#baekhyun crime story

[kjmcotton]

omg i need another exo enemies to lovers from you! i enjoyed that one

Metanoia | Bbh

Byun Baekhyun x fem!reader

Flatmates!AU

Enemies to lovers!AU

Plot:moving to Seoul was stressful,but it got worse when you found out that your flatmate was Byun Baekhyun,your best friend’s ex

Warnings:mentions of a troubled past and troubled relationship,fights,swearing

Masterlist

Author’s notes:thank you for requesting a story!! Can’t wait to write more! This story is pretty long and full of drama,so get your popcorns!♡

Tumblr works with reposts:if you enjoyed my story please repost and leave a feedback! Help me growing!♡

Metanoia (μετάνοια):the journey of changing someone's mind,heart,self or way of living

“Open this damn door,come on Y/n! Open the door!” Baekhyun had been knocking and complaining for the past ten minutes but you had no intention of leaving the bathroom to open the front door:it was his fault if he had forgotten the key again.

“I’m coming” you repeated for the fourth time,while massaging your hair with a revitalising mask.

One month,it had been already one month since you moved from your hometown to Seoul after receiving the first well paid job offer of your recent graduate student life;and it had been one month since you had made the most terrible discovery you could have ever done:Byun Baekhyun would’ve become your flatmate.

You had visited the flat twice before moving in and,even tho both times it was empty,you were well aware of the fact that you would’ve shared the house;however you would’ve never considered the possibility that your flatmate could’ve been that idiot of your best friend’s ex.

When you had brought in the first box and saw him sitting on the couch,you shivered.

With all the people out there in Seoul how much unlucky could you be to end up with the one you wanted to forget forever?

Baekhyun had never hurt you personally,but made your best friend’s life hard.

When he was younger,and still leaving in Bucheon,he used to be known as the troublemaker of the town. He was constantly involved in fights,little crimes and dramas.

Many girls had dated him and all of them used to say that he was quite a fuckboy;however you were sure he had never cheated on your best friend Lin,but it wasn’t enough to make things works.

You used to see her often picking him up after a fight or,worse,talking to her father,one of the policemen of the town,asking to be patient and give him a soft penalty.

She used to spend nights crying or arguing with him;until one day,out of nowhere,he broke up with her and disappeared,saying that he would’ve moved to Seoul…and he surely did.

“Open the door,Y/n I’m about to call the cops!” Baekhyun complained again,so,once you were ready,you wrapped yourself in a towel and let him come in

“Oh,I’m so sorry…sometimes I forget they’re your besties” you teased him

“That joke doesn’t work anymore. I’m no more a stupid teenager. I’ve got a good job and I’ve put my shit together. Remember that the rent of this pretty flat is half payed by me”

“The fact that you’re a jerk still remains” you spat out

“You’re talking like you’re better than me” he rolled his eyes.

That was one of the many brief conversations you used to have with Baekhyun. The two of you never really talked,only exchanged put-downs and argued even on the smallest things. It was no one’s fault,but your complicated past.

Lin had always forbidden you from saying anything to him,even tho you were dying at the idea to do so,but since her relationship wasn’t really your business you kept your mouth shut for a while,until you had found out that he was leaving.

After receiving a call by your friend in the middle of the night,with her screaming and crying,cursing Baekhyun,you snapped:you called Jongin,the only one you were sure knew everything as he was close to that idiot,and forced him to tell you what he had in his mind.

Once you had found out the train he was about to catch,you drove to the train station and told Baekhyun everything you had always wanted.

The two of you ended up yelling insults at each in the middle of the night,you even risked to get involved in a fight with him after slapping his face;however the boy had to run off because the train arrived. You were sure it was the day in which Baekhyun begun to reciprocate your hate.

And now you were there,trying to tolerate each other as the flat you were living in was so beautiful,and hard to find at a good price in a city like Seoul,that no one wanted to leave.

Once your hair had dried,you went to the kitchen to cook yourself an omelette for dinner. You weren’t good at cooking,you could make just a few dishes,but you’d rather eat the same things instead of asking for help to Baekhyun,who,on the other hand,was a quite good chef.

You looked outside the window while waiting for your dinner to be ready:grey clouds were approaching,meaning that a huge thunderstorm was about to arrive.

Once the omelette was ready you sat at the table,noticing Baekhyun leaving from the door

“Where the fuck are you going with this weather?”you said,realising how handsome he looked in that white shirt that was matching his platinum hair

“Clubbing with friends,it’s Friday. I’m not antisocial like you” he scoffed,disappearing without bringing his umbrella.

You laughed:someone would’ve looked like a drenched mouse in a few hours.

The next morning you woke up ad 8 am. You took a shower and then went to the kitchen,where you found a sick Baekhyun warming some milk up. He looked at you and coughed,without even saying good morning.

“That’s on not bringing an umbrella with you” you mumbled,opening a cupboard to get some biscuits

“You saw me leaving,you could’ve said something”

You laughed “What am I? Your babysitter? You’re an adult,it’s none of my fault if you always forget the important things”

Baekhyun sneezed,making you step back

“Take some meds” you said

“Keen you are! I would’ve never thought about it!” he scoffed. You looked at him easily,noticing that his eyes were watery.

“Have you checked your temperature?” you asked,resting your hand on his forehead:it was pretty hot.

Baekhyun stared at you for a while. His cheeks were flushed,his face was pale and his shoulders were curved;he didn’t even look like the usual cocky Baekhyun,he seemed a lost kid.

Seeing him in those conditions made you feel sorry,so your attitude automatically softened.

“Answer me,have you checked your temperature?” you asked again,with a sweet voice this time.

Baekhyun shook his head

“Then you should go” you said,looking at him dragging his body to his bedroom.

As you had imagined, the boy had a fever;however you didn’t expect it to get worse by the same evening,so,without even realising it,you found yourself sitting on the bed next to a sleepy Baekhyun whose cheeks had turned as red as an apple.

You sighed,putting some ice on the top of his head:damn it,how could it happen that in less than 24h you went from scolding that idiot to look after him? Life was funny sometimes,or maybe more than sometimes considering how things had changed in the span of a month.

You were lost in your thoughts when you heard Baekhyun grunt. You looked at him,noticing that his sleep had suddenly become fitful. The poor boy was shaking and moving,mumbling words that you could barely hear. You understood only one phrase,something that left you speechless:

“I’m sorry Lin…”

At those words you got paralysed,your hands tightly holding the sheets of the bed

How could it be possible? How could it be possible that after all this time he still had her in his mind? And why? He was the one leaving her,so why after so many years her name was still being pronounced by his lips?

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m…Lin…I’m sorry…” he kept repeating those words,louder and louder,panting,with more and more pain in every word until,you swore,a tear fell along his cheek.

“Baekhyun…” you tried to call him,but the boy didn’t wake up;otherwise he was getting more and more agitated. Then,with a startle,he sat.

“Baekhyun!” you exclaimed,collecting some strength to move.

The boy didn’t even look at you,he simply hid his head in between his hands and started sobbing. He wasn’t lucid,you knew it,but you were still confused.

“It was just a dream…-you reassured him,massaging his back. His pyjama was soaking because how much he was sweating,but you didn’t care,all you wanted was helping him calming down-it’s gone Baekhyun. The past is in the past”

At those words your flatmate rose his head,looking at you with teary eyes;you slid closer,wrapping your arms around his body as he rested his head on your shoulder.

You moved aside the wet strands of hair falling on his forehead to check his temperature:even tho you had given him a bunch of meds he was still burning. You were really concerned now.

“You need to lay down-you whispered,caressing his cheek-I’ll get you a towel and a new shirt”

You wanted to stand up but the boy didn’t seem willing to move aside

“Baekhyun,have you heard me? I-“ you stopped talking as you realised he was still sobbing. Your heart shattered. Was it because of Lin? You couldn’t understand,but you had no strength to push him away,so you just adjusted yourself against the headboard and gently stroke his back.

“It’s okay. It’s just a fever” you kissed his head,resting your chin on it.

The boy’s hug tightened as he buried his face in the cloth of your shirt. His breath was heavy and his body kept shaking. It took him a while before calming down,but after half an hour he was peacefully sleeping in between your arms.

You looked at him,so many questions were going on your mind,but,most of all,you were asking yourself how to behave after that. Even tho Baekhyun had seemed completely over his past,he clearly wasn’t,he was still hurt,which made you feel bad…how much had he been suffering because of all the hate you had been showering him with? All those rude words,the put downs and stuff like that…how much did it hurt him? A lot,you were sure.

You sighed

“I’m so so sorry-you whispered-I’ll be better,just like you. I promise”

That night you called the doctor who changed some meds,allowing Baekhyun to get back on track in a few days.

In that span of time you would cook for him and bring anything he needed to his bed

“Why are you so nice all of a sudden? What’s the scam?”

“No scam,I’m acting like a decent flatmate. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll go back to insult you once you’re fine”

That was a lie,obviously,even after the fever was completely gone you never stopped being kind.

Now that you knew the wounds of his soul hadn’t healed yet, you didn’t want to pile on. However,Baekhyun wasn’t dumb,that was why he immediately noticed you had changed your behaviour and asked for explanations as soon as he had the chance.

It was a Sunday night,none of you had any errand that day,that was why the two of you ended up drinking a beer on the couch.

“I think we need to talk” Baekhyun said,looking at you

“About what?” you pretended to not know what the point was,so you carelessly put the beer on the table in front of you,avoiding eye contact to not show your real feelings

“Look at me” the boy called you out

“Why are you acting this odd?-you faked a laugh-anyway,I gotta go to the bathroom…” you tried to stand up,but your flatmate grabbed you by the wrist and dragged you back on the couch.

Baekhyun put his beer on the ground and slid his body closer to yours:your faces were a few inches away and you swore your heart suddenly lost a beat. He looked so pretty under the dim light of the living room,you had never realised how handsome he was and how polite could he be when he wanted;in fact,since you softened your attitude,he did the same.

“We haven’t argued since I got sick,and you’re always so sweet. What is it?”

“Nothing…”

“You’re lying”

“I’m not” you tried to get up,but Baekhyun stopped you again

“Tell me. I need answers. Everything got so strange all of a sudden. I-I…I can’t even say that I hate it” his hand left your wrist to end up on you tight. It gave you shivers.

“It’s just that…-you bit your lips,you didn’t know what to say-….I’ve realised that maybe we both should leave our past behind. We’re adults now”

“Why? Why all of a sudden?” he asked,his breath warming your skin

“There’s no a precise reason…”

“Don’t lie!”

“Fine…-you huffed-I know that you haven’t gotten over Lin and what happened”

At those words you saw his face frown and his body stiffen

“I’m sorry,pretend I didn’t say anything” you tried to get up, but Baekhyun held you by the thighs

“No,it’s okay. How do you know it?”

“You had a nightmare while being sick and said something about it in your sleep”

“The fact is…-the boy paused-no…I’m not over it. There’s no reason to lie. I’m not over anything I did in the past. It doesn’t matter how much I grew up and worked hard,my past still haunts me;but maybe I deserve to suffer for all the pain I caused to the people around me…Lin in particular”

You gulped:those words had pierced you like knives. How could he say something like that? No one deserves to suffer for their mistakes.

You shook your head,hugging Baekhyun

“Without those mistakes you wouldn’t be here today. You learned from them and became a better person,there’s no reason for you to still be suffering”

The boy looked at you,his hand moved up to your cheek as he caressed it with his thumb. You got lost in his beautiful deep eyes,but never wanted to find your way out. What was happening? Why were you feeling strange things in your stomach? What was it? Butterflies? You didn’t know,all you knew was that you wanted that instant to never end.

Baekhyun licked his lips,then he leaned in,kissing you softly. You closed your eyes,intertwining your fingers in between his soft hair and,without even realising it,you found your back pushed against the couch,with a shirtless Baekhyun towering you.

He looked so beautiful,and his skin against yours felt so right. He left wet kisses all over your neck,then he went back to kiss your lips until he was out of breath. His hand slipped under your shirt,there was nothing sexual in that gesture,he was simply seeking for more contact. Your fingers were tracing lines along his back as you pressed your waist against his.

Baekhyun’s eyes chained with yours:he seemed enchanted while his index caressed your face,then he smiled.

“No one has ever said anything this beautiful to me” he whispered,looking at you with smiling eyes. You could tell those words had comforted his soul.

“Why are you talking like this. What did they say?” You asked,moving a few strands of hair away from his face.

Baekhyun lowered his eyes,holding his head up with a hand. You moved aside,giving him a little more space so both of you could lay down together comfortably.

“They said many things-a sorrow smile appeared on the boy’s lips-especially in Bucheon”

“I’m listening” you said

Baekhyun took a deep breath and started opening up

“Well,re-start a fucked up life it’s not that easy. It doesn’t matter how much you try,or how much you work hard,there will always be someone that will always label you as the crazy asshole .That’s what happened to me. I tried to change multiple times while staying in Bucheon:I stopped hanging out with wrong people,I learned how to control myself and I looked for decent jobs;however,no one ever wanted to put up with me. They would either reject me or hire me to later fire me because of the smallest error. People would look at me with mistrust in their eyes. That’s why one day I decided to move to Seoul. No one knows the old me here,I’ve started a second life”

“Jongin didn’t tell me that…”

“I knew someone would’ve come for me,so I asked him to shut his mouth. I just didn’t expect to see you,I expected to see Lin. You left me speechless”

“She was kinda busy crying that night-you pointed out-that’s why I was completely mad. Furthermore I had never tolerated your behaviour,but I couldn’t say anything since it wasn’t my business. You gave me a chance to finally talk to you so I just took it”

Baekhyun smiled

“I’ve never stopped thinking about you since that day”

“What??” you felt your cheek heating up

“I swear. As I said it was unexpected,I didn’t know that you would come,nor that you would snap like that. Since then,anytime I’m about to do something I ask myself if it would make you that angry”

“Oh come on…-you laughed-this is embarrassing”

“It’s not. You would never be embarrassing, you’re just…-Baekhyun bit his bottom lip-you’re just amazing. That’s what I’ve always thought about you. Since then,all through these past months,and now even more. Besides Lin,no one has ever cared so much about me like you did when I was sick. Thank you- the boy pressed a kiss on your forehead-I think I fell in love again”

Your heart fluttered as you buried your face in the crook of his neck

“If you believed that I was amazing all this time,then why you pretended you couldn’t stand me? Was it because of the way I acted?”

“Let’s say that I didn’t really know how to approach you in a different way”

“I’m sorry. I was wrong” you murmured

“It’s okay-he caressed your shoulder-we can start everything again”

You nodded

“Yes,we can. And-you stood up,grabbing your phone-I think you have an unfinished business”

Baekhyun looked at you,his eyes were unsure

“Call Lin,apologise,and put your soul at peace once forever” you smiled,sitting next to the boy.

He grabbed your smartphone,looking for Lin’s number while bouncing his leg up and down. He was extremely anxious,so you sat next to him and held his hand,resting your chin on his shoulder.

“You can do it” you kissed his cheeks

Baekhyun sighed,then he called Lin.

He didn’t know that in a few minutes all his demons would’ve disappeared.

#byun baekhyun #byun baekhyun x reader #baekhyun #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun x you #baekhyun x y/n #exo x reader #exo imagines #exo x y/n #exo x you #kpop #kpop imagines #baekhyun imagine #baekhyun fanfic #enemies to lovers #flatmates

[justwritedreams]

Promise You | Baekhyun (Part 2)

Bodyguard Baekhyun x Reader Word count: 7821 (yep, sorry) Genre: fluff, slight angst. Author: maari  Warnings: Language, some mentions of violence nothing really explicit. Note: I had planned another story for this request but when I remembered that you asked for a part 2 of Promise You, I thought: why not combine both things? 😏 Highly based on the song starlight by starset it's such a mood for this one Request: Hi! Can you write a Baekhyun fic? Reader in love with him and struggling for him but, Baekhyun doesn't want her because he is a coward. 😟 (He in love with her too but he pretends he is not) Reader is heartbreaking. Some tears and some angst but, no angst end please. 😟 Part 1 ⫷ Exo Masterlist

"Dad, I already said I'm fine!" Y/N spoke for the tenth time as her father was holding her face, checking out if she was injured somewhere.

But she wasn't. It was alive, thanks to Baekhyun.

"I was so afraid of…" He didn't complete the sentence, his embargoed voice interrupted him and Y/N smiled sadly.

"Don't worry anymore, I'm fine. You should see Baekhyun, he got shot for me!" She answered worriedly and her father sighed.

Although she knew that he had been hired for it, Y/N couldn’t accept that he was risking his own life to save her from something she wasn’t even involved in. After all, what crime had she committed to try to kill her? Being a daughter of a politician wasn’t quite her fault.

She didn't even think she was worth all of this.

"I knew he would take good care of you, he’s the only one that can." Y/N frowned to hear her father speak and his gaze became distant.

"Why are you speaking in this tone?"

"What tone?"

"It looks like… farewell." She looked at him suspiciously but couldn’t confirm her theory because her father hugged her so strongly that she felt her ribs hurt but still she returned.

"You know I just want to see you safe, don't you?" She nodded as buried her face in her father's warm hug. "I'm sorry to put you in this situation."

Y/N wanted to say that actually the fault wasn’t of the father or hers, both were only in the wrong place and at the wrong time, but began to cry right there. Everything she felt during the attack was back and it didn't take long for her to sob, feeling as if all the weapons in the world were aiming at her head, the sensation of the bullets heading toward her… It was like feeling the car shaking again as she tried to protect herself from the projectiles who were for her.

Her father stroked her hair as she cried like a child, asking for forgiveness countless times until the nurse came to check her, forcing her to calm down.

After the nurse was able to perform her task, after a while, Y/N layed on the bed and prepared to sleep, she would spend the night under observation and her father was ready to stay on the couch, watching her through the night. She slept, feeling her whole body hurt and her father's squeeze in her hand.

But the deep sleep that she expected so much didn’t come. She woke up a few times, the hospital bed wasn’t as comfortable as her and flashes of the attack still prowled her mind, blood and bullets didn't seem to end. When she realized she couldn't really sleep, even though was completely exhausted, Y/N no longer felt her father's hand holding her own and suddenly the bedroom door was opened.

Y/N felt all the blood freezing while the heart accelerated until she recognized the face of the one who had entered.

Baekhyun.

He looked at her with concern and a certain discomfort, she would have asked why he had a frown if two tall figures hadn’t entered with him.

"What is happening?" She didn't want to look desperate but couldn't disguise it.

"You’ll be discharged in two hours." Baekhyun answered as approached her in bed and Y/N saw the men go to her things.

"Thanks?" She answered uncertainly and Baekhyun extended something to her. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"You won't want to know." She crossed her arms, raising her eyebrow and saw that one of them began to move her bag.

"Hey, wait."

Y/N tried to get out of bed quickly, angry because they were invading her privacy in the middle of the night, but Baekhyun prevented her from continuing, further extending his arm for her to take what he was holding.

The nurses uniform.

What?

"What is it?" She asked and he took a deep breath, holding her arm to take the clothes, and she did it. Even if it was confusing.

"Your safety has been compromised." Y/n felt the legs give in for two reasons. Baekhyun was closer to her and for what he said. "As soon as they announce your discharge, the press will make a fuss at the two entrances of the hospital, I won't be able to protect everyone."

“And you want me to pretend to be a nurse? And the security cameras? ” Y/N could see that Baekhyun was rushed, his eyes wandered nonstop all the inches of the room but she needed more than she was receiving.

"I already took care of it." The tallest answered excitedly and she stared at him, he had a wide and misleading smile, he even looked like a child who was about to do something. "I'm Chanyeol, by the way." He approached, extending his hand to Y/N tighten and she would have done it, if Baekhyun hadn’t snorted loud

"Oh seriously!" He spoke and took a step to hold her by the shoulders, turning her toward the bathroom. "We only have 15 minutes, you need to hurry." He warned and Y/N agreed, annoyed.

She hated feeling like being in the dark but it seemed that she would have to get used to this kind of situation.

"Okay, sergeant." She answered sarcastically and gained low laughs from the two men in the bedroom.

Y/N went to the bathroom and switched quickly, nor would it be long as she wore the horrible hospital clothes that looked more like a 17th century nightgown, but at least she thanked the fact that the nurse's outfit wasn’t like the fantasies for Halloween or that people used to perform their fetishes. It was comfortable pants and a normal blouse with no exaggerated neckline. He had even managed to bring her the shoes, unfortunately not hers.

When she left the bathroom, Baekhyun held her phone with one hand and the man who had not introduced himself until then extended a mask to Y/N, she took it at the same time.

"You’ll need to use it." He warned and she nodded, noticing that they had changed clothes too.

The two men were wearing nurses' clothes just like her and Baekhyun was dressed as a doctor, she had to swallow dry as the doctor's apron was doing his figure too much. In a very good way.

That wasn’t the time to act like a teenager full of hormones, so she was convinced that it was just because she was vulnerable to everything that had happened.

"Do you have a backup of everything that is here?" He asked, raising her phone.

"Yes, I have everything on a pen drive in my house." She answered, confused.

"Great, because you don't have a phone anymore." He warned before hitting the phone against the wall, the chin of Y/N fell just as the device shattered between Baekhyun's fingers.

"What you-" She was about to scream with him, but Baekhyun was faster and held her by the fist, pulling her with him.

Chanyeol had already opened the door and soon they were out of the bedroom, not before Y/N put the mask on her face, looking angry at her own bodyguard.

He could at least have warned that he would break her phone so fast.

Baekhyun's friends, if she could call them that, went ahead while Y/N and Baekhyun went back. She made a mental effort to look as normal as possible, as if she was really working there and not running away before bad guys ready to kill her arrived in her room.

Y/N realized that they went through the parking lot of employees and Chanyeol went straight to a huge jeep, she was almost sure that the car was armored. The other man was in the passenger seat while Baekhyun helped Y/N climbing the back of the car and he did the same.

As soon as the car started moving, Y/N took off her mask while Baekhyun took the doctor's apron and stirred something on the floor of the car, she noticed that it was a big military -style bag.

"Is everything here?" He asked the men who agreed.

"The way you asked." Chanyeol replied.

"The rest is where we combine." The other spoke and looked back, Y/N stared at him curiously. "Sorry, there was no time to introduce myself, I'm Sehun."

Y/N agreed with her head, uncertain whether she should extend her hand or not.

"You may already know who I am, right?" She answered a little shy and the two front men laughed.

"Only the basics, yeah." He answered and turned forward.

Y/N took advantage of the cue to face Baekhyun, he kept his eyes ahead on the street, analyzing everything.

"Did you really have to break my phone?" She questioned and he looked quickly to her, the expression didn't even change in a thousandth of a second.

"It's for your safety." She rolled her eyes, ready to retort when he raised his hand. “I know what you're going to say, but it's very easy to track your phone, even if it was turned off. You need to be incommunicado. ”

Okay, she understood that the phone was an enemy at the moment, being online could be very dangerous. But why destroy the poor phone?

“Maybe if you explained to me better why-" Y/N stopped talking when noticed that Chanyeol had passed the bridge that would take her home, he was going south. Side completely opposite what he should. "My house is there! ” She pointed at the bridge through the glass but nothing happened beyond it disappearing from sight.

"I'm very sorry." It was all he said and Y/N turned to look at him again, now more confused than ever.

Y/N wanted to continue questioning, although knew that it wouldn't make the slightest difference because he was just doing his job. But the fact that he was so sincere and the look says exactly that he felt a lot made her silent.

She didn't know how long they were in the car but Chanyeol drove even more south, a part of the city she had never gone so far, but when he stopped near the bay, she took her look between the 3 men in the car.

She trusted Baekhyun, he had saved her life heroically, but why were they there?

When the 3 got out of the car, she didn't know who to follow so she stayed inside the car, that's when Chanyeol opened the door for her and held out his hand, offering help with a welcoming smile. She did and got out of the car, he positioned himself behind her exactly the way Baekhyun used to do when they were in a crowded public place. It was protection. He accompanied her to the bay, where Sehun and Baekhyun walked further ahead. She had the perfect opportunity to question Chanyeol what was going on but she didn't because she was watching Baekhyun get into one of the boats that were there.

She kept walking until she stopped in front of the boat and frowned as he held out his hand to her. Without questioning or trying to argue, she took it and he helped her into the boat, feeling her heart race even more as they got closer to each other. But Baekhyun didn't allow it to go on any longer, he went straight to the control of the boat while looking at his friends.

"The car will be there waiting for you." Sehun warned.

"Good luck." Chanyeol spoke and waved his hand at the two, throwing a welcoming smile at Y/N who was starting to understand what was going on.

She said goodbye to the men with a somewhat uncertain smile and Baekhyun was already starting the boat, heading into the water and the bay was distant in a short time as well as the figures of the men who helped them.

Y/N looked at Baekhyun as felt the wind in her hair, he was concentrating on steering the boat but she was sure he felt her eyes burning over him. The middle-of-the-night departure from the hospital, the disguises, the quick trip down to the bay and the two of them going full speed on the boat to who knows where seemed all too obvious to her as she replayed the entire night in her head.

They were on the run.

[...] Y/N watched from afar as the cottage approached as Baekhyun slowed down the truck they were in.

The truck was at a secluded spot on the beach when they arrived by boat, she didn't know where they were but she accompanied Baekhyun in silence, accepted when he held out his hand to help her out of the boat, walked behind him as they went to the truck and stayed watching around as Baekhyun bent down to pick the car keys from the front tire.

Because she didn't know where they were, Y/N obeyed Baekhyun without arguing and because she was tired, the boat wasn't a yacht so the trip was much longer than it seemed, she had a sore back from sitting all the time and it didn't help that she'd come straight from the hospital. She was really tired.

The cottage was far enough away from what Y/N guessed was a town farther up the road they took.

She got out of the car when Baekhyun did and was even more confused when the key to the cottage was in the car keys, he opened the door and gave her room to go first, adjusting the purse on his shoulder. Y/N felt her jaw drop when she saw that the cottage from the inside was cozy. She had no other word to describe it better than that. It was a mix between modern and rustic furniture, the living room on the right side and the kitchen on the left side were only separated by a white island, the corridor in the middle indicated two doors that she expected to be two rooms. As he tossed the bag onto the couch, she turned to face him, pulling out everything inside, guns, knives, and ammo, as well as a phone that looked more like the communicator he'd given her the day of the shooting to call the army, probably via a satellite hard to track. Y/N crossed her arms as she watched him load the guns with ammo, it sure bothered him because he looked at her a few times and when he realized that she wouldn't stop, he put the guns aside. “What?” "I think you can start explaining to me what's going on and why we're here now, no?" she questioned, trying to keep her tone calm.

