." She cried.

"I told you to stop call me that." He grimaced and I took a step closer when he winced in pain.

"Hey." I called out. "Can you please stop doing that? His neck is hurt." I said and she let go of his face like it was on fire.

"YOUR NECK IS HURT?" She gasped and Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

"Yoora." He griped. "The doctor said it's fine. It's just an mild sprain. It should be fine in a couple of days.

"Why aren't you wearing a neck brace?" She demanded.

"He was wearing one when he was asleep." I piped up when I picked my jaw up off the floor. This was Chanyeol's sister? Now that I was looking closely, I could see the resemblance... "They took it off to get him a new one." Chanyeol's sister eyed me suspiciously when I shuffled closer and sat down on the end of the bed by Chanyeol's feet.

"Who are you?" She asked and Chanyeol's hand shot out to smack her on the arm.

"Don't be rude."

"I'm just asking!" She hissed and I took out a chocolate bar from my hoodie.

"My name is Byun Baekhyun." I said. "I'm - "

"My boyfriend." Chanyeol interrupted and I almost choked when I swallowed.

"WHAT?" Yoora screeched. "You have a new boyfriend and you didn't tell me?"

"Do you tell me every time you get a new boyfriend?" He asked her and she pulled a face.

"Shut up. This is serious." She said and gave me another look. "Does he know - "

"He knows everything there is to know."

"And he's still here?" She asked tilting her head.

"Yoora."

"Well, if he doesn't have brains, at least he's cute." She muttered and Chanyeol scoffed out loud.

"You are so ridiculous."

"Are you saying he's NOT cute?"

"He is the most adorable fucking cutest thing ever." Chanyeol smiled like he was talking about a puppy. "Look at his nose when he's chewing."

"Oh my God." Yoora cracked up and I stared at the two of them incredulously.

"I'm right here." I said. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Uncle Tae-Joon said he's sorry he couldn't come, but he's glad you're awake now." she said, ignoring me.

"I get it." Chanyeol muttered and picked at the hospital blanket. "He's busy."

"He might be busy, but Tae-Moon could have at least made time to come visit you." She grumbled and I stood up hastily.

"No. You can't let Tae-Moon in here." I said firmly.

"Huh?" Both of them blinked at me and right now it was impossible not to see they were siblings. It was like each one was a mirror of the other.

"Why not? He's family..." Yoora said and I had to grit my teeth to keep from growling.

"It's what I was trying to tell you before, Chanyeol." I said, looking at him now. "The person who told Ji-Hoon that you killed Seojun...It was Tae-Moon."

It was quiet enough to drop a pin in the room.

"What did you just say?" He asked me slowly.

THE END