She wouldn't judge him, he knew why he was doing all that but she needed to understand.

Baekhyun sighed and rubbed the back of his head, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Y/N.

He knew that sooner or later he would have to explain it to her.

"For your safety, we'll spend a season here, with no one knowing your location until we're sure they'll catch whoever is threatening you."

"We? We who?"

"The army." he replied. "The car bombing got more attention than it should have, your dad has immunity and the police didn't seem all that interested in solving this mystery as quickly as possible so..."

"He asked the general for help." she concluded and Baekhyun nodded silently.

"It would not be within the jurisdiction of the army but the parliamentarians are afraid that this kind of threat will not only stop at your father but at his allies."

Y/N took a deep breath. Well, it wasn't an option that she thought her father would follow, because it was the last one he could, but by the way things were starting to get out of control.

"Do you think there's an infiltrator?" she asked too quickly and Baekhyun got serious.

It wasn't the kind of subject he could discuss with her for two reasons, it was risky and he wasn't sure how investigations would be handled, he wasn't in the army anymore. Even having good contacts inside.

"If you're tired…" he got up from the couch to indicate the hall and she laughed, humorlessly.

Oh no, he wasn't going to change the subject so quickly. She was indeed tired but that wouldn't stop her wanting to understand what was going on.

"I'm not done asking my questions yet." she answered firmly and he stopped where he was, resting his hands on her slim waist. "Why you? Why did we come here? Where are we? Why did you break my phone?!"

"Okay, breathe!" he spoke loudly. "I will explain to you!" he assured her and she tapped her foot, waiting for an answer.

“I’m waiting.” “We’re in a safe place. It was at your father's request, he wanted you to be somewhere that no one would know about but that would be far enough away from all the fuss. You know him, he's determined to continue wiping out organized crime, but he can't risk your safety.” Y/N took a deep breath, getting calmer and now understanding better. It made sense, especially given the way her father had subtly said goodbye. He probably knew that if he explained it to his daughter, she would convince him to act otherwise.

Because Y/N didn't want to have to change her life for choices she didn't make but now she was thrown into this life and she couldn't go back because if she was stubborn and proud she would end up dead. She saw how determined her father's enemies were to put a bullet in her head, it would be stupid for her to act like a spoiled child because she didn't understand the consequences.

"What about my phone?" "Are you really going to keep questioning me about this?" he asked and she looked away to the floor. She didn't have any more questions for him because he'd been honest and that was enough, she wasn't hiding the essentials from her. He was there, dropping everything to protect her, putting himself at risk for her. She laughed when she realized what they'd gotten themselves into. Both alone in a cottage that was probably miles away from the nearest town on an island she didn't even know where it was. The perfect vacation. "All that was missing was for you to tell me that we came here disguised as newlyweds on a honeymoon." She rolled her eyes, not satisfied with her own joke and waited for him to say something sarcastic or even laugh like she did.

But it didn't.

"Nobody would believe we're siblings anyway." he shrugged and went back to sitting on the couch, busying himself with the weapons while Y/N felt her jaw drop once more from sheer shock.Wait, what? “Hold on a sec.” she held up her hands, trying to understand. "What are you trying to say?"

Baekhyun looked up and kept his gaze fixed on her. "We’re a tourist couple enjoying our vacation." he said as simply and directly as possible and looked back at the gun, Y/N felt not just her cheeks burn but her whole body. Oh my fucking…It could only be a joke, I mean, it should be a joke! She couldn't pretend to be Baekhyun's wife while they were in that place alone. "How long are we staying?" she asked quietly and for a moment thought he hadn't heard her because he didn't stop what he was doing.

He was so enviably calm, it was almost as if he was... resigned. Baekhyun then left everything on top of the coffee table near the sofa and got up, approaching Y/N in long, slow steps, she didn't move but felt her heart speed up just watching him.

They exchanged a long look and she understood the reason for the silence, not even he knew the answer to that question. "Let's go," he put his hand on her shoulder for a few seconds but it made her skin burn under the clothes she wore, so hot was his palm. "I'll show you to your room." He led the way and Y/N needed a few seconds to take a deep breath and follow him.

The cottage wasn't huge so they crossed the hall in no time, Baekhyun had already opened the bedroom door when Y/N approached she entered and saw how the room, although it was dark, was cozy just like the rest of the place.

She felt a sense of protection being there.

The bed was big enough for her alone and thinking about it made a shiver run down the back of her neck. Well, the bed was double and she wasn't the only person there.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Baekhyun cleared his throat before speaking.

"You sleep in bed, next door is the bathroom."

She turned at once, staring at him in confusion.

"And you?"

"I'm going to sleep in the living room." he decreed and she didn't even question. How could?

It wasn't like she had the nerve to say you can sleep in the same bed as me.No way. "That dresser has new clothes for you," he pointed to the piece of furniture against the wall. "If you're hungry, I can make you something to eat."

She frowned. Had he prepared everything? Clothes, food?

But even though she was hungry, she was more tired than ever, all she wanted was to get out of those hospital clothes and sleep until she woke up in her own room.

"Fine, I just want to sleep." she admitted and he nodded in agreement.

"When you take off your clothes." he coughed like he had something stuck in his throat. "I mean, when you change your clothes, you can leave your hospital clothes in the bathroom."

"Why?"

"I will burn them."

Y/N looked away from Baekhyun's eyes, they looked so intense and steady all of a sudden that she felt shy. She nodded silently and he left the room without another word, causing Y/N to take another deep breath and turned to face the room.

The bed had never felt so big for her, and the feeling of being alone washed over her.

But she was so tired, with body aches that she didn't have the patience to think about many things other than doing what he said. Change clothes.

She did it quickly, putting on comfortable pants and a sleeveless shirt that she had found in the dresser, left the hospital clothes in the bathroom as he said and didn't peek to see what Baekhyun was doing, went straight to the bedroom and threw herself on the big bed , tossing and turning to find the best sleeping position she could. Y/N felt her heavy eyes drift closer and closer and she had never slept so fast in her entire life.

While she slept in the room, Baekhyun prepared his "bed" on top of the couch. After separating the weapons in strategic points of the house in case he needed it, a gun under the coffee table, another on the kitchen island, a knife under the sofa cushions, he spread the sheet on the sofa and sat down while messing his hair with his hand. His attention returned to the throbbing pain in his arm, it was only then that he remembered that he should redress the bandage. He went to the bathroom, with a change of clothes and found the first-aid kit that was under the sink, he took care of the wound that was still healing little by little and changed but didn't put on his shirt right away, that shit would limit the movement of his arm and he hated it, especially with a bandage.

He took the clothes he wore as a doctor and the nurse that Y/N left in the bathroom, with the shirt hanging over his shoulder, he went to the kitchen holding the hospital clothes, took a plastic bag and put the clothes there. In the morning, when he woke up, he would burn everything. Baekhyun laid down on the sofa, and placed his shirt on the arm of the sofa while raising his arm to his forehead, looking at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come. But that didn't happen. He didn't tend to think much later about the events that used to get him to where he was, he managed to leave shootouts, chases, fights, all in a part of his mind he hardly ever visited. But that night was different.

Perhaps because the situation itself was already critical and different.

It was the first time he had to run away with a client because her safety was compromised and although he didn't like feeling that way, he felt sorry for Y/N.

Because of everyone, she was the most innocent in the story and the one suffering the most. She had to abandon her entire life without even knowing it. Even when his boss, Y/N's father, had begged him to do it, he still wanted her to consent to it. But they didn't have time for that, either do it the way it was done or she would die in a matter of minutes. I had no other option.

So he ran to whoever else could help, friends of his, both military and who had dealt with worse situations than that.

Going to a tourist island, pretending to be other people with a completely different story than the one they were living was the only way to keep Y/N safe and most importantly, alive. He then lost himself in the memory of her crying inside the car, saw the pure fear in her eyes that she thought she was going to die, and promised himself that he wouldn't let that happen, not on his watch. Not when his mission was to keep her safe.

He had been hired for this, although he wanted to take revenge on the scoundrels who had created this situation, he needed to act with a cool head.

Baekhyun was far from sleeping but still busy thinking about Y/N, when his ears heard a bang coming from the bedroom, something seemed to have broken and his hand flew to the coffee table, taking out the gun he had placed there.

In a matter of seconds he was standing with the gun in position, when he heard a grumble from Y/N, he didn't think twice and in long strides went to the room where she was.

Strategically, he opened the door slowly with his gun raised, his eyes used to the dark so it wasn't hard to see what had happened.

The lamp was on the floor next to the bed and Y/N was crying on the bed but she was alone, sleeping, or worse, having nightmares. Once again.

He had already heard her grumble before, during the night at her house, he knew what it was because for a long time he also had nightmares for the things he experienced.

But it had something about seeing Y/N cry and moan in pain that made his heart sink into his chest.

Without thinking twice, he tucked the gun into his waistband and approached the bed.

"Let go of me, please." she asked, still unconscious, crying and Baekhyun wanted to make it go away one way or another, her voice was so fragile, so vulnerable...

"Y/N." he called low, and had an internal fight with himself whether he put his hand on her shoulder or not to wake her up, upon seeing Y/N's face twist in pain he opted to touch her. "Wake up." He bent his torso until he was closer to her and then Y/N opened her eyes red and full of tears, she kept them wide with fright and when she opened her mouth to scream, Baekhyun stepped forward.

"It's okay, it's me." he spoke quickly, seeing how hard she was trying to suck in air. "It was just a nightmare, it's okay, I'm here."

Y/N was shaking and she needed Baekhyun's help to sit up in bed, completely without strength.

Tears flowed like a river, hard and unstoppable, making Baekhyun's heart ache, it was as if someone had shot him and his heart had shattered like glass. Unable to contain himself, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Y/N into a warm embrace, she didn't fight back and just buried her face in his bare neck, sobbing loudly as she clutched his back as if her life depended on it. He felt a shiver when her nails dug into his skin but he didn't care, he took one hand to her hair to stroke it and the other to her waist, squeezing her tight to make sure he was there and wouldn't let go. And that's exactly what happened.

He didn't let go and Y/N cried what she needed to cry, the nightmare was still vivid in her mind, someone breaking into the hospital room and holding her down on the bed while pointed a gun.

It felt too real. But Baekhyun's caress in her hair and the warmth he exuded helped her take a deep breath, and calmed the poor heart that seemed to have gone to her mouth when she woke up, but now felt it in the right place. It was still beating fast but it was no longer because of the fright but because of the man who held her firmly. Baekhyun felt Y/N's tears wet all over his skin but he didn't care because he felt that her breath was calmer against his neck. Y/N swallowed the sob that seemed to insist on coming out and she pulled away enough to look Baekhyun in the eyes, he looked at her worriedly.

"Do you want some water? I can get-" he started to get up from the bed but Y/N stopped him, holding lightly on his wrist, he stopped.

"I do not want to be alone." she admitted and he nodded, smiling so slightly it was almost imperceptible.

Baekhyun looked around for a chair or armchair that he could stay in all night, as he once had, but he couldn't find it.

"I'm going to the kitchen to get a chair." he explained and saw her sigh.

"You can stay in bed." she spoke so quietly he had to strain to hear. "You're still hurt anyway, I won't let you sit up all night if you can stay in bed." she looked away and nodded at Baekhyun's bandage on his arm, she felt her cheeks burn as she noticed that he was shirtless.

She didn't want to stare at his bare torso, even though she felt the warm skin against her palms.

Why suddenly she no longer remembered why they had arrived in that situation, she just felt shy for having the man there, so close to her and shirtless. “Alright.” he said and got up from the bed to stretch out on Y/N's other side, keeping a safe distance from her as the bed was big enough for that. Y/N tried to watch him discreetly but it got difficult when Baekhyun took his arm behind his head, making his biceps grow even more. She pressed her lips together, trying to contain her chin so it wouldn't sag, she hadn't noticed how broad his shoulders were and hadn't even imagined he was so defined. He wasn't overly muscled but damn he has great abs. Y/N took a deep breath as she felt Baekhyun staring at her, the tears had already dried on her face, tiredness took over her again and the nightmare images were no longer in her mind but Baekhyun, she ended up falling asleep quickly.

Baekhyun remained the same, watching her expression change. From fear to shyness, from shyness to serenity.

That night, not only did he feel that he was doing his job properly, but he felt his heart warm to see that Y/N was now at peace, even if only for a few hours. But he would do his best so that it wasn't just for hours.

[...] A month had passed since Baekhyun and Y/N arrived on that island.

That cottage never seemed so small to Y/N.

Not because she missed her house, she did a lot, but she felt safe and better, she felt at home. But there was only one problem, her bodyguard. At first, after seeing him shirtless and so worried about her because of the nightmare, she thought she could control that little bit of anxiety in the pit of her stomach, her legs trembling every time he stared at her for more than 10 seconds.

But she lied to herself the whole time.

Every time they went into town, she had to pretend she was Mrs. Kim. Baekhyun held her hand every time, looked at her as if they were newlyweds and that was eating her up inside, she said her mantra every morning.

Don't fall in love with him. But did it help? No.

Because the truth is that she already had a crush on him long before they escaped from the hospital, even before the attack. She just didn't want to admit it to herself because one was too cliché, and two, she didn't know what would come of it.

Fall in love with the bodyguard? What was on her mind?

But every day, every hour I spent with him it was impossible not to succumb to that feeling. He had his full attention on her at all times. If she ate well, if she felt well, heavens they even slept in the same bed!

Okay, nothing had ever happened between the two of them, no kissing, no mention of it or anything like that but she couldn't pretend that she didn't feel like meeting his lips, knowing if they were as soft as his skin.

But every time he was near her, she had to curl her hands into tight fists as her fingers itched to bring him closer.

She tried to remember the main reason they were there alone, that it wasn't a real vacation, she was hiding there. But at a certain point, she could no longer distinguish reality from what she really wanted.

And it all got worse when she got her period. She became more sensitive, in pain, even needy, and expecting Baekhyun to just leave her alone, he did the exact opposite.

He massaged her back to ease the pain and that helped a lot, he bought her chocolates, and every time she cried he was there to stroke her hair.

It was as if he couldn't or didn't want to stay away from her.

But what was making her confuse reality was that Baekhyun didn't give news of what was happening in their city, in her house, he said that her father was fine but he didn't give any more news than that. She then had no expectation of when they would return, they could end up living their whole lives there and what would she do?

But sometimes Y/N understood that he was just doing his job, protecting her. She didn't want to create expectations that he felt the same as her because every time they returned from town, in the car he remained silent, jaw set and entered the cottage as if they had had a big fight even if they hadn't even exchanged a word.

She was confused and completely lost. Where was her life going? Completely tired of everything, Y/N was waiting for Baekhyun to go back inside sitting on the couch, when he walked in and saw that she was there with her hands together and her arms resting on her leg, he closed the door and went to the kitchen, without speaking anything.

Y/N didn't give up and went after him, leaning on the kitchen island.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, watching him pull some stuff out of the fridge.

"If it comes to that subject again, I think I've made my position pretty clear."

Y/N snorted loudly, on purpose for him to hear because apparently he didn't want to look at her.

"You can't forbid me." she said the same thing as the last 3 other discussions. "You're just my bodyguard."

"Exactly, that’s why I can." he started going through the kitchen cabinets, looking for utensils to make lunch. Y/N clenched her jaw, angry.

"You can't forbid me to talk to my father!" she raised her voice. "What authority or right do you have over me?"

"Authority given by your father, to protect you."

She laughed in disbelief.

It was always the same justification.

Y/N asked, in the first week they were there, to talk to her father on Baekhyun's phone, he said it was too dangerous and she didn't question it anymore.

However, she figured things had calmed down after a month so she asked Baekhyun again, he denied of course and it was the first fight they ever had.

She never questioned or argued about the fact that she wasn't told about the escape from the hospital, because she understood that it needed to be done in a hurry and was grateful that he had saved her life again. However, she was tired of being cut off from the world.

She wanted her life back, she wanted her freedom. "I'm not dead!"

Baekhyun dropped the knife he was using and slammed his hands down on the island.

"But it will be if you talk to someone!” his firm, hard voice caught her off guard, causing her to fall silent. "Don't you understand that they've been trying to track you down since we left the hospital? Pay attention Y/N, this is no joke. Once your voice is picked up by any satellite, they have your location and they won't even need to send a mercenary to kill you. Send a drone or missile and we're both dead. They're even hunting my friends for helping us escape!" "Then let me talk through your army communicator or whatever that crap you carry around all the time!" she pleaded and saw him close his eyes for a few seconds, when he opened them his gaze was cold. "You don't even understand what's going on."

"Then explain it to me, damn it!" she screamed. "What? There's an imposter in the army too?"

"Yes!" he replied in a higher tone than her. "Is that what you wanted to hear? Yes, there's an undercover agent in the army ready to cut off your head."

Y/N was silent with her mouth open, she was surprised. That was the truth. And now she was afraid, very afraid.

She lowered her head, feeling tears form.

"I can't stand living here anymore." she admitted, quietly.

"You're not the only one who wants to get your life back but I have to because I have to protect you at all costs. Or do you think I want to live a fake life forever?"

She felt her heart twist inside her chest and looked up at Baekhyun. So that was it, she was just an obligation.

Of a mission, which he couldn’t fail.

Nothing more than that. She felt disappointed, more in herself than in him. She had been an idiot all along, thinking he enjoyed her company, that he was doing all this because he cared about her.

By the looks of it, the only one who had fallen for the lie had been her. She smiled, completely hurt and swallowed the cry that was about to come. “Thanks for acting like you cared about me.” she said, hurt and didn't wait for him to answer, she left there and went straight to the bedroom crying on the way, and closed the door with force.

She didn't care if he heard the loud thud, if he saw if she was crying, she didn't want to think about Baekhyun anymore. For more than a month he had been tormenting her head, confusing her with signs that she had misunderstood but that he had never made clear. "Dumb, dumb, stupid!" she cursed herself and went to hit the bed, at least it was soft enough not to break her hand, and that would be the climax. Hot tears ran down her cheeks and she didn't know if she was crying with sadness or anger anymore. She looked at the door angrily, if Baekhyun walked in at that moment, she might jump on his neck, on impulse Y/N locked the door, not caring if he made it there or not. Let Baekhyun sleep on the couch this time. Baekhyun realized that he had said the wrong thing but he knew that going after Y/N right now would only make things worse, so he put his lunch aside and plopped down on the couch, huffing to himself and thinking about how stupid he had been. It wasn't an easy situation, especially for him.

He couldn't give in and put Y/N at risk, no matter how much her pitying eyes made him want to agree with her.

If only she knew half the things he thought, that he felt… But he couldn't, it was too risky for her. Of course, he didn't imagine that he would get attached to Y/N so quickly, but seeing her fragile like that every day, he did feel obliged to protect her, but not just because he had been hired to do so. How could he let that happen? How could he fall in love with her in such a short time? Letting his guard down and letting Y/N climb his wall, which he had built so much to prevent it from happening. His feelings could lead Y/N into much bigger trouble than being a politician's daughter. But how was he going to stop what he felt? He liked waking up every day seeing her sleeping peacefully beside him, he liked stroking her hair and heavens, he couldn't bear to see her cry. His heart ached every time. And it wasn't just because she was innocent in all of this, all of that confusion, but because he preferred a thousand times that she smiled. She looked so much prettier doing that. He wanted to say that he got tired of that fake life because he wanted it to become reality, not that she was a burden or a simple obligation.

He couldn't even see it as a simple mission anymore, because he didn't feel like it anymore. Since the day he protected her the mini bomb was sent inside her house. Both stayed the whole afternoon thinking, each in their own room and tired of crying like she was the damsel in distress, Y/N left the room, decided.

She stopped at the end of the corridor, seeing Baekhyun with his head down and his elbows resting on the losses and when he noticed that he was being watched, he raised his head, meeting her steady eyes. "I want to leave." she said. "I want to go back home." Baekhyun felt like he had lost control of everything and he didn't know what to say right away. “What?” "You heard."

He got up from the couch and kept me on my feet. Yes, he had heard it but didn't want to believe it. "It's dangerous, Y/N." he tried to argue, as he always did, but she seemed really determined.

"I don't care, I don't want to be a burden on anyone's life. A lie." she said, hurt and Baekhyun took a deep breath. Well, he wasn't one to apologize but he would have to find a way to do that because he really didn't want her to take the worst of what he said.

Y/N was about to cry, he could see the tears in her eyes ready to fall in a way that he didn't like to see. The two exchanged glances and it was enough for Baekhyun to be sure of what to do, without fighting anymore, he went to her in a long stride and held her by both sides of the face and before putting his lips together he could see her expression of surprise. It was a warm, firm touch, just lips touching, but Baekhyun put all his effort, all his heart into making her understand what he meant without the words. He wasn't very good with them. After the shock, Y/N's body seemed to react and she brought her hands to the back of his neck, while he moved his lips against hers slowly and patiently. No word could mean more to Y/N than that. She sighed as his hands released her face and went to her waist, bringing her body closer to his. His tongue found Y/N's lips and she opened her mouth so that hers kept the same rhythm as his, her heart was beating so fast she imagined Baekhyun could be feeling it, the kiss was deepening and neither of them felt the need to get further away.

However, eventually, when they were out of air, it was necessary.

Baekhyun leaned their foreheads together and kept his eyes closed as Y/N sucked in a large amount of air and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You’re not a burden, much less a lie." he spoke low and she felt every hair on her body stand on end, when she opened her eyes she saw that Baekhyun was already staring at her intensely.  "I'm a coward."

Y/N shook her head."You’re the bravest man I have ever met in my entire life." she saw that he smiled sideways and never imagined seeing something so beautiful so close. "You saved my life so many times." "I'm afraid of what your life might be like staying with me." he admitted and Y/N brought her hands up to caress his face, Baekhyun closed his eyes at the gentle touch. "You promised me you would protect me." she recalled. "And I believe you, I trust you." Baekhyun opened his eyes again and all he found in Y/N's eyes was certainty, so much so that it consumed him. He wasn’t one to break his promises. "I'm in love with you and not even thousands of armies can stop me."

#exowritersnet #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun fic #baekhyun imagine #baekhyun x y/n #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun x you #baekhyun angst #exo fanfic #exo imagine #exo imagines #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo x y/n #exo x you #exo x reader #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop x reader #kpop x y/n #kpop x you #bodyguard au! #requests #maari

[thrill-seeker-if]

Here is my THEORY about the murderer in thrill seeker.

You have said BEFORE that there are clues on the blog about who it is. So I scoured the ENTIRE BLOG and this is what I found.

Now this blog has about 3,360 posts. The biggest demographics for that are:

Thrill Seeker related

Other blogs

Nonsense

Now the problem is that NONSENSE might not completely be nonsense. Now how do I know that? Because nothing is ever truly nonsense when there is MYSTERY afoot. So, I grouped the different type of nonsense, and I went through that too. The only category I really threw away was other blogs, but that only took away about 800-1000 posts.

Anyways, in nonsense I noticed some patterns. The biggest ones were:

The best friends to lovers, where everyone talked about their best friend love story

Bingo seeker

Love confessions

And most recently, the sparkling water debate

Now if I take all the first letters, that translates to tbflbslcswd. I put these letters in practically every decoder I could find, every cipher, and finally I translated it into BIG-5, and finally I got something that made just a semblance of sense: 絲幩尐

Translating this gave me Silk. Now, again, could this really just be a coincidence? And really, this didn't take me anywhere, so what could I piece together from this?

Silk is a funny word. But thinking about it's most obvious correlations, silk is pretty expensive, and it's not like just everyone has it. SO, who are the rich people in Thrill Seeker? We haven't really heard about anyone, except for Hannie's family. But it doesn't seem like Hannie would be the one, they have too much of a 'moral high ground' according to the blog... so who else?

Baekhyun is too far away from the crime. Same goes for Hannie's sister and father. But where is Hannie's mother? Is it not too much to assume... she would wear silk? Could HANNIE'S MOTHER be the murderer???

I needed MORE info. I decided to look at Hannie's info page. There are 2 genders hannie could be, so I'll keep that info. Hannie is also 26 years old. Hanyoung is 6'4, and Hanyoung is 6'. They know 12 languages, so we'll include that number. And Hannie's birthday is 9/15/1996, so we'll include the numbers: 226646129151996

Putting that through ARMSCII-8 gives me: յnԵչ֊vփ^uփՇ. Decoding it even further took me down several rabbit holes, but finally to 鑭飣, which translates to Lanthanum.

According to google: Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air.

Anh, Hannie's mother, has been mentioned to be... you guessed it... 57. HMM... HMM???? And tarnishing slolwy? Isn't that what MC's mother's dead body did??? HM???

Finally, I want to point my attention to the Thrill Seeker banner.

I checked it, and the first prototype seemed to have MORSE CODE. it was quickly replaced, but I have the original. I put it through a morse code decoder, and lo and behold:

.... .- -. -. .. . .----. ... / -- --- -- / .. ... / .- / - --- - .- .-.. / -- .. .-.. ..-. became:

H A N N I E ' S M O M I S A T O T A L M I L F

CASE!!! PROVEN!!!

sorry for that, guys, I actually wrote this myself to goof on y'all a lil😭😭 please don't hold this against me LMAO

#FORGIVE ME FOR WASTING YOUR TIME I THOUGHT DOING THIS WOULD BE FUNNY THOUGH LMAO #thrill seeker if #thrill seeker headcanon #murderer theory

[beomiracles]

CRIMINIAL CONSIENCE → TEASER

SYNOPSIS moving rapidly through your career as one of the leading female investigators, you never once encountered a case you couldn't crack. though you never expected for your past mistakes to come back and haunt you in the form of an ex lover, accused of murder.

pairings: criminal!beomgyu x investigator!reader PUBLISH DATE → 19th of April, read chapter one here.

TEASER Sipping on your coffee, your red lipstick stains the cup. Eyes scan the papers one last time as you approach the interrogation room. Yeonjun meets you by the door, “you got the files?” he asks and you nod. 

“Yes, though I’ve barely had time to go through them thoroughly”, you admit as you recall your rushed morning. Yeonjun shakes his head, “don’t sweat it”. He brings out a file of his own as he reads a few main points to you. 

“23, male, brought in yesterday night at 1.22am”. Yeonjun flips the paper, “he’s under investigation for murder and attempted arson”. You nod along as you sip on your coffee, arson and murder wasn’t an unusual combination. 

“Any witnesses?” you ask and Yeonjun shakes his head, “none have come forward”. You frown, “how is he linked to the crime?”. Your colleague puts his files down as he turns to look at you, “victim’s DNA on him”. 

Your eyebrows raise in evident surprise, “really?”. Should no other evidence or witnesses surface the man would be as good as guilty already. Yeonjun nods as he unlocks the door for you, “good luck, I’m on the other side of the glass at all times”, he reassures and you give him a thankful smile as you step inside. 

Your heels echo inside the small and dark room as you approach the table in the middle of it. Not looking up from your files you slide down on the chair opposite the man. 

“You are being investigated for the murder of Park Baekhyun as well as the attempted arson against his property. You have the right to remain silent and or request for an attorney, keep in mind that anything you say can be used against you in court”, you say as you place your files down on the table. 

The man in front of you looks up and your eyes widen. His dark eyes pierce yours in such a familiar way that you almost have a hard time controlling your breathing. Lips curling into a smirk as he looks at you.

But that can't be him, it’s impossible, yet he looked exactly like… 

“Beomgyu?” 

Your mouth betrays you before your mind has the chance to stop it. Beomgyu’s smirk only widens as it exposes his shiny teeth, the same teeth that had grazed your skin so many times before. 

He lets out a short laugh, “dollface, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”.

A/N ─ guys, I'm aware that I should NOT be starting something new right now...but I literally couldn't hold myself back when this idea entered my mind.

for my pretty princess enjoyers, do not worry, my main focus is still on pretty princess and I will prioritise updating it. this story will be sort of a side project that I work on when I have time until pretty princess is finished! though I am VERY excited for this as well :3

if you already know that you would like to be tagged when this series gets released drop me a message or a comment on this post >.<

#txt #txt fanfic #choi beomgyu #txt post #beomgyu x reader #criminal conscience beomiracles #beomiracles ₊˚⊹ ᰔ

[berryunho]

The early army days were SO bad oml not only those horrible sweatshirts but also the memes… UGH think I just gagged 💀 anytime someone mentions “y0u g°t n• j@ms” or pink Princess Jin or whatever tf it makes me want to revert into my goo goo ga ga era 😭😐

I wouldn’t donate my sweatshirt tho cause even though I no longer stan them, I don’t want someone to see that I’ve ever had that sweatshirt in my possession LIKE ID RATHER DIE

But ohHhhHh starting a longer series like breaking bad is a good idea to pass time! I hear abt breaking bad all the time but I’m not really into the dr*gs or those kinds of crime genres but let us know if you like it and then maybe I’ll give it a try!

I prefer watching anime so if you want any longer anime recs then I’d fs recommend Gintama! (No pressure tho cause it do be a 200+ episode series 💀)

I hope you have a great start of your week tmrw! You still have 2 weeks and a half of quarantine iirc but after this you’ll be able to see your coworkers and hopefully fulfill that overtime request before classes start up again 🤧 or did they start already for you? :0 if not then yay but if so then I wish you all the best with your studies 😭💖

- Love, 🍓 anon

OH ALSO IF I DO END UP REWRITING THE FIX THEN YOULL HAVE TO LOOK FOR IT YOURSELF OR ELSE IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF 🍓 ANON DKDKDMKD might give you a hint hint nudge nudge tho when I do tho 🤭🤭 also! If you have any ideas of what you’d like to see from it then lmk lolol :P - 🍓 anon

NOT THE EARLY ARMY MEMES..... a shudder went down my spine reading that first paragraph.... dark dark times lol but pls exactly you cant donate it bc it would then be known that you owned it ... horrifying LKSJDLFKJSF

yes i felt like i needed to fill my boredom with something and i was trying to watch some kdramas but like... i couldnt find any that seemed interesting enough to devote hours of my life to LOL i am very much a historical romance kdrama enjoyer (i accredit this to again. early kpop stan days. when i watched moon lovers as it aired for baekhyun. and TO THIS DAY it is my favorite drama and i sincerely believe it to be the best one ive ever seen) and anyways it feels like a good historical drama hasnt come out in forever </3

ive never been much of an anime watcher (besides death note. bc death note is like. one of the best stories ever told in human history. and i stand by that) BUT i looked at the plot summary and gintama does sound interesting so maybe i will check it out!!

hehe thank you but yes i still have 2 weeks of quarantine ... but alas my classes start basically right after i finish quarantine so i wont be going back to work :') but ill definitely stop in to visit before i move to campus bc id be sad leaving without saying goodbye !

hehe i do suppose that that would definitely defeat being anonymous ... but hhehehe if you told me when you were gonna start uploading i could prooooobably find it .... no pressure though of course hehe i wouldnt look if it would make you uncomfortable ! hmmm im always a fan of a love triangle and/or very dramatic confessions of love but you know. you do you ! hehehe

but yeah! thank you for the well wishes as always and uh..... i hope you enjoy the update that ill be posting like. 5 seconds after i post this. KLDFJ:SLKFJD:KSLJF ily <3

#🍓 anon #answered #:]

[lammfleisch]

My 2022 in media so far • rated von 10 to 0 •

~ 10s • Movies • ~

Masquerade Hotel

Masquerade Night

Kimura Takuya Next Destination Live Tour 2022

Takashi Miikes Blade of the Immortal

2046

I come with the rain

~ 10s • Music • ~

Go with the flow by Kimura Takuya

Next Destination by Kimura Takuya

Masquerade Hotel by Naoki Sato

Bedroom Joule by [Alexandros]

Wheres my History by [Alexandros]

Sleepless in Brooklyn by [Alexandros]

City Lights by BAEKHYUN

But wait. Cats? By [Alexandros]

Miyavizm by MIYAVI

MYV☆POP by MIYAVI

~ 10s • Gaming • ~

Judgment (JUDGE EYES)

Lost Judgment

Judgment (JUDGE EYES) Legend Mode& Speedruns

NEON WHITE

Yakuza 6: the Song of Life

Ghost of Tsushima

The Quarry

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time NO Vers

~ 10s • Shows & Drama & Miniseries • ~

Ando Lloyd

The Sandman

Sora kara furu ichioku no hoshi (2002)

Grande Maison Tokyo

A LIFE A LOVE

Kyoujou

Mirai e no 10 Count

BG Personal Bodyguard

GIFT

Dahmer

Change

Love Generation

Good luck!

Pride

HERO Season 2

MR. BRAIN

Tsuki no Koibito

Netflix: Dahmer with Evan Peters

~ 10s • Docus • ~

Surviving R Kelly

Gladbeck

~ 9s • Movies • ~

Man from Reno

Killing for the Prosecution

Takashi Miikes Ley Lines

KILLERS

Space Battleship Yamato

Spider-man: No way home

~ 9s • Gaming • ~

Resident Evil 2 Remake PS5

Tiny Tinas Wonderlands

Ghostwire Tokyo

Guardians of the Galaxy

~ 9s • Shows & Drama & Miniseries • ~

HERO Season 1

Hamon & Kera

~ 8s • Movies • ~

Takashi Miikes Ryu Ga Gotoku Gekijōban

Friday the 13th. Part 6

Halloween Kills

Elvis 2022

~ 8s • Music • ~

Dai Rokkan by Reol

EX'ACT by EXO

Gagaku by MIYAVI

Whats my Name by MIYAVI

~ 8s • Gaming • ~

Lost Judgment: the Kaito Files

Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition

Destiny 2: the Witch Queen

Project DIVA Future Tone

~ 7s • Movies • ~

SIGNAL the Movie

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway

Verachtung

~ 7s • Gaming • ~

Yakuza 4

Yakuza 5

Pokemon Arceus

Resident Evil 3 Remake PS5 Version

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

~ 7s • Shows & Drama & Miniseries • ~

JoJos Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part 1

SIGNAL (jap. Version)

~ 7s • Docus • ~

Meltdown 3 Mile Island

The John Wayne Gacy Tapes

The Rancoat Killer

~ 6s • Movies • ~

Friday the 13th. The Remake

~ 6s • Shows & Drama & Miniseries • ~

Hirugao

~ 6s • Docus • ~

Crime Scene: Times Square Killer

~ 5s • Movies• ~

Scary Stories to tell in the dark

Takashi Miikes Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

~ 5s • Gaming • ~

Soul Calibur 6

~ 5s • Docus • ~

Fukushima

~ 4s • Gaming • ~

Yakuza 3

~ 3s • Movies • ~

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

~ 3s • Docus • ~

Unsolved Mysteries

~ 2s • Movies • ~

Slenderman

Hirugao the Movie

Catacombs

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

~ • Everything 0 • ~

The Pyramid

Resident Evil Netflix

#kimura takuya #resident evil #videogames #yakuza #tv show #netflix #judgment #pokemon #movies #friday the 13th #halloween kills #masquerade hotel #masquerade night #2046 #Alexandros #naoki saito #keigo higashino #japan #fire emblem three hopes #nintendo 64 #nintendo switch #the legend of zelda #blade of the immortal #takashi miike #kazuki kitamura

[baeklination]

구름 도시 (Cloud City) pt.3:l

Date: 211107

Warnings/Contains: Some cursing, general talks about the crime and autopsy report.

Characters: justice system au. Baekhyun + varying degrees of 8

WC: 6470

NOTE: The ending is a bit...mundane (?) since it's aupposed to go with the next part (I just cut them up for an easier read since bookmarking isn't possible here).

@jennxx3 @to-all-the-stories-i-love

Masterlist Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3:II

¤¤

Baek-hyun was on his third cup of coffee, waiting as Chan-yeol and his crew painstakingly dug through the ground to unearth what he presumed was another victim. Kyung-soo would take care of the body itself, but the detailed work of searching for evidence while disturbing the original scene and soil was Chan-yeol’s forte. Jong-dae sat down next to him:

“There’s a reporter camping out on the driveway now that we’ve lifted the tape”, he sighed. “Our man’s gonna be on the evening news.”

“Might as well be, Jong-dae. We already have a warrant out.”

“It’s gonna help him more than us, if he sees it”, Jong-in chimed in. “We don’t even know what he looks like now. How the hell are we gonna find him?”

“I don’t know… Let’s hear what Jun thinks when he gets here. He’ll know what to do.”

There was a surge of mumbling voices from the tent that could only mean one thing - they’d found something - and soon after, Chan-yeol peeked through the flap.

“Is Doh here?”

“He was finishing up an autopsy. He’ll be forty-five minutes, at least. What’ve you got?”

“A body. We still have to get it up, but ask Doh to hurry - these clouds don’t look too good.”

Baek-hyun knew better than to ask if he could join them, as this would be the most crucial part of the exhumation, so all he could do was sit and wait.

¤

Jun-myeon hurried through the rain and hopped in the backseat with two bags full of food.

“Dinner”, he smiled, relieved that they were all there. “Jjajangmyeon, dak gomtang, kimchi.”

“Wow, you guys from Major eat in style”, Jong-dae exclaimed. “Usually I only get to cram a hotdog down in the field.”

“You deserve it, you’ve had a real one today”, Jun-myeon explained. “Was it Park’s crew I saw leaving just now?”

“Wyeah”, Baek-hyun answered, while slurping up a mouthful of noodles. “They’ve finished with the on-site collecting. Doh’s in there now.”

“Do you know anything yet?”

“Park said she was pretty badly decomposed. And that her clothes seemed to indicate she was pretty young; late teens, early twenties. I’m gonna hang back and follow Doh back.”

“It’s gonna take half the night, Byun. Why don’t you guys go home, get some rest, and hear the results tomorrow? These guys have kids, you know.”

“No, they’re going home. Just stayed around for the free meal”, Baek-hyun grinned. “I don’t know how it’s gonna look in the morning, wanna get a jump start. Jong-dae’s going to talk to the surviving vic, and I’m going with Jong-in to shake the trees.”

Shaking the trees is what they called going down to the seedier parts of town, where the less fortunate lived and worked, to see if there was any information to be gathered. The average person would probably guess that the most upstanding citizens of town would make the best witnesses, but the truth was far from it. Living safely, far removed from the grime, they paid little mind to anything beyond their immediate bubble, whereas the prostitutes, small-time crooks and special businesses noticed everything; living in the shade meant you had to keep your eyes and ears open.

“I thought you didn’t have a car..?”

“They called from the shop, I can get it tomorrow. Finally..! Not that I haven’t enjoyed riding shotgun with you, kiddo”, Jong-dae winked at Jong-in.

“You think you’ll be able to flush Soo-man out?”

“Any tips, boss?”

“I don’t think it’s gonna be a question of flushing him out. You’re probably gonna have to find him. Leave no sto-”

“-stone unturned”, Baek-hyun chimed in. “Got it, boss.”

“And Oh Sehun?”

“We didn’t find anything in the house to indicate he knows Soo-man, but it’s too early to rule out. The best thing would be if...Well, the best thing would’ve been if I hadn’t been so gungho, going in with guns blazing at the interrogation”, he sighed.

“We all thought he had done it”, Jong-in tried to comfort Baek-hyun. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Exactly. And he had fricking Kim Min-seok with him - what were we supposed to think..! I still don’t get that…”, Jong-dae shook his head.

“Tell you what, Byun”, Jun-myeon said “I’ll call him first thing tomorrow. Smooth it over with the “they’re hot heads, but I’m the boss and I believe you”-routine.”

“No, Jun. I appreciate it, but I should do the groveling myself.”

“You should. But if it backfires he’ll clam up, and we don’t want that, do we? With as little as you have to go on already...”

“Yeah, you’re right… But I wanna talk to him soon.”

“Of course. It’s your investigation. I’m just giving you a helping hand. Anyhow..!”, Jun-myeon clapped his hands together and continued “I’m gonna get going. You lads have a lovely evening and I’ll see you bright and early.”

Jong-dae turned to Jong-in:

“What do you say, should we roll out to? One last adventure for the Kim Jong’s?”

“Good idea. I’m so full, I’m about to fall asleep! Especially with this rain.”

¤¤

After finishing up with Kyung-soo, Baek-hyun was knackered; physically yes, but mostly mentally. Coming home at 01.30 he changed into a t-shirt and sweats and went out in the backyard to see if Veró’s lights were on. There was a high wooden fence between their houses, but with a bit of DIY Baek-hyun and Veró had managed to make a section of it into a gate, so they (he) could pop over whenever they felt like it. Satisfied she was still up he did a quickpeek through the glass screen into her living room, then slid the door open to be met by Mongi’s tap dancing.

"Why are you peeping through my window like the neighbourhood perv, B?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alone”, he answered while scratching the dog behind the ears. “Last time I came over unannounced you were in a…" he paused and made wide eyes "...compromising situation, remember?"

"That's why normal people knock on the front door. Or call ahead. They don't go skulking in their neighbour's backyard. What's up?"

"Hmm, nothing", Baek-hyun answered, now in the kitchen with his mouth full of crackers.

"Just came over for your weekly fridge raid?"

Veró got up, nudged him away and took out a pot:

"Chilli con carne. Insta-rice in the cupboard."

"You're a rare and flavourful gem, Veró..!", he announced and gave her a warm hug.

After finishing his second dinner he stretched out on the couch and put his head in Veró’s lap.

“So you gonna tell me what’s bothering you?”, she asked, running her fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know, I just felt like coming over. There’s a lot going on at work.”

“It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that girl they found, under Pioneer’s bridge, would it?”

“Quite the detective are you? Aeh, you know I don’t wanna-”

“...talk about work. I know.”

“Just...Just be careful if you’re out alone, alright? Better yet, don’t go out”, he said in a firm but joking manner.

“Okay, detective Byun. I’ll stay cooped up in here until you catch the guy.”

“If I catch him”, Baek-hyun sighed.

“Of course you will, I have faith in you, B.”

“Tell that to my other fourteen open cases…”

Veró hated seeing Baek-hyun beat himself up like this, especially knowing how hard he worked and how much he cared, but there wasn’t anything she could say to make him ease up on himself, so she let it slide. She just kept on brushing his hair until he eventually dozed off.

20TH APRIL

“Oh, nooo..!”, Jong-dae cried out in a cartoonish voice, making side-to-side motions with the spoon. “The plane is going down..! Wait, I see a safe place to land - right on Mount Min-jun..!”

Min-jun was in hysterics, laughing so much he couldn’t keep his food in.

“I’m gonna have to serve him three portions the way you feed him”, Irina smiled at the comical pair in front of her.

“Did you hear that, Junnie? Mommy thinks I’m too much fun. What do you think? Do you want stern babushka, or….AIRPLAAAAANE..!”, Jong-dae asked, doing his swiping motions.

“Ae buane!”, Min-jun clapped his hands and started cackling again.

After successfully delivering a mouthful to his son, he scrunched his face with a short yelp of contentment.

“How did he come out so cute, Iri? I just wanna put him in my pocket - airplane woooo! - and take him with me to work..!”

“Speaking of which...”, she replied and nodded towards the clock “...shouldn’t we get going if I’m gonna drop you off?”

“Oh, shit, we’ve gotta run.”

“Language…”

“Sorry. Don’t use that word, Junnie”, he said and kissed him on the head.

¤¤

Waiting for Jong-in under the rain-drenched awning of a XXX shop on Louie St., Baek-hyun surveyed the people around him; who was walking, who was working? The corners were “April empty”, the heavy rain deterring everyone except for the old-timers. Hearing a low gasp, followed by the distinct sound of heels on pavement, Baek-hyun turned around in time to see a woman hurryingly disappearing round the nearest corner.

“Myrah!”, Baek-hyun called out, and jogged after her. “You’re not invisible, Myrah. Stop.”

Myrah, a prostitute in her mid-thirties, stopped and turned around with a frustrated look on her face.”

“As if the rain’s not bad enough. It’s not great for business, you know, being seen with a cop”, she scoffed.

“Who’s gonna know I’m a cop?”

“Look around, Byun”, she glared at him. “Do you see any other pretty boys in white shirts and tie here..?”

“I don’t see anyone here...”, Baek-hyun contested, holding his palm up to catch the rain.

“Funny. There’s a club down the street - maybe they’ll let you audition with your stand-up routine.”

“Two minutes, Myrah. You’d really be doing me a favour.”

She leaned back against the building wall and pretended to pick at her nails, but Baek-hyun knew she was listening to him. Making a living on the street had hardened her, but her heart was, as they say, in the right place; she knew right from wrong and that Baek-hyun wouldn’t come down to Louie if it wasn’t serious.

“Two girls. Women-”

“-streeters..?”, she interrupted.

“One definitely not. The other, highly unlikely. Fresh-faced, normal clothes, nothing standing out. ”

“Proper-like women, you mean?”

“Exactly. Anyone come round here looking for that type? Maybe a couple years back even?”

“Years? I don’t keep a diary of scumbag preferences, Byun.”

“Okay, weeks then. Last three weeks?”

“Nothing that comes to mind..”, Myrah sighed and continued “but you know I’m not big on socializing. I keep my head down until it’s time to go home. Ask Cosy, she’ll know.”

“I haven’t seen her, where she at?”

“She ain’t heavy into rain these days. Usually sits it out at Gino’s, trying her luck.”

“So should you, you’ll catch a cold out here. Here, take my jacket”, he said and started wriggling out of it.

“Keep it. That’s not exactly the look my clients go for.”

“Fine. But eat something warm today, alright?”, he said, hauling up a few bills, pressing them into her hand.

She didn’t have to say thank you - the fact that she hadn’t protested meant she appreciated it.

“How’s Micah doing?”

It was almost a magic trick, mentioning her son. Her countenance softened and her eyes got a spark in them when she talked about him.

“Good. My baby’s doing real good. He’s finishing fifth year and with his grades it won’t be long before he’s Dr. Micah”, she bragged.

“Yeah? Glad to hear it, Myrah. I’ll try to bring him something next time I come around. I’ve gotta run, my partner's probably waiting for me. Stay safe, you hear?”

“Don’t worry about me, Byun. I ain’t leaving my kid for nothing.”

Excusing himself, Baek-hyun took up his phone to answer the call that had been buzzing for the last minute.

“Hey, Jong-in, where are you?”

“I’m at the crossing on Juniper Street, but the sign on the side street says Kodak, not Louie”, Jong-in said, flustered at being lost.

“That’s the one. Drive up here, I’ll flag you down.”

¤

“Sorry, I should’ve told you the actual name of the street”, Baek-hyun apologised and went on to explain “We call it Louie at the precinct because of what goes on around here. Lewd, Louie. Get it?”

“Ah, yeah, I get it. We had names like that as well. Louie just sounded so...real.”

“We’re going up to a bar just here to see if we can find Cosy. If there’s any information to be had, she’s our safest bet. Our girl likes meatball sandwiches, so let’s pop in here quick”, Baek-hyun said as they neared a corner store.

“Is she homeless? Or I mean...can’t she afford to buy this herself?”

“Cosy? Nah, she’s not homeless, she’s a working gal. But she wouldn’t spend her money on something like this. But it’s not about that really. You see, Jong-in…”, he went on as he browsed through the aisle “...it’s about recognizing the people down here - mostly women - are human, like you and me, deserving of respect and kindness, as any other people you’d meet. Most of them started when they were too young to understand the emotional impact this life would have, and now they think they’re too old or too damaged to turn it around. Take Cosy for example. She’s been through the ringer more times than there are stars in the sky, been spit on, looked down upon by everyone - including us cops - yet she’s willing to help me out if she can. This...”, he said, holding up his bag of treats “is the very least she deserves. By the way, did you get a chance to look through the report?”, he asked, referring to the autopsy report of their newly found victim he’d sent over during the night.

“Barely. Hye-jin woke up so ill this morning, I had to get Yong-sun ready and drop her off at my parents house. I really tried”, Jong-in moaned at the start of his morning.

“Oh. Is she..?”, Baek-hyun raised his brows in a suggestive way.

“No, no, no. She is not pregnant..!” Jong-in affirmed, but paused for a moment. “She can’t be…”

Baek-hyun laughed and gave him a dunk on the shoulder:

“Seems you’ve got that firepower, daddy Jong-in”, he teased, as they walked into Gino’s.

¤

From the cubicles dressed in worn out red leather and the knock-off Tiffany lamps in the bar, to the bartender turning a blind eye to the man getting an - undoubtedly paid for - handjob in one of the stalls (what business was it of his it of his if it earned him a bigger tip?), Gino’s was an altogether depressing affair.

“Now, what’s a fine man like you doing in a joint like this?”, they heard someone call out.

Looking behind him, Baek-hyun saw Cosy sitting in one of the booths.

“He’s trying to find a fine woman like yourself.”

Baek-hyun couldn’t help slathering on the butter every time he saw her.

Cigarette in hand; her full bosom being held in check by the thinnest straps of a silver top with a napkin-size white skirt to match it was obvious that Cosy’d been around the block more than a few times.

“How’ve you been, mama?”, Baek-hyun smiled while sitting down.

“Better than you, by the looks of it”, Cosy replied pointing at him “You haven’t been sleeping, B. And who are you, sugar?”, she asked.

“Good morning, ma’m. I’m Kim Jong-in, Byun’s colleague”, he answered politely, shaking Cosy’s hand.

“You're barely dry behind the ears, son. I hope B’s taking good care of you.”

“I’m older than I look, ma'am. But Byun is looking out for me...ma'am.”

This wasn’t Jong-in’s first encounter with a sex worker, but most of his experience with them came from his patrol days, where the conversations mostly were kept to “move it along” or some form of warning about booking them. Sitting down with Cosy, who knew no strangers, was a new experience and it made him flustered.

“Okay. But if it changes, you know where to find me”, she said with a wink.

“I have a girlfriend”, he hurriedly replied, his face getting flushed, to the amusement of both Cosy and Baek-hyun.

“Relax, Jong-in”, he chuckled. “Cosy knows better than to solicit illegal activities.”

Cosy looked in the bag Baek-hyun had placed in front of her:

“Sandwiches, chocolates, mints...You must want something important, B…”

Baek-hyun slid a photo of Min-young across the table.

“You got any girls like her here? Or anyone asking?”

Putting her cigarette out and picking up the photo she could tell right away:

“This girl ain’t from the streets, B. Who’s looking for her?”

“No one. She’s dead.”

“Poor child…”

“Yeah, and I’ve got another one. But no fucking clue where to look, Co. Thought someone might’ve been round here before this happened? I know you girls barely report to us when things happen…”

“Well, you got a picture of the guy, a sketch?”

“It’s old”, he said, hauling up Soo-man’s high-school photo. “He’s gonna be around forty now.”

“Oh, sugar, what am I supposed to do with this? They already look one and the same to us.”

“I know, Co”, he burst out, running his hands through his hair. “That’s what I’m saying. I don’t have a clue..!”

“He’s from Blue Meadow”, Jong-in interjected, giving Baek-hyun a moment to calm down.

“We don’t exchange home addresses… But if he’s from there...forty years…”, Cosy mused, lighting another cigarette. “With this weather he might be indoors. The comfortable type. You been to see Seung-woo?”

Baek-hyun’s demeanour quickened:

“Suny? The peep parlour?”

“Yeah. He says his cameras are fake, don’t wanna scare away the customers, but I’m not too sure… Not for the girls sake, that’d be the day, but he been robbed a couple times in the past…”, she shrugged her shoulders.

“When’s he open?”

“That weasel..? Wouldn’t miss an opportunity to make a nickel these days. It’s open twenty-four seven, B.”

¤¤

Shutting the engine off, Jong-dae gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath. Riding alongside Jong-in for two days had been fun, but there was nothing like the feeling of being behind the wheel of his own Pontiac beauty. He’d arranged a meeting with Soo-man’s first known victim at a bespoke cafe in midtown.

“Jeez, can I even order a black coffee here...”, he mumbled when he saw the painfully hip interior.

Scanning the place a young woman caught his eye; she looked hesitant, not knowing what the man she was meeting looked like. Jong-dae made his way to her seat:

“Aiko..?”, he asked in a low but warm voice, not wanting her to feel exposed.

“Yes”, she nodded. “You’re...the policeman?”

“Yes, detective Kim. Jong-dae”, he answered and showed her his badge. “May I sit down?”

“Of course, please”, she gestured, now a bit more animated. “I’m sorry, I’ve been so nervous waiting, I don’t know why. It happened such a long time ago...”

“No, I understand, you don’t have to apologize. If anything I should, for asking you to meet with me.”

Aiko started to say something, but quieted down as a waitress approached.

“Good morning, sir. Would you like to order?”, she said with a chirpy tone.

“Hi. Black coffee, no sugar, please and thank you.”

“I’m sorry, we don’t serve plain coffee”, she said with a downturned mouth before she continued “Espresso, or americano? Or should I bring the menu over..?”

Jong-dae ground his teeth internally, but flashed his most amiable smile:

“Espresso will be perfect, thank you. Make it a double. Do you want a refill?”, he asked Aiko.

“I shouldn’t, but what the heck. I’ll have another cappuccino, please.”

After receiving their coffees they resumed their conversation.

“So… What is it you want to know? I don’t know how much I can say that you can’t read in the report”, she said, nervously tapping her mug.

“I thought we could just go over the incident again. Sometimes things fall through the cracks when they type up a report, or you might realise you remember something you didn’t say earlier. When you’re in shock it can be difficult for the brain to process the events immediately afterwards… And you were only...nineteen, is that right?”

“Yeah, nineteen. Well, I… I’d just gotten off the bus, I’d been at volleyball practice, when it happened.”

“Do you remember what time it was?”

“It...must’ve been around eight. I’d been at school before so it was a weekday, but I can’t remember which day exactly.”

“That’s alright. Do you remember seeing any people around, anyone getting on or off the bus the same time as you?”

“Just people I know. Well, not like friends or anything, but I recognised them from the neighbourhood, you know.”

“People who usually are on the same bus?”

“Yeah, exactly. It was going into winter so it was cold, so there wasn’t anyone hanging out, sitting in the garden or anything like that.”

“It said in the report you thought he was injured. How do you mean?”

“He was hunched over, sitting on the ground, holding his arm sort of like this”, Aiko explained, putting her arm across her abdomen. “And he...he made this sound, like he was hurt.”

“Did he say anything? Ask you for help?”

“No, he just sat like that until I reached out. I guess I was gonna put my hand on his shoulder, but he pulled me down, or towards him and somehow turned me...I can’t see how it happened - even later when I went over it in my head - it was so fast, I just…”

Jong-dae recognized the look on Aiko's face all too well; he’d met countless victims with the same, bewildered and almost surprised look as they tried to understand how things had happened. Just as he was about to say something Aiko started again.

“Before I knew it he dragged me into the alley - I don’t know if there are any pictures - but there was this walkway I guess you could call it, between the houses so there were fences on either side.”

She gestured with her hands, but when her eyes caught Jong-dae’s notepad she asked to borrow it. Sketching up the lines of the pavement, houses and walkway she put an X on it and continued:

“Here’s where he was sitting. Right by the walkway, so he just pulled me in like this”, she said, drawing a line with an arrow to indicate the direction.

“And you came from here..?”

“Yeah. And the bus stop was back here”, she said, writing the word bus on the paper.

“Did he say anything then?”

“Mayb… Maybe he told me to be quiet..? No, I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault. Can I ask, the man who helped you, Christopher, do you happen to remember anything about him? Where he lived or worked?”

“He didn’t live on my street, I didn’t recognize him…” Aiko stopped and thought about it. “We didn’t talk much. When the police came he went with one of them, to give his statement I guess. Don’t you have his last name in the file?”

“We do, but unfortunately we’ve been unable to find him. I thought I’d ask while on the matter, but it’s okay. Could you tell me the rest, if it’s not too difficult?”

“Where was I… Oh, yeah, so he pulled me in and - he had his hand over my mouth - and I ended up on the ground and he was…” Her voice faded as her hands came up to her chest “...on me. I knew he was gonna rape me and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. I tried to get away but it didn’t matter how much I wanted to, ‘cus he was stronger than me. You think you’d be able to kick and scream and get away by sheer willpower, but it was nothing to him. He was so heavy sitting on me and I couldn’t breathe with his hand over my mouth. I can-”, Aiko stopped as a shiver went through her body. “I can still feel the grovel rolling under my shoes as I tried to get up… If Christopher hadn’t been there right then. I know how lucky I am. What..?”

“Oh, I guess my poker face isn’t all that good”, Jong-dae smiled and scratched his neck. “Not being raped is not luck. I hear a lot of victims comparing their situation to the worst case scenario when really it’s a normal situation they should be comparing it with; it’s your basic human right to be able to walk down the street without being attacked.”

“Yeah, I know. I just...you know”, Aiko shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah, I know. I just have a few questions left..?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“I know it was dark there, but did you notice anything distinctive about him; caught a glimpse of his face, any pattern on his clothes, a certain smell..?”

“No... When I saw him in the light I didn’t pay attention to anything in particular, he was just wearing black, or dark blue. I think he wore a hooded shirt, sweatshirt, ‘cus I remember the hood looking different than his jacket; the jacket was kind of shiny, like a windbreaker. He looked like a jogger. Young, twenty-five, thirty maybe.”

“Height, weight..?”

“Nah… Average? Around 175 I think. And his body looked normal, not big or thin, you know.”

“Right...okay. Well, that’s it for me”, Jong-dae said, putting his notepad in his pocket. “If there’s nothing else?”

“You probably can’t tell me, but did someone else get hurt? Is that why you suddenly wanted to talk to me?”

“You’re right, I can’t, since it’s an open case. But there’s been a development that might have something to do with what happened to you”, Jong-dae let her know, fairly certain she would get the gist of it.

“Will I...have to testify or something?”

“No, no. It’s not come to that. I know I just dragged your past up, but try not to think about it too much. You have nothing to worry about, Aiko. Really.”

¤¤

"Ugh, why even bother taping if this is the quality?", Baek-hyun sighed when he saw the grainy mess not even his tech guys could clear up, on the screen. "We're not gonna get anything from these videos."

"Don't waste your time then. Hand 'em over to the civs, let them do it", Jun-myeon suggested.

"Nah, I wanna do it myself. If I can't tell them what to look for there's no point is there?"

"Then why-"

"I'm gonna know if I see it, Jun."

"Techs can't do face recognition on this..?", Jong-in, also dismayed, interjected.

"Double bad luck; grainy video, grainy and old photo. Not a good combo."

"Hey, what's this? Looking at your home videos, Byun?", Jong-dae joked when he came in and sat down. "Slacking off waiting for detective Dae, ey?"

"More like straining… How'd it go?"

"Nothing much, her memory was pretty much the same as back then. But she drew this", Jong-dae said, hauling up his notebook. "I didn't see a picture or description of the exact place in the file, so that's new, right?"

After hearing Jong-dae retell what Aiko had said when drawing the picture Baekhyun raised his brow.

"So he had at least some knowledge of the area. None of us are thinking he just stumbled upon the darkest part of the road by accident?"

They all agreed this was something, circumstantial as it may be, that further pointed to Soo-man as the perpetrator.

Finding nothing on the tapes for an hour they’d decided to order lunch and make it a matiné.

“We could probably pull the surveillance - ketchup?”

“Just a drop”, Jong-dae signed to Baek-hyun.

“...but you never know. Some are stupid enough to go back.”

“If we’re lucky he doesn’t know we’ve been there. If he doesn’t see the busted lock on his door… Or the archeological site in his backyard…”

“If he’s that dumb I’m gonna be embarrassed we haven’t caught h-”

“YOH!”

Jong-in’s loud outburst got their attention. Scrambling for the computer he was in a state that made Baek-hyun’s heart beat faster.

“Look..!”, he said, backing up the video to pause it, showing the hooded face of a man. “Look, look! That’s him, isn’t it!?”

“Pfuck, ih is!”, Jong-dae shouted through the hamburger in his mouth.

As if waiting for final confirmation, they both looked at Baek-hyun with anticipation. He brought his hand to his mouth, rubbing it to and fro, as if he had a moustache, but didn’t say anything for a while.

“When’s this from?”

“Eh…” With a few clicks on the computer Jong-in found it. “The thirteenth.”

“You don’t even need to ask”, Jong-dae interjected. “You’re a cop. You know it’s him!”

He knew Jong-dae was right; even with the poor quality he knew.

“Jong-in, go get Jun. Tell him we’ve got a new pic.”

¤¤

“Let me have a look, where she at?”, Baek-hyun asked, trying not to show his excitement.

When Jong-dae pressed the key there was a toot and flickering at the end of the garage. As they got closer Baek-hyun realised Jong-dae hadn’t been joking around the other day when he said his ride was also “a little something something”.

“Damn, is that a Pontiac? What is it...68’?”

“Close. 67’.”

Where Baek-hyun tended to pretend his car was nothing special as people ooh:d and aah:d over it, Jong-dae did not, smirking widely with content.

“You probably feel a little embarrassed about bragging about your car now, right? Right?”

“Hey, I wasn’t bragging about her”, Baek-hyun waved his hand. “I just answered your question...”

“You were!”, Jong-dae said, bursting out in laughter. “You totally were, Byun!”

“Okay, I admit… I didn’t think you’d be rolling up in something like this. Although I should’ve guessed”, he said, pointing at Jong-dae in his leather jacket. “Horsepower?”

“480. It’s originally 360, but you know. Ap, watch the polish..!”

Baek-hyun rolled his eyes and took his hand away from the roof.

“What, I just got her back..!”

“What was she in for anyway? Looks pristine to me.”

“Just some work on the body, she had a few knicks and cuts.”

Considering the reaction Baek-hyun had gotten for merely putting his hand on the car he doubted it, but the look on Jong-dae’s face told him to let it lie. Changing the subject he clapped his hands:

“Let’s get going. You wanna race?”

“You wanna lose?”

¤

As soon as Baek-hyun got out of his car he could see Suny hurrying towards the door, trying to lock it, but Jong-dae had caught it too and put his foot in between to prevent it.

“Ah! Stop mangling my foot!”, he shouted when Suny continued to press on the door.

“For fuck’s sake, Suny, we see you...”, Baek-hyun cut in, sighing.

“It’s closed. I’m taking my lunch break.”

“Quit horsing around or I’ll book you for assault.”

With that Suny quickly opened the door with a few bows.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, detective. I didn’t realise your foot was there.”

“Yeah, well maybe you won’t realise when it’s up your-”

“I think he gets it”, Baek-hyun interjected, putting his hand on Jong-dae’s arm for him to loosen his grip on Suny’s shirt.

“I could have you arrested for this, you know!” Straightening out his shirt he sat down and gawked at them. “Well, what do you want? Coming in and ruining my- can you not stand by the door? Scaring away my customers... ”, Suny muttered.

“That’s actually what we wanna talk to you about”, Baek-hyun said and hauled up his phone. “This guy. You know him?”

After giving it a glance he shook his head.

“Never seen him.”

“Christ, Suny, it’s from the video you gave us!”

He squirmed a little and continued to shake his head.

“Hm… Okay”, Baek-hyun nodded his head and turned to Jong-dae. “Let’s ask the girls if they know him. And guys.”

“Yeah, I’m sure the guys will be real helpful when they see my badge”, Jong-dae smirked at Suny.

“Ya, ya, ya! Okay, okay! Let me have another look. The lighting in here…”, he said, gesturing with his arm. “I couldn’t see properly.”

To Baek-hyun’s surprise, Suny actually took a good look at it. Holding up his arm for them to wait he went over to one of the booths and knocked on the door. Baek-hyun couldn’t tell who was in there nor what was said, but he felt a spark of anticipation when Suny came back.

“Yep, it’s him. He comes in here sometimes, but I don’t know his name. Came in, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“He only came for Mina, but she quit two weeks ago.”

“Mina, that’s her real name?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not a nickname?”

“Do you have a photo of her?”, Jong-dae added, understanding that it might very well be Min-Young having a secret side of her life.

“What am I, the president of her fanclub? No, I don’t have a photo. When they go, they go.”

“Where’d she go?”

“She moved upstate somewhere.”

“Because of him?”

“No, to be closer to her family. The girls don’t know who’s looking, it’s mirror glass. She doesn’t know that guy. She never said anything to me about it if she did…”

“Then how did..?”

“She came out when he started raising his voice about not being told Mina quit, that’s how she knew him.”

“You had an argument?”

“I wasn’t here, it was one of the other guys. It wasn’t a big deal, he complained and left as I heard it”, Suny said and shrugged his shoulders.

“Two weeks ago she left, you said?”

“You need me to write it down? Two weeks!”

“You need me to tell the guys back there your fake cameras aren’t so fake after all?”

“Why you always gotta..! Trying to be an upstanding citizen…”

“This her?”, Baek-hyun asked, holding up the photo of Min-young.

He could tell from Suny’s reaction that it wasn’t, but the way he jerked back his head told Baek-hyun it was something.

“That’s not Mina. But she looks like her. She looks a lot like her.”

¤

Wrapping up the interview with Suny they stepped out on the curb and looked at eachother.

“A lot like her..?”, Jong-dae echoed Suny’s words.

“So, where are we with this..? The gap between the murders is ‘cus he found Mina..?”

“Some perps will. They stop for months, years even, but… It’s not the norm.”

“So we assume there are women in between Min-Young and yesterdays?”

“Have to. I’ll call my boss, ask him to get someone to go through Jane Doe’s with similar M.O.’s. You do missing persons?”

“Yeah, I’ll call Jun right away. With any luck we’ll have something on our desk by morning. Alright, let’s call it a day. Bright and early tomorrow, Jong-dae.”

¤¤

Jong-in hadn’t been looking forward to reading the autopsy report of the girl they found last night, having heard from Baek-hyun that it wasn’t the usual find. Sitting down with a cup of coffee he saw the picture as soon as he opened the file on his tablet - she really had been mummified. Roughly knowing the timeline for decomposition of a body, yesterday Jong-in had imagined it had reached skeletonization or at least major bone exposure, not that it - she - would look so human. Her skin was almost black, and it stretched tightly across her bones and remaining flesh, making her look like a wooden statue. Jong-in kept staring at the picture in a mix of disbelief and sadness.

“Like she just fell asleep…”, he whispered to himself.

A phone ringing brought him out of his daze and on to reading Doh’s report. She was still an unknown person, a Jane Doe, but “development of wisdom teeth would suggest the female was in her late teens or early twenties at the time of death”. Damage such as bruising or sexual assault couldn’t proved or disproved since the soft tissue was both distorted and discoloured by the mummification, but the remainder of rope, now hanging loosely around her wrists told Jong-in that a similar pattern to Min-young’s would be likely. He’d hoped there would be something distinctive to go on when searching for her in the database, like an old injury, braces, or fixation screws, but there was nothing. It seemed her age and remainder of items found next to her would be their best shot, so he logged in to see if the analysts had gotten anywhere with them, but they were still labeled “pending”. Dismayed - and tired - he leaned back in his chair with a loud sigh when Jun-myeon’s voice caught his attention.

“You still here? The others headed home already.”

“I was just reading the report from Doh…”

Jun-myeon gave him a little smile of encouragement, since he also knew what it said.

“But…”

“Yes?”

“What happens to her if no one claims her?”

“You don’t know?”, Jun-myeon frowned in surprise. “If no one comes within a year, she’ll be buried.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean since she’s...a mummy. Will she stay like that, not decompose because the change in conditions?”

“I…”, Jun-myeon started, but paused and pursed his lips. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Doh.”

Jong-in mused for a bit before he was interrupted.

“Go home, Jong-in”, Jun-myeon said and tapped the table. “You have a wife, don’t you?”

“Uhm… She’s not my wife, we’re not-”

“Go home.”

¤

Even after being home for twenty minutes, Jong-dae still hadn’t gotten out of the car, so it was no surprise to him when Irina came out into the garage and sat in the passenger’s seat.

“It looks as good as new...”

“Right? When I got in the seat, came out on the road…”, he sighed and shook his head. “How could I’ve left her for so long?”

“You wanna be alone?”

“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking, spending a little time with her. Let’s go in.”

Having forgotten about his foot he cried out when he took off his shoe.

“What’s wrong?”

“This idiot down at Louie”, Jong-dae answered, taking off his sock to see if there was any damage. “He mangled my foot in the doorway.”

Knowing her husband wouldn’t whine over nothing she suggested maybe he got a fracture and should go to the hospital, but Jong-dae insisted it was only a bruise.

#baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun crime story #exo fanfic #OT9

[astroyongie]

HI!! The post you did about NCT 127 and Dream as books was really cool! If it’s not any trouble, could you do one of EXO? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course!

EXO As Books

Minseok

The Coffee Beans: Xiumin is a popular idol in South Korea, loved by many, hated by few. His life is resumed to dreams and nightmares, until this day he decides to get coffee from this cute shop. Little did he knew that this captive eyes of the servant, would perk his interest and turn his idol life, less dull

Junmyeon

The Crime Of The Scarred Poet: Since his young days Suho, demonstrated that he was indeed a prodigy of the horror literature. follow the story of this author, of his inspirations to write the most macabre crimes you will ever read. But how..? How did he fetched all of this inspiration ? Unless .. ?

Yixing

Borders: Situated in a dystopian world, Lay was separated of his friends and family when he was young, taken to the other side of the border. There, he lives in luxury, but he cannot forget the fire, the pain in his family eyes and his best friend that he left behind. Lay decides than to go behind the border, to safe his precious ones even if it means going against the government.

Baekhyun

The Angel Horns: Y/N knows this is addictive. She knows she shouldn't be here. She knows she should've have Feld the moment her heartbeat stopped when he smiled devishly down on her. Baekhyun wasn't an ordinary man. He made her feel ecstasy whenever he touched her, and chills of horror each time his face was painted in red blood

Jongdae

Me, You And A Flower: Sometimes we need to enjoy the road we go down in. But for Chen, enjoying his life has always been something he did. Until he falls in love with this gentle girl, and he understands that he has to chose. To stay in the same path or sacrifice it all for this new one, by her side.

Chanyeol

Breathe Of Life: The more you seek, the more you lose. Chanyeol loved music, he loved to sing, to play guitar. But his mother expected him to join business school and his friends expected him to follow them at university. The story of a young boy, who is searching for his reason to breathe

Kyungsoo

The Devil Is A Gentleman: Kyungsoo is a mysterious man. He barely speaks, has this intense gaze and dark morally grey hair. Working in a high place in his company, it's the story of a man that tries desperately to hide his bloodied past, until this girl arrives into his life.

Jongin

The Stage Of Ashes: All his life Kai only had one dream. To dance in the Bolshoi Theater. Dancing was in his veins, the music was on his breathing. He was born to shine. But how many tears should he shed ? How many bones should he break ? How much pain could he endure for a dream that because so dark ?

Sehun

The Claws Of Winter: Being a prince wasn't easy but Sehun tried his best not to disappoint his father. Politic intrigues, love, treason, friendships and murder. Will the prince stay on his throne ? Or will he watch his kingdom fall on his feet ?

#exo #exo astrology #exo blurbs #exo headcanons #exo imagines #exo reactions #exo scenarios #exo minseok #exo xiumin #exo junmeyon #exo suho #exo baekyun #exo lay #exo yixing #exo jongdae #exo chen #exo chanyeol #exo do #exo kyungsoo #exo kai #exo jongin #exo sehun

[butterflybam]

Monster

Warning: Mentions of disappearance, light swearing, and magic use. Fem reader.

Author note: No romance at the moment. Currently, I'm working on building the story and seeing how it goes from there. Let me know what you think.

That morning was nothing special to the townspeople. To them, everything was going as normal as possible. There was a bustle of them rushing to complete their work or everyday errands. The sound of laughter could've been heard in the small shop tucked in a small corner. Its windows were propped open to let in the fresh air.

A loud thud caused the occupants to break away from their work. A small mess of books had fallen from their spot onto the floor. Suho was up from his seat and immediately picked up the books.

"I told Sehun to put these back, but he never listens." He rolled his eyes at the thought of the younger man ignoring him. "I should talk to him about sharing more responsibilities around here."

A light chuckle caught his attention from his rant. Y/N was sitting at the desk, watching him as he decided to go on his small tangent.

"it's true though."

"I agree with you." She held her hands up in mock surrender. "But sometimes you sound like a parent scolding his child."

This comment caused Suho to roll his eyes. It wasn't the first time he heard someone mention that and it probably wouldn't be the last. Instead of responding, he turned back to finishing up some chores.

It didn't take him long before everything was in order and tidy. He couldn't think of what else he could do. Y/n was working on the inventory and he just finished cleaning. He also knew no customers would be showing up any time soon. Business for them always calmed down during lunch time.

"I think I should make us some lunch." Suho said as he stood there. With a nod of his head, he had made up his mind. They had a busy morning, so a refreshing lunch could be a pick-me-up.

Y/n looked at her friend and business partner. "That actually sounds like a great idea. While you're doing that, I'll finish this up and lock up the shop."

He gave her a sad smile at that. He knew she was stressed about the shop being broken into. Normally, the kingdom was safe, and crimes were hardly ever committed. A couple of weeks back, some of the shops were broken into. The most recent target was their small shop. They recounted everything and couldn't find anything that had been stolen. That's what scared them all the most. 

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure the guards will get it figured out. " Suho said, trying to encourage her.

Y/n let out a sigh, "I really hope so." She said softly. Her fingers lightly grazed against the papers. She eyed the man next to her, and she could tell he was worried himself. He tried not to show it, but after knowing him since childhood, she knew better.

He placed a hand on her hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "I promise I won't let anything else happen to this shop." He vowed He left his hand there for a moment before quickly moving it. Clearing his throat, he backed up a bit. "I'll get to cooking," he said. "I also better make extras for Baekhyun and Sehun," he added.

With that, he headed upstairs, leaving Y/N behind. She stopped her work for a minute and let his words soak in. She knew he wasn't being dramatic; he would do anything for this place. 

He had always been there. His family was close friends with hers, and they grew up together. He always had her side and was very protective of her. Even though he had no magical abilities, it seemed like he should have been. He knew almost more than Y/n herself.

So when the shop was passed down to Y/n by her parents, she knew who she wanted to help her run it. She remembered that day fondly. She took him to their special hideout and asked him to. He was clearly taken back but immediately agreed. He promised to always do his best and to never let anything happen to the shop or her. 

Y/n couldn't help but smile at the memory. It had been four years since that day, and ever since their small family seemed to grow. 

Speaking of which, she could hear two of them coming up to the door. In a matter of seconds, two young men barged their way inside.

"He kicked us out because you kept knocking stuff over."

"No, it was because you kept eating the displays."

Y/n watched her two friends fondly as they bickered. Sure, it was annoying at times, but she did love those two very much. "Boys, can you stop arguing? Besides, I'm sure it was both of your doings. You two need to leave Chen alone at his job; he works very hard. " 

"He asked me for help." Baekhyun said. Poking Sehun with his index finger, "this one knocked over a lot of his products." He added

Sehun was clearly annoyed by the accusation. "Because you bumped into me." He looked at you and said, "Can you believe this?" 

Forcing back a laugh, you stood up. You knew that there was no way to settle the situation. So you needed to distract them instead.

"Suho is cooking lunch. I'm not sure what it is, but he's already upstairs if you want to set the table. "

It became quiet between the two once they realized what you said. Without a second thought, they were heading upstairs. 

Shaking her head as she watched them, that's when she decided to head up there as well. She knew that if she didn't, Suho would be dragging her up there. Glancing at the door before heading towards it. She were about to lock it but a knock stopped her.

Frozen in place she waited to see if they would say anything. Confident that someone wouldn't rob you in broad daylight, but she still wanted to be safe. 

Y/n tried to think of who it could be. She was sure it couldn't be Lay. Normally, he would send a message before bringing them back more supplies. It could be a customer, but they would just walk in instead of knocking.

"Who is it?" Y/n called out. 

For a moment, there wasn't a sound. Until a response came back. "This is the head of guard, D.O. Kyungsoo, and second in command, Park Chanyeol." 

Quickly opening the door, she came face-to-face with the guards. She wasn't sure why they were there, but their expressions made her know that this visit was serious.

Tagging: @burningnightballoon @wrestling-fangirl93

#exo imagine #exo imagines #exo fanfic #exo x fem reader #xiumin imagines #suho imagine #lay imagine #baekhyun imagine #chen imagine #chanyeol imagines #do kyungsoo imagine #kai imagine #sehun imagine

[sooibian]

So Let's Runaway - Costa Brava

Prologue >> Costa Brava >> Seville >> Cuéllar

Pairing: Kyungsoo x Fem!Reader ft. bff!Chanyeol

Genre/Themes: Fluff, angst, humour, travel AU, road trip through Spain, travel buddies Chansoo

Warnings: Grief, loss, heartache, toxic relationships, mildly explicit language

Description: A bachelors trip turns into a soul-searching journey when an unlikely group of three travels through the scenic landscapes of Spain. Their experiences present them with opportunities to mend bridges, face their fears and fall back in love with the true essence of life.

Word Count: ~ 5.3k

A/N: this story is a part of @supermwritersnet​ ‘Around the world in 31 days’ event. event masterlist. 

Tag list: @sooadorable @rosetvler @changshapatrol @his-mochi-cheeks @is-that-baekhyuns-shirt @j-pping @kysoobydoobydoo @exoxobsession @camillapad @reekyungsoo​ let me know if you’d like to be (un)tagged.

@smolgirlbigthoughts​ thank you so much for the description!!! ;~~~~~;

After having stayed the night (or whatever was left of it after a red-eye flight) in an Airbnb in Barcelona, the three of you hired a Lyft to Europcar to pick up the SUV that Chanyeol had pre-booked for the Costa Brava - Seville - Cuéllar itinerary. What you’d gathered from your several conversations with Chanyeol after that serendipitous coffee date was that each of the three friends had handpicked an adventure sport to try out in these places.

Chanyeol had chosen scuba diving in the rugged coast of Costa Brava with its spectacular cliffs and countless coves. Kyungsoo had appositely picked out an adventure sport involving throwing oneself out of an airplane thousands of feet above ground a.k.a. skydiving in Seville, the capital of Andalusia, resting, wise and old, upon the Guadalquivir river. And Yixing, bless his heart, had wanted to take part in a bull run in Cuéllar that takes place on the last Sunday of August each year.

Twirling the car key on his finger, Chanyeol, dressed in baggy black shorts, a loose fitting purple tee, super dark oversized shades and a snapback cap worn backwards, strongly resembled that ‘smiling face with the sunglasses’ emoji as he walked out of the booking office with Kyungsoo following closely behind. All set to catch a few winks in the rear seat comfort of the SUV, you pulled down the brim of your sunhat but suddenly, a blur of turquoise swooped past you, capturing your attention. Your drowsy eyes wrestled the summer sun to land upon a gorgeous turquoise Buick convertible swerving around the parking area before coming to a fashionable halt. A portly, bespectacled man stepped out of the vehicle and deposited its key with the booking office.

This was it.

This was the car ideal for a road trip, not some mafia boss’ kidnapping vehicle.

The essence of time dawned upon you so you trotted to where the Buick was parked and went down on your knees, hands folded in an implicit plea. The two men, startled at first, were quick to realize what was up.

Kyungsoo fixed you with a judgemental gaze that wasn’t any different from a mother’s fed-up of her child’s tantrums while Chanyeol broke into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Shoulders hunched under the weight of his tan leather backpack, Kyungsoo crammed his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants and sighed, “The SUV’s more practical.”

With a twinkle in your eye, you exclaimed, “Screw practical! Just look at it! It’s a convertible and we’re on a road trip!”

Grinning from ear to ear, Chanyeol advanced towards you gingerly. “Shifu, my love-”

Jutting out your lower lip, you crossed your arms over your chest and whined, “Don’t call me that after you’ve ditched me for Miss Perfect Hair!” causing Kyungsoo to roll his eyes which distracted you from Chanyeol’s stealth attack.

All of a sudden, the beanpole leapt at you, maneuvered you like he would a balloon sculpture, tucked his arms under your knees, picked you up and shoved you in the backseat of the dreary black vehicle with sun shades on windows darker than Kyungsoo’s soul. With Chanyeol’s finger pressing down on the ridge between your eyebrows, you laid down on your back, sulking, “Some road trip this is. Can I atleast drive?”

Before slamming the car door shut, he teased, “Take a nap.”

And...you tried.

Forty five minutes into the drive, you tried so hard to make up for the red-eye flight but Kyungsoo’s phone Just. Wouldn’t. Stop. Ringing. To make matters worse, he sounded like a broken record parroting the words ‘margin call’, ‘shorting’, ‘S’, ‘B’, ‘stop loss’ over and over again. The same damn thing, every single time.

“Enough Kyungsoo! We’re on a vacation, dude,” Chanyeol chided, the almost indiscernible crack in his voice indicative of his annoyance.

Leaning back into his seat, Kyungsoo bragged, “The last thirty seconds earned me enough commission to be able to buy at least five bags of the kind I bought Aera yesterday.”

“Now, why would you buy Aera a bag?” Chanyeol asked, a hint of suspicion evident in his tone. The sounds of their voices had been mercilessly thwarting your attempts at a peaceful slumber but, this was different. The lack of response from Kyungsoo seemed to have piqued your interest. Your eyes fluttered open to a one eighty shift in Chanyeol’s mood. Brows knit together, his fingers impatiently drummed on the steering wheel as you both waited for Kyungsoo’s answer with a bated breath. But in his stead, it was his stupid phone that broke the silence.

Wide eyes fixated on the screen, Kyungsoo suddenly cried out, “Stop the car!”.

“What?!”

“Stop the car, Chanyeol!”

Letting out an exasperated groan, Chanyeol rashly veered the car to the right before hitting the brakes, causing you to nearly roll off your seat. Kyungsoo darted out of the vehicle and the next thing you knew, he stood facing the hood of the vehicle, his laptop perched atop the bonnet and his life support cellphone clutched in one hand.

Bowing to the screen, he greeted, “Moshi Moshi!”

“Is he taking  a work call right now?” you mused.

Chanyeol snorted, “That’s Doh Kyungsoo for you.”

Chuckling softly, you squished your face against the back of Chanyeol’s seat and groused, “Well, along with loony, your friend seems to be fluent in Japanese.”

“Yah! Cut him some slack. He’s had a rough couple of weeks,” explained Chanyeol, wrestling with a bag of chips in his hands.

“Yeollie -”

It was on the tip of your tongue.

You wanted to tell Chanyeol about your encounter with Kyungsoo on the rooftop but there was no way you could explain your own presence in the first place. To make matters worse, you were the worst liar you knew. So, you decided it was a story that best remained untold for your own sake, your mother’s and inadvertently, Kyungsoo’s.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have a chip?” you asked instead.

“All yours!”

“I’ll have just one, thanks.”

“You alright, Shifu?” Chanyeol slurred around a mouthful of chips, “Is there anything you need?”

“A nap would be nice,” you jested while nibbling at the edges of the deep fried snack.

“Aww, sleepyhead, we’ll be there in an hour.”

Humming in agreement, you reached for another chip and cooed, “Are you alright, Yeol? What’s with the whole ‘bag for Aera’ situation?”

Chanyeol’s head spun around to give you a warm, dimpled smile. “Don’t worry. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

You couldn’t help but notice how he had wolfed down an entire packet of chips in a matter of minutes along with a can of some neon and black fizzy drink. A distant memory of Chanyeol guzzling an entire bottle of water in three seconds for shits and giggles back in Uni stretched your lips in a wistful smile.

By then, Kyungsoo was done with his twenty minute long call against the quaint cerulean and stone backdrop of fishing villages by the coast. Who needs a virtual background when you’re surrounded by coves of deep blue sea and beaches of golden sand? As he reached for the car door, you whispered in Chanyeol’s ear, “One more call and I’m chucking his phone out the window.”

Grinning mischievously as he fastened his seatbelt, Chanyeol sang, “Oh, Shifu, I’ve missed youuuu!”

The moment Kyungsoo stepped inside, a tangible gloom proliferated in the enclosed space. Chanyeol started the car and you quietly curled up in the backseat. Kyungsoo’s head spun around, round eyes blazing with conviction. Pointing towards the trunk, he said, “Do you see that cloth bag on top of Chanyeol’s trolley?”

“This one?” you asked, hoisting yourself up on one elbow, your arm carelessly flapping all over the luggage before landing on said cloth bag with a dull thump.

“Hand it over, please,” winced Kyungsoo, “Be gentle, it’s a gift.”

Passing him his precious ‘gift’, you let out an annoyed huff and laid down again, facing the backrest. But curiosity got the better of you. You immediately turned back around to see what this ‘gift’ looked like.

Kyungsoo loosened the strings of the canvas tote to reveal a black Birkin Cargo. Soft and lightweight, it was supposed to be Hermès first off-road bag. Your droopy eyes flew open in awe of its high-brow craftsmanship and it was certainly a thoughtful gift for a bride-to-be. If this gift was meant for you, you were sure to forgive any and all of his crimes but the bag didn’t seem to have the same kind of effect on Chanyeol.

The air was still thick with tension.

Gaze fixed on Chanyeol’s profile, Kyungsoo murmured, “I didn’t want to do this now.”

Eyes on the road, “Spill,” grunted Chanyeol, as if expecting the obvious.

“This is an ‘I’m sorry’ gift for Aera,” started Kyungsoo before lowering his voice to a whisper, “I picked it up from duty free last night...it’s fifteen times Yixing’s annual agricultural income.”

Chanyeol clicked his tongue in disapproval at Kyungsoo’s snide remark.

“What do you want to apologize to her for?” he then asked with a deep sigh.

“I- I can’t make it to the wedding,” said Kyungsoo, faltering in his otherwise steadfast speech.

“Why?” quizzed Chanyeol in a terrifyingly cool tone while anger started to rise within you. Why he allowed this midget to walk all over him was beyond you. Didn’t he have better friends?

“I pushed back an important appointment for this trip. It was either Spain or the wedding. And since you insisted on Spain...”

Furious, Chanyeol struck the steering wheel with his palm. With the rattle of the metal strap of his Rolex reverberating in the car, he bellowed, “The actual fuck, Doh Kyungsoo?!” 

“What?! I said I’m sorry!”

“No, you didn’t! Besides, ‘sorry’ doesn’t fix anything! You’re supposed to be my best man - are- are you listening to yourself right now?!”

Chewing on the insides of his cheeks, Kyungsoo patiently waited for his friend to simmer down. After a pregnant pause, Chanyeol resumed reasoning with him, his tone evidently milder this time, “Okay, okay, talk to me. Does this appointment have to be on the exact same day as the ceremony?”

“No, it doesn’t and...it isn’t,” Kyungsoo explained before hurriedly requesting, “Can we do this later?”

Chanyeol took a sharp right turn along the tapering road and brought the car to a screeching halt. Brows furrowed, lips quirked in an angry smirk, he looked Kyungsoo straight in the eyes and you felt as if the air conditioner had suddenly started meting out the chilliest of blows.

“No, I want to talk about it right now! So, tell me. What’s more important than your best friend’s wedding?”

Kyungsoo took off his glasses, threw his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Chanyeol, please -”

“No, I need to know!”

“Then remember it was you who wanted to have this conversation on the first day of our trip,” he stated curtly.

“Enough with the drama Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol’s roar rang through the car.

“FINE!” Kyungsoo grumbled, “I got a job offer from the London office and...I accepted. I leave a week after we’re back in Seoul….since it’s a new position I cannot fly back for the wedding. And I would’ve...I- I was going to fly back for the wedding had it not been for this trip.”

“So you decided to leave. Forever. Just like that. Without even talking to me about it first.” Chanyeol thought out loud, his tone tellingly casual.

Looking out the window, Kyungsoo whispered audibly, “There’s nothing left for me in Seoul.”

Without another word, Chanyeol started the car.

Putting his glasses back on, Kyungsoo threw his hands up and argued, “So you’re not going to say anything?!”

Chanyeol cranked up the volume on the car’s stereo in response, leaving Kyungsoo tongue-tied.

***

Ten minutes into the drive, Kyungsoo’s phone blew up for, conservatively, the fifteenth time. But before he could even swipe to answer, Chanyeol lowered the car window, plucked his phone out of his hand and chucked it into the shrubbery by the roadside and continued to drive at an accelerated speed.

Kyungsoo’s mouth fell open but no words came out and unbeknownst to you, you were mirroring the dazed look on his face.

Chanyeol stuck his thumb out to where you were seated and justified indifferently, “It was her idea.”

.

.

.

It wasn’t a house. It was a warzone.

The spacious three bedroom apartment had invisible borders drawn out and nobody dared to encroach upon the other’s territory.

After arriving in Costa Brava, the three of you settled in and freshened up before heading out for a scheduled theoretical lesson on scuba diving conducted by your PADI certified instructor. The lesson had ended sometime around sunset and through the entire thing, you acted like complete strangers, making it more awkward than necessary for the twenty something instructor.

After the lesson, Kyungsoo offered to drive the trio to a boutique hotel, Hostal Sa Rascassa’s restaurant, which was supposed to be located on the edges of a tranquil, secluded cove and served traditional sea-food centric dishes like -

“- grilled sardines, cod fishcakes and octopus stewed with onion and pepper,” Kyungsoo counted on his fingers, making your stomach growl and your mouth water.

Chanyeol brushed him aside with a bitter, “I’m not hungry.”

Turning to you, Kyungsoo asked politely, “Wanna come?”

From the corner of your eye, you noticed Chanyeol shooting you a death glare so you decided to wriggle out of the situation by citing tiredness.

Kyungsoo lifted his shoulders in a dismissive shrug and took off in a taxi, leaving the car to the two of you.

“Where do you wanna eat?” Chanyeol asked as you got into the passenger’s seat.

Slack jawed, you chastised a giggling Chanyeol, “Yeollie, you’re absolutely horrible!”

.

.

.

It had been months.

Months since Natasha had walked out of their shared apartment.

And ever since then, every night, the moment Kyungsoo’s head would hit the pillow, a sense of hopelessness would erupt right in the middle of his chest. Spreading its wings far and wide, this despair would engulf him entirely and render him sleepless.

Nothing he tried helped his disposition so he’d started working on accepting this feeling as an inextricable part of his being. Something he’d have to learn to live with for the rest of his life.

Overcome by exhaustion, Kyungsoo drifted off only to be jolted awake by a jarring memory.

Hands balled into fists, Natasha yelled, ‘HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?’

‘This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Natasha! This deal could help us!’ Kyungsoo thundered in the face of her dogged determination to not let this slide.

‘Can’t you see that I don’t care?’ She met his bloodshot eyes with tears welling in hers.

Brows knit together, Kyungsoo ruminated on his thoughts before firing back, ‘Are you saying that you don’t care about my life?’

Exasperated, Natasha ran a hand through her hair to ground herself and argued, ‘Stop it, Kyungsoo! Don’t confuse your work with your life! Your work isn’t your life. It’s just a part of it. WHAT ABOUT US?’

‘Us?’ Kyungsoo deliberated, ‘I bought this apartment so that we could live together.’

Natasha retracted with every step Kyungsoo took towards her, expression coloured in unpleasant shades of anger and disgust.  Letting out a mirthless laugh, she taunted, ‘Oh, please! You bought this apartment to impress people with your upmarket address.’

Aghast, Kyungsoo sank into the couch, his mind flitting between despair and hope. Head in his hands, breathing jagged and raspy, he reasoned, ‘I can’t believe you’re saying this to me! I’m planning a future with you.’

‘The future is yet to come, Kyungsoo. WHAT ABOUT OUR PRESENT?’

‘STOP YELLING!’

‘THEN LISTEN TO ME!’

Hands on his knees, Kyungsoo’s gaze shot up to rest upon Natasha’s flushed face. ‘What do you want?’ He demanded in a terrifyingly low tone.

A silent tear slid down her cheek as she explained with a quiver in her voice, ‘I want your time, Kyungsoo. I want a relationship not a retirement plan.’

Helpless, Kyungsoo toyed with the words in his mind before blurting, ‘If the chairman of Nakamura Corporation wants to meet me then I have- to- go! If he likes the presentation, he’ll give us the entire account. Don’t you see how big this is for me?’

‘But what about us, Kyungsoo? What about our dinner plan?’

‘We can postpone it to next month, can’t we?!’

‘It’s my birthday, Soo. I can’t postpone my birthday. You’d promised me this dinner...no matter what! You cancelled the reservation without even asking me first.’

Cupping her face in his hands, he pressed his lips to hers and whispered, ‘Baby, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry...but I have to go.’

.

.

.

When you padded into the living room, sleep befuddled at 5 a.m., you caught Chanyeol and Kyungsoo locked in an embrace, both of their eyes squeezed shut, as if wordlessly conveying an incredible degree of warmth and affection towards each other.

All of it….in “bro code”.

You imagined the conversation in your head, in two deep, distinct male voices:

‘I’m sorry I threw your phone out the window, bro!’

‘It’s what I deserved, bro!’

Rubbing away the drowsiness from your eyes, you tiptoed back into your room so as to not disrupt this….whatever this was supposed to be.

***

Underneath the purple-pink skies, enveloped in the cool early morning breeze, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and you, dressed in spandex scuba suits, huddled together in solidarity on the boat’s bulwark.

The diving site that Chanyeol had picked was called ‘Boreas Wreck’. The Boreas was a high sea tugboat that served for the German Navy during World War II. It was deliberately sunk in 1989 for the purpose of creating an artificial reef and thus, a scuba diving attraction.

“Any non-swimmers?” the trainer asked and Kyungsoo’s hand shot up in the air.

Her full lips curled up in a dazzling smile. “You’re brave,” she remarked and you heard Kyungsoo swallow hard, inviting a snigger from Chanyeol.

Hands on hips, her perfect figure accentuated by the spandex, she instructed, “You will be diving deep into this sea now, do you remember the theoretical part I taught you on the shore?”

Chanyeol and you were confident (and loud) in your affirmation.

Kyungsoo, not so much.

With the bulky dive equipment on, the instructor created a circle with her thumb and forefinger, gesturing, “All okay?”

The three of you responded by following suit.

First dive, twelve metres depth.

You’d become the proverbial fish out of water except you were not the fish and you were under water and your whole world had been turned upside down….quite literally.

You spun around to find the instructor assisting Chanyeol with his breathing rhythm and Kyungsoo curled up like a shrimp, hugging his knees. Arm extended, he gave you a “thumbs up” which meant an entirely different thing under water from what it did on land.

Thumbs up, in diving lingo, spelled trouble. It meant that, for whatever reason, the diver wished to ascend. But, by then, you’d known Kyungsoo long enough to understand that there was no real cause for concern.

The look in his eyes told you that he was simply struggling to adapt.

You swam towards him, with your legs and not your arms, in order to maintain good buoyancy control. Clasping your hands together in a mitten grasp, you signalled him to hold onto you. Kyungsoo created a circle with his thumb and forefinger to signal “okay” before putting his hand on your forearm, the soft ripples caused by his gentle movements gleaming in the artificial light from your gear.

You then raised your other arm and flattened your hand, palm down, to “pat” the water in front of you as you would the head of a dog. Wearing a comforting eye smile, you essentially asked Kyungsoo to take it easy and relax. You then levelled your hand with his eyes, palm facing up before drawing a deep breath, wordlessly asking Kyungsoo to breathe slow, deep and long.

Another nod. Another “okay”.

He then pointed his index finger to his ear, the gesture indicating that he couldn’t clear his ears and had trouble equalizing. So you locked your eyes with his and took his elbows in your hands to pull him up to ascend slightly before quickly pushing him down again while wondering whether he’d paid attention to the theoretical lessons at all.

He squeezed his eyes shut before giving you another nod which meant that the equalization was a success.

Kyungsoo’s thumb and forefinger met in another “okay” but this time with an eye smile which you reciprocated with an “okay” before snapping your fingers into a teasing finger heart.

All traces of agreeableness instantly vanished from his visible features.

***

The deeper you went, your fluo green spectrum widened, whelming you with the underwater world’s tranquil beauty which neutralized the shooting pain in your ears and the violent thumping of your heart. Corals in the shape of giant mushrooms floated around you and sea urchins greeted you with their bright purple-brown spikes glowing under the ocean’s natural light. At your feet, a shy goby fish with its large head and tapered body tunneled its way into the sand upon sensing the arrival of strangers.

While you were immersed in this exquisite scenery, a wide eyed Kyungsoo grabbed your attention by waving at you, his hand holding a pink fin.

‘That fin looks familiar,’ you thought before realizing it was your fin that had released itself from your right foot. You almost choked from laughing with the regulator on and the mask attached to your face as Kyungsoo helped you stick it back on.

Having been privy to breathtaking videos and countless stories of the mysteries and magic of the underwater world, a first-hand experience felt surreal. You were quick to adapt to the environment and didn’t try to fight it or control it and your first breath under water had been an experience like no other.

The Boreas Wreck was home to a number of incredible marine species such as Mediterranean sponges and blue gorgonians, scorpionfish, sea urchins, starfish, goatfish, mullets, bream, lobsters, groupers, and barracuda. While you couldn’t pindown all the enticing, drop dead gorgeous palettes of reds, blues, and yellows that crossed paths with you, shoaling, schooling...or even solitary, it didn’t take away from the sheer awe you were overcome with at every second of your time several azure and viridian metres below the surface of land.

The instructor then guided the three of you inside the boat’s wreck, which was safe to enter since all hazardous items had been removed before Boreas was scuttled. With an excited Chanyeol in the lead per usual, you visited some of its confined rooms, and went further in to explore the kitchen, the engine room, the bridge and even the captain’s cabin. The dilapidated metal and wood body of the civil boat, covered almost entirely in sea fauna, was nothing short of a beautiful nightmare.

Traversing, you reached one corner of the boat basked in a blinding white light, enveloping you in a gentle embrace. Emotions so carefully locked away came flooding through the dam of your forced stoic indifference. Giving in, you stretched your arms out, allowing yourself to freefall into a distant memory.

Haphazardly flapping your arms and legs, you struggled to keep your head up but no matter how hard you tried, the pool water made its way into your mouth, nose, and eyes, even.

‘Appa!’ you managed loudly as you felt yourself drowning again.

Your Appa was the one who always came to your rescue.

No matter where you were, no matter how bad things got. He was always there. So when he just stood there, a smile on his face, watching you grapple with a force that mercilessly dragged you down while you kicked and punched and floundered to stay afloat...a mysterious emotion rose within you.

You felt betrayed by the man who was supposed to have your back.

Seething, ‘Appa!’ you bawled, but to no avail.

Until...magically...you didn’t need his help anymore.

After days of relentless torture, you’d finally found yourself moving forward, cutting through the water with synchronized movements of your arms and legs.

But the exhilaration hadn’t lasted long.

A couple of minutes in and you realized that that force was winning again but this time, you didn’t drown.

This time a familiar pair of hands grabbed you before you went under and threw you up in the air as your misty eyes took in the biggest smile on your father’s face with an equally big one gracing your bright features.

Circling his arms around your tiny torso, he nestled you into himself.

‘My champion!’ he whispered into your swim cap covered ear.

***

Back on the boat, with your diving gear off and fresh towels wrapped around your shoulders, you sank to your knees, completely wracked with sobs.

You felt a million emotions, all at once, the reigning one being embarrassment at this sudden outburst. With his arms around you and his chin resting on the top of your head, Chanyeol whispered, ‘It’s okay, it’s alright,’ to ground you while gently rocking you back and forth until you’d let it all out. Turning around, you buried your face into the crook of his neck as if to hide away from the inquisitive eyes of Kyungsoo and the instructor. Chanyeol held you closer, his hand stroking the back of your neck in silent support.

.

.

.

Even after a sumptuous lunch of salmon canapes, baked scallops, rice with spiny spider crab, mixed seafood finger foods complete with a chocolate semi sphere, Chanyeol was uncharacteristically quiet and Kyungsoo, uncharacteristically amiable.

“Feels a little morbid to be eating all this seafood after a dive,” you jested with a serious expression, nibbling on a piece of dark chocolate. And it was only then that the boys went back to being their true selves. Amused, Chanyeol guffawed, “Good to have you back!” while Kyungsoo choked on his sparkling white wine.

Shortly after, Chanyeol excused himself to make a call to Aera.

Kyungsoo ordered two coffees for the both of you and you noticed how he kicked about a conversation starter in his head as opened his mouth only to clamp it shut several times, before finally mustering, “I just want to say -”

“No,” you interrupted him in a mortified haste, “no, please don’t say anything I don’t wanna talk about it except, I’m really sorry for making it so awkward for you guys back there.”

“Oh, no,” he gave you a dismissive wave of hand, “it was just Chanyeol, me, and...erm...the pretty instructor who we’ll never see again. Chanyeol makes a complete ass out of himself every waking hour and as for me, please don’t worry about me. Especially not after you found me blind drunk on a rooftop in the dead of night. We all have our moments. I’m sorry,” he suddenly stopped short, expression solemn, “you said you didn’t wanna talk about it.”

You chuckled, teasing, “Pretty instructor, huh?”

This was the longest conversation you’d had with Kyungsoo so far and truth be told, you were caught off guard by... his smile. His resting face was a natural frown, mostly due to his poor eyesight. And in your experience, if he had his glasses on, it was Chanyeol who was the primary reason for his scowl, with you being a close second.

It took you a moment to take in that dazzling, heart shaped smile of his before you could speak again but it was Kyungsoo who lugged the conversation forward.

“I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me back there. I think I felt a little overwhelmed by the,” he pondered his thoughts before concluding, “the vastness of the ocean. Sorry, I’m no poet.”

“Don’t mention it,” you smiled, “How did you feel by the end of it?”

“Umm,” Kyungsoo ruminated on your question, “I felt like I was in the moment...like, reaching a stage of subtle awareness from surface awareness.”

“And you say you’re not a poet,” you quipped, “So, like, meditation?”

“Maybe. It felt as if I was letting go of...of all the emotional baggage -” he trailed off rather plaintively.

Voice laced with hesitance, you sang, “So….maybe…you’ll sleep better tonight?”

Clearly taken aback by your question, Kyungsoo exclaimed, “What?!”

“I’m sorry but, it’s very obvious that you haven’t been sleeping too well.”

Thick eyebrows scrunched together, he let out a confused ‘Oh!’

“Did Chanyeol -” he continued, only to be interrupted by a booming, cheerful voice, “Think of the angel and the angel appears!”

Kyungsoo looked up at a beaming Chanyeol and deadpanned,  “That’s not how the saying goes. Anyway, what took you so long?”

Eyes holding a glint of humour, Chanyeol placed a neatly wrapped iPhone box in front of Kyungsoo and took the dramatics up a notch with a stage performer-esque curtsey thus inviting amused stares from the nearby tables in the courtyard style restaurant. Kyungsoo unwrapped the packaging with the eagerness of a five year old on Christmas Eve and to his disappointment, instead of the high end handphone, he opened the case to a hot pink flip phone.

Kyungsoo let out a low growl, “The fuck is this?”

Standing at a safe distance from his fuming friend, Chanyeol quipped, “A phone,” while making no effort to suppress his laughter.

“Thank you, Mr. State The Obvious, but I’m an adult male, not a Japanese schoolgirl!”

Tickled by his own little prank, Chanyeol threw you under the bus by triumphantly howling, “It was Shifu’s idea!” before darting out of the premises.

Dumbfounded, you exclaimed, “WHAT?! NO!” as Kyungsoo fixed you with a death glare.

.

.

.

‘When were you going to tell me about this?’

Maybe this was one of your endless nightmares.

Maybe this wasn’t happening at all.

Your mother deflected your question by putting things away. Dirty dishes in the washer, clothes in the dryer, leftovers in the fridge, while you followed her around like a lost puppy, a crumpled, time stained letter held delicately in your hand.

The throbbing in your head now bordering on numbness, bile rising up your throat, your legs threatening to give away, you reiterated your question, vociferously this time, surprised at your own power of will. A quality that forever eluded you. The inability to voice your needs, your opinions, masked under a not so thinly veiled sense of self deprecating humour was...you, in a nutshell. This sudden surge of fighting spirit consuming you whole felt alien but at the same time, very natural and, at the same time, it was taking a toll on every nerve, every muscle, every bone.

Every second felt like your last.

‘Would she be able to handle it all over again?’ crestfallen, you mused, ‘The grief. The sympathy. The cumulation of my life -- all these decades condensed into a tiny vessel of ever fading memories. The sands of time trickling through her wrinkled fingers.’

‘Eomma, please -’ you cried out, only for your plea to fall upon deaf ears.

It wasn’t until the next morning that she spoke to you again.

Bloodshot eyes framed by the weight of living, she handed you a warm cup of tea and let out a deep sigh.

‘He never wanted you. It was your Appa who accepted me...he accepted us… It’s been three days since your Appa -,’ wracked with sobs, it took her a while to compose herself to be able to speak again, ‘don’t dishonour his memory.’

‘Why should I believe a word you say? Why should I believe that- that my own father never wanted me?’

#exosnet #exowritersnet #supermwritersnet #supermtravelogue #kyungsoo fluff #chanyeol fluff #kyungsoo angst #chanyeol angst #exo fluff #exo angst #kyungsoo x reader #exo x reader #exo x you #kyungsoo x you #exo travel au #kyungsoo imagines #exo imagines #kyungsoo scenarios #exo scenarios #kyungsoo series #exo series #kyungsoo #chanyeol #d.o. #exo

[bokutosworld]

seconds, hours, minutes, days | kenma k. 

pairing: kenma kozume x gn!reader  word count, genre: 2.2k words, fluff, university au, strangers to friends to lovers.  summary: love is nothing more than just a fleeting feeling. until he meets you and suddenly, he finds himself looking forward to every moment he can spend with you.  press play: blueming by iu, leo by bol4 ft. baekhyun 

The door to the cafe opens, the addicting aroma of coffee beans travels through the air and greets Kenma when he steps inside. He scans the room, finding the familiar figure of his longtime friend who was currently chatting the barista by the counter. He’s walking towards Kuroo and he could already hear excited laughter coming from the front. 

When he enters the scene, the stranger directs their friendly gaze to him and the second that their eyes meet, Kenma feels he’s in the middle of a meet-cute of some romcom movie. 

The first thing he notices is the way your eyes crinkle when you smile, the corners of your mouth turning upwards as you greet him. He hears your voice, but he couldn’t make out what you were saying—as if he was entranced by a spell, too busy to pay attention to anything else and finding it all too easy to become drawn to your aura.  

Kuroo watches it all unfold before him: his best friend who was too stunned to do or say anything, and his other friend, you, who was too clueless to figure out their effect on him. He chuckles before putting his arm around Kenma, steering the situation to introduce you two to each other. Something about you was captivating and Kenma knows he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t already bewitched by you. 

As he stood in line with Kuroo, who was ordering the drinks they’d need for an all-nighter, his mind is occupied—thinking about how of all the things he’d expected to happen when he agreed to help out for a project, falling in love at first sight wasn’t on the list. You left a strong impression on him, and Kenma knows he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking of you in the days to come. 

—

He encounters you for the second time when he attends a party organized by Kuroo’s college org. This wasn’t his usual scene, on a typical weekend, he’d much rather stay at home and catch up with either his studies and papers or his games. As he’s standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by loud and drunk college students, he considers going back to his dorm. 

But the moment that he’s about to leave, he hears a familiar voice. 

He stops in his tracks, because there you were—so full of life, so mesmerizing standing surrounded by different people. He could see a spotlight shining down on you, naturally attracting the attention of everyone in the room. He’s sure that this was the reason Kuroo had been persistent on getting him to go to the party (the boy spent days on end pestering him about it to the point that he had no other choice but to say yes).  

Eventually, Kuroo finds him and they go around, with the former introducing Kenma to his classmates and acquaintances. The night draws on, and some time past midnight, he rests on the available seat on the couch. He takes deep breaths to calm himself before he spots your presence again in the corner of the room. It doesn’t surprise him that you were still full of energy and stories to tell your friends. 

What surprises him is when your eyes meet his. His heart skips a beat when he sees that look of recognition and that knowing smile on your face. He watches as you apologize and leave the group, steadily making your way towards him and taking the empty space beside him. 

You beam at him, “Hey.” 

“Hello.” 

“I remember you.” He watches you take a swig of the drink in your hand. “You’re Kuroo’s best friend, right?”

“Yeah. I’m surprised you do.” 

“Who wouldn’t? I think you’re cute.”  Kenma was flustered. Your words sending his mind into a spiral, struggling to form a coherent reply to your straightforward statement. 

“I didn’t think I’d see you here. Figured this,” you wave your hands in the air exaggeratedly. “…might not be your cup of tea.” 

“Well, I had no choice.” 

“Oh, yeah? Tell me about it.” You scoot closer to him, knees almost touching at the reduced space between you two. “I want to get to know you, Kenma.” 

Kenma couldn’t find it in himself to say no. And before he knew it, he’s openly sharing bits and pieces of his life. You ask him about his past with Kuroo and he’s eagerly taking you to a flashback of his childhood, narrating embarrassing moments (mostly of Kuroo) and he feels happy whenever you found it amusing.

You ask him about his interests, his hobbies, his pet peeves; he learns about you, the charming barista from the 24-hour cafe, a business management student who has too much bills and college loans to pay.

Every minute that passes, every minute he enjoys himself in your presence—with you, making him laugh like he had never before, lighting a spark in his heart and sending the butterflies in his stomach fluttering about, he finds himself falling head over heels for you. 

—

For the weeks that passed after the party, people started noticing the two of you getting closer. The pair of you were inseparable. In breaks and lunches when it was only him and Kuroo, along with few of their friends, you’ve managed to sneak yourself in their social group, earning a permanent spot in their table right beside Kenma. 

And often, the others would observe how his attention would solely be on you whenever you were present. It was a mystery to them, but also a source of amusement, how Kenma would become a different person—breaking out of his shell as he became more talkative and more teasing, exchanging playful banters from time to time. 

But at the same time, there was something painful about watching the two of you as they become witnesses to the coming-to-life of a slow-burn romance. 

And neither of you was admitting it: the push and pull, the undeniable tension that existed whenever the two of you were in the same room. The force of attraction was clear, and everyone had been wondering why neither you nor Kenma were making a move. 

That all came to a head on a weekend when you visited him at his dorm. 

“What are you doing here?” Kenma opens the door wider, giving you space to easily slip in his living area. His eyes follow you like a hawk as you settle your things on his floor, going from room to room and finally sitting down on his couch. You look at him excitedly, grinning from ear to ear as you wave him over to sit beside you. 

“Movie night!” Kenma watches as you take out your laptop and a bag of his favorite snacks. “There’s a new crime thriller on Netflix and I figured we can binge it together.” 

He throws you an incredulous look, “It’s 8 P.M. Shouldn’t you be at your dorms right now? Did you forget the curfew?” 

“Oh, screw that!” You open the Macbook and place it on his center table. You cuddle to his side and Kenma instinctively adjusts, making you comfortable. He grabs the blanket that he’d taken out before you arrived and drapes it over the two of you. He studies you as you navigate the web, logging in to Netflix and pulling up the show you’ll watch for tonight. 

“I can’t believe you would just appear in front of my doorstep and force me to watch this with you.” 

You look at him playfully, “Don’t be such a killjoy.” Your gaze on him lingers for a second longer, the atmosphere shifting to something more intimate. 

He clears his throat, quickly bringing his attention on the laptop screen. “Stop. Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“Kenma.” 

He tries his best to focus on the show. But he couldn’t, not when he feels your soft hand cupping his face, turning him so you could get a good look at him.  

“I like you.” 

His mind goes blank, but one thing was certain: he was elated, and his heart was currently doing a somersault inside him. So, when he tries to reply, all he could give was a shy smile and an, “Okay.” 

And that was enough. Because for the time that you’ve known Kenma, you’ve learned that he has always preferred actions over words. 

You hum and wrap your arms around him. He reciprocates by pulling you closer to him, until all you could hear was the erratic beating of his heart drowning out the loud sounds from the show. 

The hours flew by just like that. It doesn’t occur that the both of you have fallen sound asleep, leaving the laptop on. When Kenma awakens, the words Are you still watching? are now flashing on the screen. He feels something heavy on top of him and his eyes drop to your figure laying on his body. He feels overwhelmed with contentedness at the moment. 

Maybe your barging in his door and inviting him to watch Netflix wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

—

If somebody were to ask Kenma when he had been the happiest in his life, he’d gladly say it was every second, minute, and hour that he has spent by your side. The boy couldn’t ask for a more fun, supportive, and kind-hearted partner when he already has you. You have given him so much, made him feel so loved and special, that he often asks himself if there was anything he could do to repay you. 

The past few months with you has been nothing short of amazing, with every single day feeling like literal heaven in your presence. And now, he’s counting down the days to your birthday which coincidentally also marks the six months of his relationship with you. It was on this special day that Kenma decides to surprise you. 

One of the things that you and Kenma have in common is how you both prefer the simple things. Where others favored to go outside for dates, sleepovers and movie nights in either his or your dorm has always been the norm in the relationship. You also didn’t mind small gifts, not one for flowers and plushies, as you always told him that it is the thought that matters the most. 

And he thinks about it now as he’s standing outside the same cafe where his paths crossed and connected with yours for the first time. 

He goes over his plan one more time when the automatic door slides open, and he goes inside. He finds you entertaining a customer, and he admires how hardworking you have always been. He joins the queue, nerves flying through the roof as he patiently waits to reach the front of the line. 

“Kenma!” A look of genuine surprise takes over you when you finally see him. “What are you doing here?” 

He does something you never thought he’d do: placing his hands on the counter, he leans and plants a soft kiss on your lips.     

“I love you,” he says out of the blue and it sends your mind in a frenzy, your heart fluttering. His words don’t even register anymore when he says his order and tells you, “Your shift ends in ten, right? I’ll wait for you and we can get something to celebrate your birthday.”

Kenma keeps his gaze at you as he waits for your shift to end. He sighs of relief when he sees you come out of the staff room and meets you halfway. He intertwines his hands with yours and guides you out of the shop. The sun is setting coloring the streets in red orange hues and everything right now looks like a painting. 

You walk in silence, stopping by your favorite Chinese takeout shop to buy something to eat when you arrive at his dorm. He orders for the both of you, and when he’s done, you pull him to the side and finally ask the question that has been bugging you. 

“You said you loved me back there, right? 

He chuckles, “Yeah, I did.” Kenma tugs you closer, arms encircling your waist and resting his head on your shoulders. “Should I have not said it?” 

“I was just surprised.” 

“It’s nothing to be surprised for.” He leans to your ear and his voice low when he whispers, “I just said the truth. I have been falling in love with you since the first day we met.”  

You feel warm when you realize that Kenma beat you to saying those three magical words in the relationship. But it was another thing when he reveals to you how he’s been taken with you since your first meeting. And right now, all you could do was to thank your lucky stars for bringing you to him.  

You look at him, reaching a hand to outline his features before returning his kiss with one of your own.

“Thank you. And I love you too, more than you’ll ever know.” 

At your words, Kenma falls for you over again and he decides he wouldn’t mind spending more seconds, hours, minutes, and days with you.  

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines #kenma x reader #kenma imagines #hqradiostation #haikyuucreations #kozume kenma x reader #kenma fluff #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu one shot #kenma x you #hq kenma #kenma kozume #haikyuu!!

[7wanderingpaws]

Captain Bucheon 04

Warnings: language, suggestive

Word count: 4.6K

story masterlist masterlist

tags: @wooya1224 @to-all-the-stories-i-love @jennxx3 @realllllrica (let me know if you want to be un/tagged)​

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<-- Previous - Next -->

Fourth: Painful memories

Baekhyun seemed like a distant dream when you awoke the next day. Everything that happened, starting with your obliviousness to his presence at the field all the way to the moment you slapped him and poured your emotions out; they all felt like they never happened. 

It was your throat, raw and sore from screaming, that indicated last night happened. You woke up tired, feeling your nose clogged and head heavy. As if constantly haunting you, behind closed eyes you saw his; they were looking at you, troubled and wavering. Baekhyun was at your mercy last night. And you were merciless.

One of the painful memories was exceptionally difficult to erase from your mind. Baekhyun's words, that he uttered one year ago in his office, were haunting you and making you believe that things could have been different if you were not lying to him.

I would have waited for you.

Those words were running around in front of your eyes, each word snaking itself in confusing circles creating slight dizziness. Would he have really waited, though?

Groaning, you turned to your other side spotting Yuyeon’s sleeping figure. She wasn’t in the room when you arrived last night, enabling you to cry to your heart's content, which you did. You cried yourself to sleep and now, here was the result. Swollen eyes, headache and a sore throat.

Your phone that was safely tucked under your pillow gave a short vibration, indicating a message. You were waiting for it; it was the last working day after all. Weekend was coming up and you couldn’t wait to get the necessary free time to do your school work and recover from shouting at Byun Baekhyun.

You checked the text message and you planned your day ahead accordingly.

Unknown number

Parcel delivery for the weekend by Sunday 23:30. Bucheon Christian University main gate’s security house.

You frowned, mulling over the destination. Until now, it was always an apartment building and, with the new found information that the messages could have possible secondary destinations encoded, you grew a little uneasy. If issues occurred, would there be another option to deliver the parcel to?

><

There was a hustle going on in Baekhyun’s department that day. Several robberies, crimes and attacks and every officer was preoccupied with suffering victims begging for help and justice.

He also had a couple of cases to deal with, yet he kept zoning out. He barely got a wink of sleep and now he needed to be at his best when he would have much rather stayed home and let himself think through stuff. Not that he didn’t have a whole year to think.

“Knock knock, coffee delivery!” 

Park Chanyeol, the number one detective and also Baekhyun’s close friend, walked in, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. “What’s up Captain?”

“Thanks,” murmured Baekhyun when Chanyeol handed him the mug. “Any news on the case?” he asked, ignoring his friend’s question completely.

Chanyeol crashed on the chair opposite him with a sigh. “Nope,” he replied. “No solid updates. No leads. The attack was sudden and we can’t seem to find a trace of the target.”

Baekhyun sighed. “Two young women have been attacked so far. They were in their mid-twenties.”

“Actually, both of them were in their final year of university,” added Chanyeol with a serious tone.

“That could be a solid lead,” murmured Baekhyun even though his mind was wandering off again. He was quick to zone out on his friend who continued describing the crime scenes, thinking out loud but Baekhyun was already on a completely different page.

You were just seventeen… and he was so heartless. He could vividly remember the actual happenings in his office. He was sitting just where he was seated now, behind his big table full of paperwork and computer while you were becoming smaller and smaller under his smoldering gaze. 

Baekhyun was extremely mad that day. He couldn’t remember the last time he was that mad. Not even the forever annoying Siamsa could annoy him to those bits and he was slowly realizing that it must have been because he liked you much more than he had let himself believe. You betraying his trust, seeing him as a fool and doing stupid stuff behind his back were the exact things he despised in humans. Yet, you did all of them. And one year later, here he was, with you on his mind.

He cringed inwardly when he remembered the harsh words he told you.

You were stupid enough to get caught.

You can be goddamn sure I wouldn’t talk to a KID.

It was a grave mistake to talk to you.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, not even catching Chanyeol abruptly stopping his talk. Baekhyun was way too brutal with you. He groaned out loud when he remembered another horrible thing he said. I’m breaking up with you if it wasn’t obvious enough. Plus, I’m arresting you…

“Are you okay? You really seem out of it today.” Chanyeol seemed concerned and even a little perplexed as Baekhyun rarely showed this kind of behavior in front him, let alone showing it at his workplace. In the office, Baekhyun was the one to be scared of, to be respected and bowed to. This Baekhyun seemed like if Chanyeol pushed him with his finger, he'd crumble.

“I'm fine,” muttered back the captain with a throaty voice.

Chanyeol pursed his lips, unsure how to ask what had been on his mind since he entered the office. Instead of wanting to deal with a serious talk, a cheeky glint lit up in his eyes. “Perhaps you met her again?”

“Her?” Baekhyun frowned with a down-ward tilt on his lips.

Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows as he stretched on the chair. “You know who!” he took a breath and with his deep voice, started to sing:

She looked incredible Just turned 17 I guess my friends are right She's out of my league So what am I to do? She's too good to be true

Baekhyun couldn't help himself when he heard the lyrics his friend correlated with you. They couldn't have been more accurate and despite him being in a bad mood, the idea made him laugh under his nose as he looked on the floor. “Actually, I did. And I got slapped,” he revealed somehow proudly as he let himself sit on his chair, enjoying the astonished look on Chanyeol's face.

“No way!” he straightened up in his seat, leaning forward so he could get a better look at his friend. “She slapped you? Damn, this girl is feisty. She keeps beating up our captain!” he laughed out loud, consumed by the images of you, the young woman in her late teenage years, slapping someone of Baekhyun's calibre.

“Yeah, well, she's always been fearless.” he shrugged, frowning out of a sudden. “I screwed that girl up pretty badly, Chan, but that's no news.”

Chanyeol went quiet for a minute, fully aware of Baekhyun's emotions and the way the past events had been eating him up. “How is she doing these days?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I guess well? She's lost some weight, but,” he sighed and proceeded to talk about the event that he witnessed with the boys sexually harassing you.

“The kids these days can't keep it in their pants,” cackled Chanyeol in disbelief but Baekhyun was far from entertained. His jaw was locked, the skin pulsing with tension at the mere idea of last night.

“If they ever as much as think about her I swear to god-”

“Whoa, hold on, Baek. You know you can't just get involved.”

“What do you mean I can't just get involved? They were harassing her, and I'm a cop.”

“I think your rage is more fueled because it's about Nari. As much as you seek justice, you shouldn't let your emotions take the better out of you. Besides, people might get suspicious-”

“Chanyeol, what the fuck?” snapped Baekhyun angrily. “If she were any woman I'd do the same.”

“You would not punch in order to protect just any woman.”

“Yes, I would-”

“No, you would do the smart talk and intimidate them with your power and  authority. But you punched the kid, Baek.”

Baekhyun sighed in agitation, his hand coming yet again up to his face, tiredly rubbing at the skin. “So what should I have done? I myself am confused about my emotions but I know I care about her a lot.”

“Of course you care about her. You drank straight up one month after she found out about your fake boyfriend identity and you broke up.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, hating the way Chanyeol was so blunt with his words. “Either way, she still hates me.”

“Would you fight for her if she ever gave you a chance?” asked Chanyeol quietly, his fingers nipping at his lower lip in thought.

Baekhyun opened his mouth, ready to answer way too quickly before he stopped himself. He was frozen when he realized the answer that so naturally came to him. Would he fight for you if you ever decided to build the bridges again? He definitely would have one year ago when he came to your high school to see you.

“You're hesitating,” stated Chanyeol and pursed his lips. “I think you're scared, too, captain.”

Baekhyun scoffed but Chanyeol cut him off: “You would hate losing her again. And she is a fragile kid, scarred by everything that happened to her. She could be even more vulnerable with you. Remember that.”

><

“Where are you going?” asked Yuyeon, confused, when you were putting on your black jeans and a black hoodie. The helmet for the scooter was already tucked under your arm, ready to leave for the Saturday night. Time was ticking in your brain and you grew quite anxious about possible bad outcomes of this delivery if you wouldn't leave right away.

“Work,” you shrugged, “will get this done and then I will be free,” you smiled, a little strained but Yuyeon only gave you a suspicious side glance.

“You never work on the weekends! This employer is already playing with you and telling you to work even when it's not your official hours,” she frowned deeply, looking like a sulking child.

You sighed and suppressed the need to roll your eyes. “Okay, mum, I'll be back in time, no worries.”

“You better be! I won't fuss about wanting to go to a club when you're oh so busy.”

“I promise we can go next Friday!” you shouted, opening the door to put on your shoes.

She grumbled in response and you laughed to yourself, slamming the doors behind you when you slid your feet into your boots. Making sure they were tied well, you rushed out into the chilly evening, making your way to the mini-scooter Chul borrowed you so you could get the job done easier.

Bucheon Christian University was a little further away from your campus, so you made sure you followed the map carefully once you got the box from the apartment you usually got it from. The apartment itself was a high-rise, family friendly building and, just like the previous times, this box was also very light in your arms despite it being a little bigger. You had a spare rope under the seat of the scooter, so you tied it securely so it wouldn't fall when you had it between your feet.

As you were reaching the destination, you realized your palms were becoming more sweaty. Your heartbeat, usually quiet, was now gently beating in your ears, letting you know the stress levels were rising.

“You arrived at your destination,” said the GPS when you passed a big entrance that was leading into a small campus with white buildings that seemed too out of the place. Wanting to get the job done quickly, you searched with eager eyes for a little building that would be the security office, getting off the scooter and untying the delivery.

Seeing a box-like metal security office for the car park barrier you swallowed harshly, walking up to it. There were no signs of life inside, the lights out and the barriers probably working on auto mode. For other people, it must have looked ridiculous - you walking with a bigger box towards the security office but you could only hope no one would see your face which was the reason why you were reluctant to take the helmet off.

You were walking up to what you deemed the correct destination, but you couldn't help the uneasy feeling. There is no need, you insisted in your mind, because this was the correct destination. You would put the box down in front of the doors and just leave. Yes. That was correct.

Despite your weak reassurances, you kept looking around making sure you weren’t missing another spot. Your heartbeat was still gently pumping in your ears, reminding you that this was a little more stressful than the previous outings.

As you reached the doors to the security office, you put the box down more to the side as the doors were directly in front of the road for the cars. Feeling the relief of accomplishing another day of delivery, you turned around and started walking back towards the scooter, the tension slowly but surely easing up. You looked back several times to make sure the box was still there and with that you sat on the scooter and rode away, excited that you didn’t miss out on the night just yet.

If Yuyeon would be up for fun, you could finally go and be reckless!

><

Baekhyun was about to turn off the lights and call it a night at 9pm when a loud set of knocks disturbed his peace. Thinking it was his friends who wanted to give him a surprise visit, he swiftly opened the door only to be surprised when he spotted a ball of pink.

“The hell are you doing here?” he snapped, not moving to let the uninvited guest in.

Siamsa, or, to Baekhyun, Sooah, rolled her eyes as she stepped closer. “Well, hi to you, handsome. I’ll tell you if you let me in.”

“Well, I don’t want to know,” he replied in an even voice. “So that makes it easier. Bye-“

“Wait!” she exclaimed quickly and made a step in, wanting to prevent him from slamming the door shut in her face. “It’s about your ex.”

He didn’t want to admit it; but his heart jumped at the mention of you. Sooah never cared enough about Baekhyun’s other exes before her. Unfortunately for you, you came after her and Siamsa, the kpop sensation, was not processing it well. “If you’re gonna talk bullshit, I’ll spare myself the time-“

“If you want to protect her, you should listen,” she sing-sang nonchalantly, playing with the ends of her long hair. It was dyed blond and made her seem innocent which she was far from.

“And how would you know what’s up with Nari? You’ve already done so much shit in the past! What makes you think I’ll believe you?”

Sooah shrugged, pretending to be unbothered. “Well, I care about your well-being, Baekhyun. I know you care about her. I know the break-up was brutal. You locked up her brother-“

Baekhyun was fast to grab her by her wrist and yank her inside, quickly kicking the door shut. Sooah had a satisfied smirk on her face when she took in his distressed expression. “How. Do. You. Know. That.”

“Mhmm, so hot,” she whispered with a wink, mocking him. “I always liked how manly you are, my little one-“

“Listen,” he cut her off angrily, the nickname making him shudder inwardly, “I don’t care about your fucking games. I’m way past you and all your stupid shit. But I swear to god, if you do something to Nari-“

“You seem to have luck on girls who do stupid shit,” she mimicked him as she stood closer, making sure her breath fanned his chin. “Nari seems to go from one trouble to another. One day she might as well end up like her brother,” she laughed to herself.

“How do you know about her brother?” he asked again in a low tone, trying hard to ignore the anger he felt whenever she mentioned you.

Sooah pulled a fake thinking face, tapping her slender finger with perfect nail art on her chin. “For starters, don’t underestimate my honesty, Baekhyun. I know more than you think. I really care about you, you know,” she mumbled the last sentence and dared to reach up with her hand, touching his cheek gently. “Me messing up by protecting my identity - you were too harsh with me back then, sweetie.”

Baekhyun sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and moving his face away from her touch. She was bringing up the past and he didn’t like it; he didn’t want to dive in it. Sooah was a great manipulator and he didn’t want to fall down the guilt rabbit hole when he knew he did the right thing in the past. “We are done with that talk.”

“I was never done with that talk,” she was fast to protest. “You were. I still want you.” When she moved to stand closer to him, Baekhyun quickly stood back and away from her. “Baekhyun!”

“Tell me what you know about Lee Nari and then leave!”

“I want something in return,” she rebutted quickly, even confidently, but the desperation on her face was speaking volumes. “And I’ll tell you all I know.”

He grit his jaw, hard. “I swear to god, Sooah, stop testing me-“

“It’s noona for you,” she murmured with a sharp gaze that kept flickering over his features. He always looked good, but judging from his outfit, she knew he was preparing to sleep. That hoodie would soon be taken off and those plaid pants too. Her mind swirled just at the thought of it.

“We are done with that too—“

“You can’t fight the age difference, baby,” she purred and stepped closer. She enjoyed seeing his internal conflict. Despite being a harsh captain, she knew which buttons to push for him to submit, although she didn’t like that it involved you. She hated that the only way she could talk to Baekhyun was if she mentioned your name.

Baekhyun sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ok. Speak. Otherwise I’m throwing you out.”

Sooah burst out into laughter, quickly hiding her laminated teeth and scrunched up nose behind her hand. “You manhandling me wouldn’t be the first time, Captain,” she said in a low, sensual tone as she trailed her long fingernail over his chest. She could have sworn it was more toned than the last time she had the pleasure of touching it. “And you know how much I like it.” When she saw him closing his eyes in exasperation, she trailed the finger upwards to his prominent collarbones before she took the side of his neck in her palm, running her thumb over the pulse point. “God, I miss you so much. Like, so, so much, my sweetie.” She knew she was testing the limits. She also knew an angry Baekhyun was anything but good news. She refused to spare him, though. “Your girlfriend is a bad girl. She’ll easily become a criminal if she continues doing the bad stuff.”

Baekhyun snapped his eyes open. “Is she up to something these days?” he asked almost breathily.

Her fingers traveled to the nape of his neck and she buried them in the hair, lightly scratching at the skin. Baekhyun was fighting the shuddering feeling, hoping his body wouldn’t betray him.

“Oh, yes. When isn’t she up to something,” she mumbled thoughtfully, her hawk eyes taking note of Baekhyun’s slight blush. He was getting affected with her ministrations and she stepped closer to him. He didn’t move away.

“What is it?” he hummed when her other hand massages his chest in small circles. “What is it that she is doing?”

Sooah had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she bit her bottom lip in triumph. “Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you-“

“No games!” snapped Baekhyun angrily, his eyes stormy as he glared at her.

“Then you won’t find out!”

“Sooah!”

“Just a magic word and a little kiss is all I want, sweetie,” she whispered, enjoying his intent stare on her. “I promise that’s all I will want and you get to access all you need to know.”

“No,” he shook his head resolutely. “I don’t care.”

“You care so fucking much about her,” it was her turn to spit now, gradually getting infuriated with his reluctance to submit to her. “Or do you want me to, perhaps…” she trailed off, puckering her lips, feigning thinking, “tell everyone in her school you dated her as an underaged kid?”

That was it for Baekhyun. Something snapped within him and he made a threatening step towards his ex, who didn’t even budge at his abruptness. “I dare you to say a single word that would harm her reputation, Sooah. I dare you to. She already went through so much shit because of me and her family.”

Sooah was smirking as she watched the captain's troubled, but hard face. It hurt her, but she wasn’t the most emotionally literate person; she was selfish and sometimes enjoyed suffering of others. That was how a very bad product of the entertainment industry looked like. Whether she would admit it was questionable. Sooah would never give Baekhyun up when her emotions for him were so deep, when the man was desirable so much. It was always a given that he was a one of a kind man and she always wanted everything that was one of a kind.

“What a good man you are, Byun Baekhyun,” she hummed, her eyes focused on his lips. “Caring about a child so much. A child who lied to you from the very first start.”

“Whatever the hell you are trying to do here, leave it,” gritted Baekhyun eventually. “And tell me what she is up to.”

“I already told you what’s the price!” she whined, making Baekhyun frown. “A kiss. On the lips.” With her finger, she tapped her lower lip, excitement cursing through her when she saw Baekhyun eyeing her mouth. “And then the secrets are all yours.”

It was tempting; not the kiss, but the reward. Baekhyun’s mind was racing with possibilities, with outcomes. Then he became worried. He knew how twisted Sooah could be, and were she to talk in front of your school about your relationship, you’d most probably never forgive him for letting it happen and he himself would be in huge trouble. Maybe that thought was even stronger than his need to know whether you were in trouble or not.

To make Baekhyun’s pondering a little easier, Sooah boldly pressed her palm against his toned stomach, the muscles instantly flexing upon her intrusive touch. Sooah knew Baekhyun was a very sensitive man; a single tingle on his neck could turn him on, the lightest of scratches could make him stand up proud. She knew he had to be affected by her minimal ministrations. She knew him perfectly. Touching up the ridges around the muscles, she let her hand slide lower to his abdomen before reaching to cup his—

Baekhyun slapped her hand away with a growl and pressed her against the door. “One fucking kiss and you’ll spill everything,” he breathed. She couldn’t even react before he pressed his lips harshly against hers, the texture of her lip gloss attaching to his lips. Sooah groaned, arms instantly hugging his neck. Her long finger nails scratched his nape and Baekhyun’s will was becoming weaker. 

The familiar scent of her strong, sweet perfume wafted over his senses, reminding him that this was not the woman he cared about anymore. Her eager tongue pushed his lips apart and was fast to battle with his own. The way she kissed him was nothing but desperate, needy, a call for attention. He hated it. The last time he kissed a woman— a girl was a year ago and her lips were the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. Despite her being brave with him, her kisses were shy, careful, kitten-like and Baekhyun accidentally groaned at the thought of that. 

He pressed his lips harsher against this woman’s while imaging an innocent girl behind his eyelids. His hands were pressed against the door but he wanted to touch so bad. He only got to touch her once and not the way he would have liked, and now he had to fight the urge to let his hands slide around the curves, to outline her behind while her chest would be pressed against his.

He was quickly reminded that the body pressing against him was indeed not Lee Nari. Sooah had a slim physique with a flat chest and a big space between her thighs. He loved it once, but not anymore.

Before Sooah could cup his private part again he broke the kiss, desperately needing some air and needing to snap out of his deep fantasy. Blinking several times, he got to see the face that went through so many changes with plastic surgery and when she smiled at him with swollen lips, he realized how unreal this woman was. Unreal and unfaithful.

“What is Lee Nari doing ?” he breathed, the question coming out in a low murmur, his lips visibly swollen.

The spark that was in Sooah’s eyes left, quickly interchanged with hate and betrayal. “Is this what you ask me right after you kissed me?” she shrieked, causing Baekhyun to flinch. “You just had your tongue in my mouth and you dare to say a little girl’s name afterwards?”

Sooah wasn't wrong about you being a little girl. She was older by fourteen years after all; she saw you as a complete kid. Which made Sooah feel even more devastated and enraged; Baekhyun dated someone so incredibly young, half of her age. It made her feel like she couldn't compare.

“I’m not going to ask you any more. You got what you wanted. Get out of my flat if you don’t do anything useful,” replied Baekhuyn with a hard glare.

“She is delivering drugs,” snapped Sooah and Baekhyun was shocked to find tears in her eyes as she spoke. “That’s who she is now, Baekhyun. She is delivering illegal stuff on a scooter and she doesn’t even have a driving license.”

It felt like someone poured a scorching hot water over him. You and drugs? And you didn’t have a driving license while driving a vehicle? So many thoughts raced through his mind, so many questions left unanswered. What the hell were you up to? “And you know this how?”

Sooah shrugged. “None of your damn business.”

“It is if it involves Nari.”

Sooah scoffed mockingly. “Then sleep with me.”

“You need help, Sooah,” replied Baekhyun somehow compassionately after a moment of silence. Taking the singer’s arm in his, he turned her and opened the door so he could push her out to the corridor. “And immediately. You’re sick in your head. Treat your obsession and then we can still be friends maybe.”

“You’re a heartless bastard, Baekhyun,” whispered Sooah, not turning around. “You better watch out for the university festival. Your girlfriend will be my puppet.”

She started walking with purposeful steps towards the elevator, not looking back and not noticing the way Baekhyun’s face fell with dread.

But the girl had been hurt enough.

><><><><><><><><

A/N: thank you for reading! I had lots of fun with this chapter! Let me know your thoughts, there is so much happening over here >.<

Lyrics credit: McFly - That Girl

#exowritersnet #baekhyun #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun angst #baekhyun romance #baekhyun au #baekhyun policeman #baekhyun smut #exo smut #exo angst #exo fluff #CB #mywritings

[cosmiclatte28]

Prisoners' Dilemma (SuperM collab call)

"What's good for me could be bad for you and could be bad for both of us" - cosmiclatte28

Welcome to my first small project or collab call!

as you see, I posted something and turns out some of you are liking the idea, so here we go! there's not much rules let me make it simple

THEME : Prisoner’s dilemma- A commonly applied concept in economics and game theory where one person will deceive another for the promise of a better result.

Another explanation: Okay so prisoners' dilemma is a situation where 2 people are given options where their trust is kinda tested. Imagine you and I are both criminal and we are put in diff cell then we separately got a deal .. if both of us admits our crime we will be prisoner for 5 years each.. if both of us lie we will be prisoner for 10 years each.. if i lie but u tell the truth only u will be prisoner for 20 years while me i'm free.. or you lie and i tell the truth and i'll get the 20 years sentence. Now both of us cannot talk cannot discuss.. each step we take can be good for me (like i lie and u tell truth) and bad for u coz u got 20 yrs of jail.. or bad for both (if we both choose to lie) and get 10 years each

soo your story will be between two or more people (two is easier, but the more the merrier and ofc side characters are welcome) who are stuck in this dilemma. Ofc they don't have to be prisoners :D this is where your creativity will make each stories shine in their own way #yay!

This project is for SuperM (As I remember my blog is purposely for SuperM)

Word count : 800+ I'd like it to be 1k but I know 800 is already good enough (Yeah I know it's so sudden so a drabble is okay, this theme can be easy and challenging :) ) OR GO AS FAR AS YOU WANT (Just let's keep this a oneshot and not a series :D thanks)

I am not participating (at the moment, I'll just take the left over spot or maybe not participate at all if all the members have an author)

OPEN FOR ALL READER OR WRITER. NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE NEEDED!!! I just want to you to know everyone is capable of writing and is creative :D

Assuming all the members here are above their legal age (and I am not innocent) , SMUT is accepted, ANGST IS OKAY, Fluff is ofc okay and platonic or romantic or brother-sister is accepted. NO INCEST PLEASE thx

SUBMISSION : December 2021 - January 2022 or just tell me if you need more time (this is not graded or school, no deduction points for late submission)

drop out anytime I am okay with it :D life happens and I can understand. I won't ask anything just tell me nicely you'll join in another chance and I'll do the member or look another writer.

No need a discord or anything (it's just a small collab ><)

I JUST NEED PASSION AND HAPPY AUTHORS AND READERS :D

okay so here's the masterlist (or i can update that, but for the moment) EACH MEMBER IS OPEN FOR 2 STORIES FROM DIFF WRITER. just dm me a member you want :D

special thanks to these cool amazing writers for joining this small collab. Each member is still open for one more author!!

Baekhyun- SLOT STILL OPEN

Taemin- @taemin-jaemin TEASER

Kai- @exosbloodline

Taeyong- @aquamoonchaii

Ten- @give-seconds

Lucas- @127-mile

Mark- @ahsshilee-me

i guess that's all for now..

hope this doesn't flop and if this doesn't flop, I already have more in my head plus wait for our collab rightt @yutahoes *wink*

REBLOG AND SHARE GUYS THANKSS

xoxo

cosmic

#collab call #nct collab call #superm collab call #shinee collab call #exo comeback #superm fanfic #superm #superm imagine #cosmic collab #lets see how this goes

[danseurehonte]

“The Dragon’s Cry” Magic Series

Prologue. One

Summary: In a world where everyone uses magic Baekhyun, a dragon, finds himself falling deeper in love with someone he isn’t supposed to be near and her biggest secret could crush Baekhyun and his heart.

This is imperative to the main story and cannot be skipped.

Mentions of: Fighting, Lovers to Enemies, Enemies to Lovers, Abuse, Magic, Fictional Themes, Original Character, Cursing, Angst.

Words:1059

“Look into my eyes and tell me, tell me what you are!” He spat, his fiery fist slamming against the wall next to the woman’s head, “Stop keeping so silent, I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it radiating from your soul; just stop lying to me Alice.” Dropping her head she cried out, something she seemed to be doing more often, Baekhyun felt the betrayal seeping from her pores, her soul longing to do what it was created for and it forced him back away from her and what her emotions could cause her to do. “Your tears mean nothing to me, your hands have blood on them, you’ve looked me in my eyes and lied to me for years knowing what you’ve done. You’ve watched me suffer at the hands of your people, you’ve sympathized with me when I came home in tears, you heard me swear to kill those responsible when you knew the entire time; pathetic, I’m fucking pathetic, so blinded by your sex, your touch that I didn’t even realize I had been sleeping next to the enemy.”

His words sliced through her chest like silver, the pain slithering through her blood stream and slowly stopping her already slow beating heart. “I should have known, I should have fucking known, your heart beats like one of those beast. Did you think I was some game? Did you think you could just ride this shit out until it was my name on the chopping block? You looked at me every day and told me you loved me and I believed you.”

“Because I do love you”

“Bull-fucking-shit,” He’d cut Alice off with a scorching finger pressed against her forehead, “Your people are incapable of love, you’ve killed my family, you’ve watched me mourn and been there to comfort me.” She knew he was right, there was nothing she could say to defend herself, her hands did have blood on them, she did kill, she did do all of those things but she truly did love Baekhyun and he’d changed her life for something she thought she was incapable of. “B, I don’t know what I can say to make you understand that in the five years I’ve been with you all I’ve done is love you, I haven’t done any jobs, I h-,” Alice’s mouth closed quickly as Baekhyun turned to face her, the soft brown eyes that were previously filled with hurt and tears now red and filled with heat and anger. She could feel the rage seeping out of his skin as he crept towards her, scales slowly forming  against his temple and cheeks, red eyes burning holes through her soul.

“Killing my family, my friends, my people is a fucking job; that’s what you see me as, what you see the others as, your friends, the people closes to you; you see them a fucking jobs Alice?” Upon instinct as Baekhyun closed in on her, her magic activated, “see, you see that, you’re built to kill, you fucking dragon slayer.” He spat the term with absolute filth on the tongue as Alice fought back tears, the disgust he held panging her heart. She’d left her life behind when she learned the truth of outside world, she hadn’t killed a dragon in over eight years and vowed to never harm another when she met Baekhyun. “You think I had a choice in what I am? You think I woke up one day and chose the magic I was given? I didn’t even go through the trials to find out my true magic, I was born for this, I was made to be this, you think I like it? You think I enjoyed looking into the eyes of the man I love and lying to him about my identity when I truly don’t even know myself who I really am?” She screamed, her magic casing around her in protection as she knew Baekhyun would attack her at any moment if she left the space available.

“For ten years they kept me in a locked room and beat me, my own fucking family Baekhyun, they beat me and trained me daily for this. All I know is this, this is all my body knows. Do you know how difficult it is to suppress ones true magic? I was in pain for years, they forced my true life out of me and made me to be one of them why do you think I ran away Baekhyun, you think I enjoyed seeing creatures I was so fascinated in die by my hands? You think I enjoyed hearing you cry and scream over lost friends and family? I didn’t ask to be a dragon slayer; I was created to be one. Being a dragon is the destiny the Gods chose for you, being a slayer is the destiny a council chose for me.”

He smacked his lips at her outrage, simply not believing a word that came from her mouth, “You don’t have to keep lying for me Alice, you can deny your destiny from the Gods all you want but you’re a fucking dragon slayer and the bane of existence and I suggest you start running because home isn’t so fucking safe anymore.” She could feel the heat radiating as he walked past her, “I will kill you with my own two hands when you least expect it, dragon slayer.” 

With a harsh slam of the door, Baekhyun was gone, the air and the harsh backlash of the wind as he’d spread his wings and gone into his true form informed her that he’d left the premises. She knew from the look in his eyes that he’d kill her and she knew that he still had some sort of love for her to even warn her of the coming events; he was most likely on his way to tell the community where he was from of Alice’s true identity and all the crimes her family had committed; she had at most an hour to leave the house and find safe haven somewhere.

She was banned from ever returning to her village without the fresh blood of a dragon on her hands and she had no friends that weren’t friends on Baekhyun’s so she was completely and totally on her own in this fight.

#Admin Crush #Baekhyun Angst #Baekhyun Smut #EXO smut #Baekhyun Scenarios #EXO scenarios #Smut #Angst

[baeklination]

구름 도시 (Cloud City) pt.2

Warnings/Contains: Some cursing, general talks about the crime, specific mentions of injuries (post autopsy)  

au: members of the justice system

Characters: Baekhyun + 8 (who could it be..?)

WC: 8900

Date:200625

Masterpost   Part 1

                                            ¤¤¤

  The rain had started to fall on Baek-hyun’s way down to the river. It was only soft droplets as of now, but the skies were looking ominously dark, so he was hoping the pathologist wasn’t too far behind. To his surprise, he found Jong-in standing outside the white tarpaulin they’d put up to protect the body and immediate surrounding from contamination. An officer lifted the police tape for Baek-hyun to go under, and he gave him a nod. When he got closer to Jong-in he could see he was quite shaken, and hoped it wasn’t because they’d confirmed the identity of the woman as Min-young. But then again, if it isn’t her it will still be someone’s daughter, Baek-hyun thought to himself.

“You’re gonna make me look bad, coming in before me, Jong-in”, he said, trying to ease Jong-in out of his shock.

Jong-in seemed to only have realized Baek-hyun was there when he spoke to him. He stuttered for a few moments, collecting his thoughts.

“It’s okay”, Baek-hyun assured him, while putting on his gear; jumpsuit, facemask and  gloves. “Do we have an ID yet?”

“No, not yet. But the CSI are up by the road, checking the dumpsters there for a purse or a phone.”

Baek-hyun breathed a sigh of relief “So it’s not Min-young then? You’ve been inside, seen her?” he said nodding towards the tent. 

“Yes, I went in there, but I...I couldn’t tell. The forpat just went in” Jong-in exhaled sharply and blinked away the burn in his eyes, hoping Baek-hyun wouldn’t notice. He did of course, but let it pass, and made his way to the tent. When he opened the flap he saw Doh Kyung-soo kneeling next to the body, and his assistant Chunhua was taking pictures.

“Hey Docdo, what have we got?”

  Doh turned around and greeted Baek-hyun with a frown “Doctor or Doh, Byun. One or the other” he said, referring to the nickname Baek-hyun had given him. “Female, in her twenties or thirties I’d say. Liver temperature and bruising suggests she’s been dead between twenty and twenty-six hours, but I’ll know more when I get her on my table.”

As Chunhua moved Baek-hyun saw the body and grimaced.

“Yeah, someone really did a number on her”, Kyung-soo sighed “These ones remind me why I do what I do.”

The woman's face was bloody and had swollen so badly that Baek-hyun would barely be able to tell her gender were it not for her unclothed body. She had bruising on her whole body, and what seemed to be ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. 

“For fucks sake”, Baek-hyun swore under his breath. “No wonder Jong-in couldn’t tell if it’s our missing girl... When are you leaving?”

“I’m waiting for one of the trace guys to bag her hands and see if there’s anything to collect from the body before we go...thirty minutes, maybe.”

“Sounds good. I’m gonna go talk to the guy that found her. See you in your crypt, Docdo.”

Baek-hyun stepped out and let the cold air fill his lungs. If that wasn’t Min-young, then who was she?  

“Baek-hyun”, Jong-in called and gestured towards a man stepping in under the tape. Baek-hyun could smell a cop from a mile away, so he took his gloves off and went to introduce himself - or rather, find out who he was. No detective - including Baek-hyun - wanted another cop to barge in on his crime scene. Especially not a cop that wore a maroon leather jacket, but he swallowed his pride and held out his hand:

“Hi, I’m detective Byun. You are..?”

“Byun,” the man echoed with a firm handshake. “I’m from the special victims unit - Kim Jong-dae.”

“Special victims? How do you know she is one?”, Baek-hyun asked, letting his ego get the best of him for a second.

“Well, isn’t she?”, Jong-dae countered. 

Jong-in walked up to see what the reason for the new guy was, and Jong-dae smiled widely and grabbed his hand. Even though he was shaking Jong-in’s hand he spoke to Baek-hyun:

“Who is this - your son, Byun?” Jong-dae turned to Jong-in and chuckled “Hey, did you follow daddy to work today, kiddo?” 

Jong-in was so taken aback by the man’s demeanour that he just looked at him. Baek-hyun’s shock wasn’t far from that either, but he managed to compose himself and chastise Jong-dae:

“This is detective Kim Jong-in, and considering he got here before we did he knows more about the scene than both of us. If you ever speak to him, or any of my men, like that again I’ll send you packing -  no matter who sent you here,” Baek-hyun said matter of factly with a cold look. Jong-dae realized he’d stepped in it and apologized to them both with a quick bow. Baek-hyun looked at Jong-in, who gave a quick nod of approval; the disagreement was over and done with. 

“So, how did you found out about our girl?”, Baek-hyun asked, his voice back to normal.

“Your boss and mine go way back, so he called in a favour.”

Jun-myeon really likes his favours, Baek-hyun thought. 

“He said you didn’t have a partner. Not one as ancient as me, I mean”, he added when he saw the eyebrow from Jong-in. “So, is it a sex crime?”

“From the bruising on her thighs I’d say yes”, Baek-hyun conceded. “The forpat hasn’t moved her yet, you can go in”, he gestured towards the tent.

“Is it Doh?” he asked while putting on his gear. “He’s the best one in town on cases like these.”

Baek-hyun was just about to answer when he saw one of the CSI guys approach with something in his hand, a bag.

“I found this behind the dumpster in the alley.” He opened it and took out an ID card “Cho Min-young, twenty-six. Matches your vic.” 

Jong-dae being the only one with gloves on took the license and looked at it: 

“Hammer Hill. That’s not far from here”, he said.

“I know”, Baek-hyun answered, deflated.

“We met her parents yesterday, they reported her missing”, Jong-in explained.

“Bloody hell. I’m sorry, guys.”

“Yeah...”, Baek-hyun looked down and shook his head “Bloody hell.”

                                                           ¤¤¤

  Talking to the man who found Min-young’s body didn’t yield much information, but that was standard; he had after all only found the body, not witnessed any part of the crime. After a bit of finagling they managed to get an officer to drive Jong-in’s car back to the precinct and they all went in Baek-hyun’s to notify Min-young’s parents. This part of the job was the toughest, but also the most important, save from solving the murder, so Baek-hyun was always on edge, and today even more so since Jong-in had never done a notification. It was a delicate balancing act; being professional but empathic; honest but not divulging too many gruesome details; confident but never promising to “catch the guy who did it”, as they always did in the movies. Jong-in didn’t do much talking, but kept his composure, which counts as passing. What really surprised Baek-hyun was Jong-dae’s demeanour. When Mrs. Cho heard the news she collapsed where she stood, only to be caught by him, both sinking down to the floor. He held her through her wailing that had quickly turned to still crying - shock - until she all but fell asleep in his embrace. With Sehun's help he managed to get her into bed and stayed with her until she was truly sleeping. Normally, this would be what Baek-hyun considered “too involved”, but when he saw how naturally Jong-dae did it he couldn’t help but to admire him. After explaining a bit about the circumstances around Min-young being found and seeing that her parents had all contact information they might need they rounded up the meeting with taking DNA swabs from them, needed in the process of elimination.

When they left Baek-hyun noticed Jong-dae had something on his mind, but he didn’t have to ask. As soon as they got in the car he turned to them and exclaimed:

“Did you feel how sweaty his hands were? It’s him!”

“If you mean Oh Sehun-”, Baek-hyun started.

“Heck yeah I mean Oh Sehun - he almost pissed his pants when he heard I was from Special Victims..!”

“Well, that might’ve been because you’re from Special Victims. That’s his best friend dead, killed, Jong-dae.”

“But we did talk about him yesterday, looked him up”, Jong-in chimed in. “You did think it was strange that he was there you said…”

“Wait, he was here yesterday as well? Come on, Byun, you know I’m right!” Jong-dae seemed to think he’d solved the case, and Jong-in seemed to nudge in the same hazardous direction, so Baek-hyun turned to Jong-in:

“Hey, I said it was unusual, but that’s hardly proof he’s done anything. You need to be careful not to jump to conclusions, it might cloud your judgement. And you...”, he looked at Jong-dae “don’t muddle the mind of my rookie here. You may be right, but we’re doing this by the book, alright?” 

“Okay, boss. By the b - speak of the devil and he shall appear”, Jong-dae said with a light in his eyes. Baek-hyun and Jong-in followed his gaze and saw Sehun turning right into the alley just next to Min-young’s building. Wasn’t he leaving the grieving parents a bit quicker than custom dictated?

“Hm...Now where are you going, Sehun?” Baek-hyun said, thinking out loud.

Jong-dae put his hand on the door handle and shot Baek-hyun a mischievous lift of his eyebrows:

“Only one way to find out”, he said, and was out of the car before Baek-hyun could stop him.

“Jong- NO!”, he hissed, but Jong-dae was already jogging in the rain to follow Sehun. Jong-in leaned forward between the seats:

“Wow... daebak..!”

Jong-dae caught up with Sehun in the middle of the alley, about to unlock his car door:

“Oh Sehun!”, he shouted. Sehun turned around with a perplexed look on his face.

“Where are you sneaking off to?”

“I’m not sneaking anywhere. I’m going to work”, Sehun retorted. “I missed my shift yesterday, so I can’t be late.”

“You must have a dragon boss if he won’t let you take the day off.” Jong-dae was pushing Sehun’s buttons to see what reaction he’d get.

“I’m a nurse, so I can’t be off for too long” he said and began to open the car door. Jong-dae moved forward to lean on it:

“I was hoping we could talk some more. You might have some valuable insight, even if you don’t know it.” 

“Well, not today. Can you please move, so I can get into my car?” Sehun was clearly agitated.

“Tomorrow?”

“Okay, tomorrow!”

“You’ll come to the station?” Jong-dae pressed.

“Yes! I’ll come to the station.”

With that Jong-dae moved away for Sehun to leave, and shouted an exaggerated “have a  great day at work” as he drove off.

Baek-hyun was not pleased when Jong-dae finally got back:

“What the hell are you doing - this is my case.”

“Sorry, boss. But sometimes you have to go with your instinct.”

“Be reckless, you mean”, Baek-hyun shot back and scowled at him.

“To be fair, you didn’t specify what book we’re going by. You can’t tell me you’re not itching to talk to this guy.”

“Of course I am, but I can’t just haul him in without good reason.”

“You won’t have to...” Jongdae smiled widely to appease Baek-hyun “he’s coming in tomorrow.” He turned to look at Jong-in “Here’s a tip, kiddo: if you apply the right kind of pressure people will do a lot of things voluntarily.” 

“I’m starting to figure out why you don’t have a partner”, Baek-hyun sighed. “Your methods-”

“...bring results”, Jong-dae filled in.

He couldn’t deny it; he’d wanted Sehun down at the station since yesterday, and now he would. He turned the key in the ignition:

“Just be careful. Alright, let’s go, Docdo called while you were gone; the autopsy’s done.”

                                                 ¤¤¤

“Have you been down here, Jong-in?”, Baek-hyun asked.

Jong-in shook his head “No. But I’ve seen her already. Is it different?”

“Some people think so, some don’t. Just try to keep calm, and listen to what Docdo says. And ask him anything you’re wondering about, okay?” He put a facemask on but halted Jong-in from doing the same “Here, put this under your nose first” he said, holding out a jar of cream. Jong-in didn’t want to appear more squeamish than his superior so he waved his hand no. 

Jong-dae reached inside his jacket pocket and took out a small jar: 

“Trust me, kiddo. This is the strongest stuff on or off the market, my wife makes it. Use it.” Jong-dae said emphatically. Seeing as they both insisted, Jong-in thought it wisest to comply, an scooped up a dab from Jong-dae’s jar to spread under his nose. It had a familiar smell...

“Cilantro..?” Jong-in asked, not really believing it.

“That’s right! If I had something nice, say ginger, I’d think of dead people every time I had dinner or tea”, Jong-dae said, managing to mix the crude with fun and logic.

When Jong-in heard Baek-hyun refer to the morgue as “the crypt” he thought it was going to be a dark room, lit with a few fluorescent greenish lights, but this wasn’t the case. It was a spacious, well lit room . A few  tables were rolled up alongside a wall, and three ones were standing in the middle of the room. Two of them had sheets over what was the unmistakable silhouettes of bodies. The end of the room was set up like an office, a long desk, filing cabinets and some shelves. Kyung-soo sat with his back against them, doing some paperwork while having a cup coffee, but turned around momentarily:

“Ah, Byun...Breaking down the door for a report, as always.” 

“Your message said you were finished with the autopsy. But if you’re not done...” Baek-hyun said, fully aware of the pride Kyung-soo took in his work.

Kyung-soo didn’t bother to answer, fully aware of the pride Baek-hyun took in poking him. “Are you working this together?” He put a pair of glasses on and followed up with gloves. “I see Byun and Kim down here all the time, but you’re a first-timer, right?” he looked at Jong-in “You’ll have to forgive me, I was all work when you introduced yourself this morning…”

“Jong-in. Kim Jong-in.”

“Ah, yes, of course, Kim Jong-in. Well, let’s hope the “in” will save you from becoming as crazy as this one” Kyung-soo said with a nod towards Jong-dae. 

“Ah wae..!” Jong-dae whined dramatically “I’m always nice to you, why do say that..!”

Baek-hyun and Jong-in hid their smiles, already understanding what Kyung-soo meant. They gathered around the farthest table, and Kyung-soo carefully removed the sheet that had been covering the body. Working homicide Baek-hyun had seen his fair share of bodies, and even attended some autopsies, but there was a difference between a Jane Doe and someone you knew, or at least knew about. Barely a day ago he’d been with her parents; they were so worried, but he was so sure she was all right. The smiling woman in the videos had been replaced by a cold, battered corpse. 

“So, this is Cho Min-young, the dental records confirmed it. I sent for them as soon as I got the name, figured you would advise her parents to wait before seeing her”, Kyung-soo said and when he saw Baek-hyun agreeing, continued:

“Manner of death: homicide, cause of death: asphyxiation-”

“But”, Jong-in interjected cautiously, making everyone look at him. “I can’t see any hand- or ligature marks on her neck.”

Kyung-soo, always patient with new detectives, beckoned Jong-in come closer and stretched out the skin on the neck:

“See here, it’s faint” he traced a reddish purple line with his finger for Jong-in to see. “She wasn’t strangled, she was suffocated. By a plastic bag or something like it, I’d say”. He continued explaining his findings to the whole group:

“And other usual signs. Petechiae..” he opened one eyelid “...even though the other eye is too bloodshot from the beating to actually see it. And as you can see, the nostrils are filled with coagulated blood” he said, angling the head slightly upward. 

“Have you been able to narrow her time of death?” Baek-hyun asked.

“I thought the stomach contents would help me, but it looks like she didn’t have dinner prior to death, and she had a smoothie for lunch. When the foods aren’t solid to begin with it’s hard to track the digestion, so I’m gonna stick with my original t.o.d.” 

Baek-hyun wasn’t surprised, it would’ve only been a matter of a few hours anyway. The injuries were their safest bet to finding the perpetrator.

“Can you start with the injuries inflicted before she died, Doc?”

“Certainly.” Kyung-soo unfolded the arm of a lamp that was fixed at the head of the table and positioned it directly above the head of the body. “As I mentioned, she has been struck in the face.” He gently turned her head so they could see her right side properly “It was a severe blow - her cheekbone is broken in three places.”

“With one hit, you’re sure?” Jong-dae asked in a cold voice.

 “One. I’m sure. That’s also the cause for the blood pooling in her eyelid and eye”, Kyung-soo continued. “This big bruise on her lower abdomen goes all the way round to her back, where there is additional bruising, perhaps from pressure. Chunhua is coming down soon, she’ll help me turn her so you can see for yourself.”

“This”, Baek-hyun said, pointing to a bruise on Min-young’s upper arm “he grabbed her, right?”

“I know you wanna get the guy, Byun, but will you let me finish?” Kyung-soo answered, clearly annoyed with all the interruptions. Baek-hyun put his hands up: 

“Sorry, Docdo.”

“Yes, Byun, that is indicative of grabbing. Ligature marks on either wrists as well as ankles, and severe bruising on both inner thighs, consistent with sexual assault. Other than that, minor scrapes and bruises attributed to general manhandling, if I may be so crude”, Kyung-soo excused himself.”And Park was here during the autopsy and collected a few things and took some samples, so you’ll hear from him too, of course.”

 The fact that Jong-dae exclusively worked these types of cases didn't mean he was jaded. On the contrary, it made him more angry and determined to put the perpetrator behind bars. And that meant knowing every detail, no matter how gruesome:

“And the assault itself? What’d he do?”

“Well, that-” Kyung-soo began, but he was interrupted by the doors opening. “Good, Chunhua. Help me turn the body around. I’ll do the back first, Kim”.

                                                        ¤¤¤

  After Kyung-soo had finished up the briefing none of them felt like going out for lunch; they wanted to keep working, so they sat down in one of the offices at the precinct with sandwiches and lots of coffee to discuss the case. Jun-myeon hadn’t gotten a report from Baek-hyun yet, so he paid them a visit.

“Here you are - the three musketeers”, he said.

Here he goes again, with his dad jokes, Baek-hyun sighed inwardly. Jong-dae, not having been formally introduced took Jun-myeon’s hand:

“That must make you D’artagnan” he said and put his hand on Jun-myeon’s shoulder. “Come, sit down, have a sandwich.”

 Jun-myeon, delighted with Jong-dae’s response smiled widely, turning his eyes to small crescents. Baek-hyun rolled his eyes - who is this guy..! 

“Ah, no I can’t, I have a call coming in. I just came in to see where we are, since Byun here”, he stopped to give him a meaning look “never checks in with me.”

“That’s an unfair characterization..! I just don’t have a lot to update you on. We might get some meat on the case when Park comes back with the lab work...Mr. Boss-nim”, Baek-hyun added, with a exaggeratedly slow bow.

“This guy...” Jun-myeon pretended to not be affected, but everyone could see how he fought to kill a smile. “Oh, that reminds me”, he said, turning to Jong-in “Doh said you did well in the Crypt”. It made Jong-in flush:

“Oh... Thank you, boss-nim” he said.

“You asked good questions, and kept your head cool during the whole thing, he said. Good, Jong-in. Byun, Jong-dae”, he nodded, and left the detectives to continue.

“He’s right, you did good. Not all first-timers manages to get through a whole briefing”, Baek-hyun commended.

“And a tough one like that”, Jong-dae agreed. He got a twinkle in his eye and asked Baek-hyun “What about putting him on Sehun tomorrow?”

Jong-in was surprised to say the least:

“Me? But if he’s our best suspect…” his voice faded - then he got the same twinkle as Jong-dae “He’s already scared of you, but he’ll think it’s just a routine hearing if I do it. He’ll be relaxed.”

“Exactly..!”, Jong-dae said banging the table. “What d’you think, boss?”

“Stealth on Sehun..? I like it. You up for it, Jong-in?”, Baek-hyun asked.

Whether he was or not, he wasn’t about to rebuff this show of trust from both Baek-hyun and Jong-dae, so there was only one correct answer:

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Great, then it’s decided”, Baek-hyun clapped his hands together and got up. “And Jong-dae: I am not the boss.”

                                                    ¤¤¤

  “Go by the Traffic office first, see if you can get them to shake a leg. With any luck we’ll get the CCTV by the end of the day. But call the security chief at the Gigamex on your way, so he has the video footage ready when you get there”, Baek-hyun instructed Jong-in and Jong-dae. After they left he sat down with the phone list from Min-young’s cell provider to see if there was anything that stood out, as well as taking a look at her debit card statement, to look for any suspicious activity. The only thing he could find was an unknown number, but there was no answer when he tried it. He gave it to one of the officers and asked him to keep trying. 

Being eager for information to work with, he went across the yard of the precinct, to the the forensics lab - not forgetting to stop by their cafe before going in. Chan-yeol was hunched over a microscope when Baek-hyun got there.

“Hey, dorkatron!” he called out, giving Chan-yeol a jolt. He turned around laughing:

“And if it wasn’t for me, hmm?” He eyed the paper mug in Baek-hyun’s hand. “I can smell the hazelnut. That means you didn’t come here because you missed me-”

“I always miss you, Park..!” Baek-hyun exclaimed.

“-but because you want to hassle me about results. I’ll take the coffee, but I don’t have a lot to give you yet, Byun. Come on, give it here ”, Chan-yeol finished. 

Baek-hyun sat down on a swivel chair next to him:

“Is this my case” he said pointing to the microscope.

“No, it’s Won-sik’s.”

“Won-sik’s? But he’s a jerk..! Come on, Park, do mine first. At least the DNA comparison on the hair”, Baek-hyun pleaded.

Chan-yeol crossed his arms and got a serious look on his face:

“Here’s the thing, Byun. You have a case, Won-sik has a case, everybody at the station has a case. And these...” he slammed his palm on a big stack of files “...become my cases.�� Baek-hyun knew Chan-yeol was right; he wasn’t the only one with a murder to solve, so he softened his tune:

“I know, I’m sorry. I just...You should’ve seen her, Park... But do you have anything?”

“I did, in the Crypt. That’s why I put an ASAP- marker on the DNA as soon as I got it. And also…” he opened a folder and handed Baek-hyun a paper “...there was asbestos and vermillion in her hair. Both have been banned for at least thirty years.”

“Yeah, but there’s gotta be hundreds, if not thousands of buildings left with asbestos in the city.”

“No, Byun. Asbestos and vermillion. On this side of town there are only four neighbourhoods left - and even they have largely been torn down or condemned. So if you know what you’re looking for…”, Chan-yeol said, and saw the fire light up in Baek-hyun’s eyes:

“...I’ll find it.” He grabbed Chan-yeol’s head and planted a victorious kiss on his forehead:

“Park Chan-yeol: you’re a fucking rockstar” he exclaimed and hurried off.

                                                     ¤¤¤

  Baek-hyun walked in to Jun-myeon’s office without bothering to knock:

“You wanted something - I have something. Asbestos,” he said triumphantly. 

Jun-myeon looked at Baek-hyun with pursed lips.

“Park found trace in her hair. Apparently it can only have come from four different areas on our side. You have to get some officers to check them out.”

“I don’t have any officers to give you, Byun. Not if this is all you have - or have you gotten a hit on the DNA?” Jun-myeon asked.

“No, but we’re wasting time-”

“You have no DNA, no actual suspect; you don’t know how many building there are; or if it’s even from our part of town, correct?” Jun-myeon didn’t wait for a reply “I’m not sending my officers out to look for something” he said, gesturing bunny ears on the last word. Baek-hyun glared at Jun-myeon.

“Then I’ll go myself. You can’t stop me” he said defiantly. 

“Yes I can, I’m your boss.” Jun-myeon rarely pulled rank, but times like these - when Baek-hyun was up to his antics - he would. He walked up and put his arm around his shoulder, and steered him towards the door:

“Byun...You have to give me something more, or at least wait until tomorrow. Look, the Jong’s are back. Go see what they’ve got, alright?” 

Baek-hyun clenched his his jaw, not pleased with Jun-myeon’s decision, but did as he was told. 

“Wow - who took the last cookie?” Jong-dae exclaimed, referring to the look on Baek-hyun’s face. Baek-hyun quickly went over what had happened, in part hoping they would back him up.

“Your boss is right, Byun. He can’t send out officers on a goose chase like that”, Jong-dae agreed.

“Hey, you’re supposed to back me up here” Baek-hyun retorted.

“Maybe it’s better to wait for the results” Jong-in said tentatively. “We have a lot of video to  go through anyway. And what about the phone list?”

Baek-hyun eased-up a bit, there wasn’t anything to do about it anyway.

“I guess you’re right... “ he sighed. “There wasn’t anything noteworthy. Not on the debit card either. Come on, let’s see if there’s anything interesting on the footage.”

  There hadn’t been much to see on the footage except for Min-young leaving her apartment around 17.30, which definitely placed her death after that. But they did note that she turned the corner down the alley, just as Sehun had done earlier in the day. Could it have been that he was waiting for her? Jong-dae had almost been in ecstasy by the prospect, and tried to get in on the first interview with him, but Baek-hyun wouldn’t hear it. And rightly so; they still had as little on him as before. They had called it a day at eight thirty, and Jong-in had offered Jong-dae a ride home.

“Hey, I’m sorry for trying to take Sehun from you. I got a bit overheated”, Jong-dae apologized in the car. Jong-in waved his hand:

“Don’t even think about it.”

“It wasn’t fair on my part - you need the experience. But think about it: we don’t know what was said during that call. He could’ve told her he was waiting. Right?”

“I know. But I kinda hope it’s not him. Left turn after the crossing..?” 

“Yeah, house at the far end. Why don’t you want it to be him?”

“Because…I don’t want her to have had a friend like that, you know. A friend that would kill her”, Jong-in explained.

“Don’t I know it” Jong-dae sighed “I’m about to give my son the third degree about what he did at daycare today” he laughed.

“You have a son?” 

“Yeah, Min-jun. He’s three. You?” 

“Daughter, eight months. Yong-sun” Jong-in replied, shining proudly.

“Wow, rookie detective and rookie dad..!” Jong-dae said getting out of the car, but turned around and hunched down to look at Jong-in:

“You don’t mind me calling you kiddo, right?”

Jong-in let out a chuckle, happy that he asked

“No, it’s fine. Too many Kim’s and Jong’s anyway.”

“Okay, kiddo. Great work today, see ya tomorrow.”

After their shaky start things had really taken a turn for the better, which put Jong-in in a very good mood, considering the circumstances. So much so, in fact, that he made a quick stop to pick up a bouquet of flowers for his girlfriend - a gesture highly appreciated, if seldom occurring. 

“What are these for?” Hye-jin asked surprised when he handed over the flowers.

Jong-in put his blazer over the couch and sat down:

“Love”, he said. “Come here, sit with me awhile, Jin.”

Hye-jin sat down next to him and brushed his hair from his face:

“Good day or bad day?” she asked and leaned into his embrace.

“Bad day and good day.” He kissed her on the forehead “I’m glad to be home.”

They stayed like that for a while, Jong-in finding some comfort in the mundane. But the days events still played in his mind:

“ I want to look in on Yong-sun”, he said and got up.

“Okay, but if you wake it…”

“...you buy it”, he finished. They’d started saying that the moment Yong-sun came home from the hospital, as they both kept going in to the nursery to watch her sleep. “I’ll just be a minute, promise.” He opened the door to her room, tiptoed to her crib and sat down in a lotus position. The night light they had fixed in a socket by the floor gave off just enough light for Jong-in to discern the little girl’s face. He gently held her hand with his index finger and thumb:

“Don’t grow up too fast”, he whispered.

APRIL 19th

  Baek-hyun had been too fidgety to have a relaxed morning, so he’d decided to go in early and write down a few notes for Jong-in’s interview with Sehun, just in case. He would’ve liked to visit Chan-yeol in the lab, hoping for a hail Mary, but he knew his routine: in late - out late. As he approached his desk he saw a file lying there with a note “I am a fucking rockstar PS. Second swab pending”. He couldn’t skim through the text fast enough to find what he was looking for; his eyes darted left to right as his mouth moved almost inaudibly:

“Hair sample, donor, degree of certainty... Oh Sehun.” His eyes widened. There it was. Sehun’s DNA was a match for the hair that was found on Min-young’s body. He rushed to Jun-myeon’s office, but was met by a locked door.

“Damn it!” Baek-hyun looked at his watch; Jun-myeon wouldn’t be in for at least another forty-five minutes. He hauled up his phone and called Jong-in.

“Hey, where are you? You picking up Jong-dae?”

“I just did, we’re on our way.”

“Okay, good. Hurry up.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Something big. I’ll tell you when you get here.”

  While waiting for Jong-in and Jong-dae Baek-hyun scrolled through his phone list to figure out which judge would be up at this hour, and who was the better option to grant a warrant. He decided on judge Chang. He had a soft spot for Baek-hyun and a cold heart for these types of murders. After roughly explaining the case Chang agreed to sign the warrant when he got to the office two hours later. As he wrapped up the call his partners came in and he signed for them to sit down.

“That was judge Chang. He’s gonna sign a warrant for us in a couple of hours.”

Jong-in and Jong-dae looked puzzled.

“A warrant for what?”, Jong-dae asked.

Baek-hyun put the paper on the desk in front of them:

“Your golden boy, Jong-dae. We’re searching his apartment and his car.”

Jong-dae got up so suddenly that his chair fell over with a loud bang:

“What! What did we mi-”

“His DNA is a match!”, Jong-in burst out, answering Jong-dae’s question.

Jong-dae snagged the paper from Jong-in’s hands and speedily read through it.

“See, I knew it..!”

Seeing Jong-dae so excited reminded Baek-hyun to not get ahead of himself, there was still a lot of investigating to do.

“But now we really need to do this by the book. The police book”, he emphasized. “There are a lot of pieces we need to fit together to make a case.”

To his relief Jong-dae was on the same page:

“Trust me, Baek-hyun, I’m not doing anything to jeopardize it. I always make sure my findings hold up in court.”

“Am I still doing the interview with him?” Jong-in asked, afraid of being pushed aside, but also afraid of being put in such a crucial situation. “‘Cus it’s not an interview anymore - it’s an interrogation.”

“I think you should”, Jong-dae answered and looked to Baek-hyun.

“Me too. The question is how you do it, now that the playing field has changed...”

“Why don’t I do it like we said? Sure, we’re gonna have to tell him about the warrant when it comes in, but up until then...And maybe I make it seem like Jong-dae was the driving force..?”

Jong-dae let out a laugh and agreed:

“Yes, this is how he should do it. And when results for the second swab comes in we’ll nail him to the wall.”

“That could work. Let me mull it over in my head a bit, decide when he gets here. In the meantime, the two of you outline a few routes. I’m gonna see if I can get a hold of geo mapping for Sehun’s phone for these past days.”

  Even though time seemed to go exceedingly slow the clock eventually struck nine, and an officer told Baek-hyun that Sehun was waiting in the foyer. He asked her to escort him to one of the interrogation rooms, hoping to gauge his state of mind as he passed by, but it was he who was in for a surprise. Walking beside him, with him, was another man.

“He brought a lawyer?” Jong-in was clearly also surprised.

“And not just any lawyer”, Baek-hyun sighed.

“That’s Kim Min-seok”, Jong-dae filled in. “Where the hell does a nurse get that kind of money?”

“Kim Min-seok - isn’t he the mob lawyer?” Jong-in asked with big eyes.

“Alleged”, Jong-dae scoffed, quoting one of Min-seok’s famous taglines. “Alleged mob lawyer.”

“Someone must’ve leaked the warrant.” Baek-hyun ran his fingers through his hair and sat on the desk.”Fuck… I’m sorry Jong-in, but I’m gonna have to do this one. And I want Dae on second chair. I hate to push you out, but Min-seok doesn’t mess around.” 

Jong-in was disappointed, but knew he wasn’t ready to go up against one of Seoul’s most infamous defence lawyers, and focused on what else he could do to help.

“I think it’s better if you guys do it, if even half of what I’ve heard about him is true. What can I do in the meantime?”

“I want you to dig up everything you can on Sehun. His friends, his family, co-workers. Everything. I wanna know how such a “nice guy” knows Kim Min-seok. If you find anything, come tell us.” He turned to Jong-dae “Alright, let’s get ready to rumble.”

Baek-hyun and Jong-dae had barely entered the room before Min-seok started:

“Wow, detective Byun and detective Kim..! Double the hot shots, double the holes in your case?”, he smacked his lips and smirked.

Jong-dae let out a fake laugh and shot back:

“I didn’t expect to see the Tissue Fairy today. I guess we’ve put all your usual clients behind bars.”

The Tissue Fairy was a name he’d earned with the police and district attorneys office for his over-the-top portrayal of his defendants. He would take a stone cold killer and make believe that they were falsely accused, innocent, normal hard working guys; and he was always ready to lend them a tissue when they started tearing up.

Min-seok didn’t acknowledge the comment and proceeded:

“Let’s get started, so we can wrap this up, give Mr. Oh the chance to get home before the mongrels destroy his apartment.”

“Out of curiosity...”, Baek-hyun said, leaning back with folded arms “...how do you know Min-seok?”

“Some of his friends know some of my friends”, Min-seok replied with a smug smile. 

“Yeah? Who are your friends, Sehun?”, he asked cooly, trying not to grind his teeth.

“Don’t answer that.”

“Come on, Sehun, it��s a simple question”, Jong-dae chimed in.

“Isn’t everything simple with you, detective Kim? Everyone is a criminal.”

“Criminals are criminals.”

Baek-hyun had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before Jong-dae flew across the table to put Min-seok in a chokehold, so he shifted the focus.

“We wanted you to come down here to tell us what happened the last time you spoke with Min-young.”

“I already told you what happened, that’s what happened, I swear..!” Sehun’s outburst caught him off-guard, but this wasn’t the first time he’d seen a heartfelt performance in this room.

“Mm-hmm, I know. But tell us again, and this time include this part”, he said, sliding a copy of the DNA result over the table.

Min-seok only had to glance at it to see what it was, and where to read the result. He waved the paper in the air, while a bewildered Sehun craned his neck trying to read it.

“A hair? Oh, please, my great grandmother could have this deemed inadmissible from her grave...”

“I didn’t know the Devil’s spawn had great grandmothers.” Jong-dae couldn’t help himself saying. 

“You might wanna explain to your client what’s going on”, Baek-hyun nodded in Sehun’s direction. 

Min-seok lazily turned his head to Sehun:

“They’ve found your DNA, a hair, on her body.”

Sehun’s brows almost hit the roof as he exclaimed:

“Mine..!?”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Min-seok had a strange way of making it seem like it really was nothing. “You were best friends, of course your hair was around her. Her hair is probably all over your apartment too, right?”

Sehun nodded, a bit calmer, but Baek-hyun could tell his mind was still racing. He would never admit to it in front of Min-seok, but the thought had crossed his mind as well - transfer evidence was a tricky thing.

“We’ll know soon enough, won’t we?”, Baek-hyun said, referring to the search warrant. “But in the meantime...tell us the story.”

                                              ¤¤¤

  Jong-in thought he might have found something interesting: Sehun’s older brother had studied law, but never finished. Could it be that he and Min-seok had gone to school together? Jong-in wasn’t sure if he was reaching, and didn’t get the chance to find out. He heard a man loudly complain:

“Why is Byun always on my case about his case, but when I try to say something he pretends I don’t exist?”

Jong-in figured this must be Park Chan-yeol, so he put his hand up:

“He’s in the interrogation room with Jong-dae, but I’m on the case too. Did you... are those the results from the fingernails?” he said hurriedly, pointing to a file in Chan-yeol’s hand.

“Yeah, we got a match...”, Chan-yeol handed the file over “but it’s not Oh Sehun.”

“What? Who, then?”  

“I don’t know. The DNA matches an unsolved sexual assault case from five years ago, in the Blue Meadow area.”

“Blue Meadow, Blue Meadow...why do I recognize that..?” he said to himself.

“Byun told you yesterday, no? It’s one of the areas they still have asbestos.”

Jong-in practically threw Chan-yeol on the floor to get to a computer, and started typing and clicking as if possessed. Chan-yeol looked over Jong-in’s shoulder to follow along.

“Here! It’s gotta be, right?” He turned to Chan-yeol.

“He’s definitely worth checking out,” Chan-yeol agreed. “I’d bet on him before Oh Sehun.”

Jong-in tore the paper out of the printer and darted down the hallway towards the interrogation room.

                                         ¤¤¤

  “You’re a good looking guy, Sehun. Maybe you thought you’d try your luck, maybe things didn’t go your way, got out of hand, may-”

Jong-dae was interrupted by the door being pushed open to reveal a wild-eyed Jong-in urging them to come outside. There was no question about the urgency of his matter, so Baek-hyun halted the interview and they went out to confer in the corridor.

“What’d you find?”

“It’s not him!”

Baek-hyun thought Jong-in would help the case, not turn it on it’s end.

“What do you mean it’s not him, what’d you find..?”

Jong-in had to catch his breath and continued to explain:

“Park came by. The DNA under Min-young’s fingernails matched an old case from Blue Meadow.”

“The Meadow? That’s-”

“The transfer evidence, yeah”, Jong-in cut him off. “A woman reported a man trying to rape her.”

“Did Park run the second test directly against Sehun’s DNA? Couldn’t it be him as well, the old case?”, Jong-dae had to make sure, since he had been so sure.   

“He ran it”, Baek-hyun answered. “Park doesn’t miss anything.”

“Maybe there’s two of them, working together..?”

“Can’t be...I’ve done a cursory background check on him, he was enlisted. That’s the one thing we can be sure of: that he has nothing to do with that case. Maybe not this one either.”

“Damn it!”, Jong-dae shouted and kicked the wall.

“Exactly. More than exactly”, Jong-in said, getting curious greedy looks from both Baek-hyun and Jong-dae. 

“Well, since a lot of perpetrators commit their crimes close to home I checked out the  residents of the old houses; there are only nine of them. Most of them belong to older couples, some are vacant, but one is registered to a elderly couple named Lee -”

“You said that already, old houses and old people”, Baek-hyun interjected.

“- who died seven years ago and was survived by their son.”

Jong-dae perked up immediately when he heard this, like a bloodhound. 

“I couldn’t find any other address, nothing online, nothing of anything except for a high-school photo.”

“A ghost”, Baek-hyun said under his breath.“Did you get his full name at least?”

“Yes”, Jong-in nodded. “It’s Soo-man. Lee Soo-man.”

                                             ¤¤¤

“Jong-dae, wrap up the interview with Sehun - ask him about Lee - then cut him loose, I need to talk to Jun-myeon and call Chang again. Actually, Jong-in, you can go in as well, see what it’s like.”

Jong-in felt a twang of excitement; he’d get to see the infamous lawyer up-close, yet at a safe distance.

“But we’re still searching his apartment, right?”

“Yeah. Like Jong-dae said, we can’t rule out a pair working together. Give me the print-out, I’ve gotta run now.”

On his was to Jun-myeon’s office Baek-hyun managed to get a hold of Chang.

“You want me to sign another warrant, for another prime suspect in the same case? I know I’m regarded as one of the easy judges, but I can’t give out warrants like it’s free candy, Byun.”

“I know, judge. But aren’t you always going on about the importance of a strong case, substantial evidence? This is it. I need that warrant, I’m begging you.” Baek-hyun waited and said a little prayer to whatever gods might be listening in.

“Okay, Byun, I’ll sign it right away. But I don’t want to see your name on my display again.”

“Yes! Thank you, judge. Thank you.”

By the time he hung up he was in Jun-myeon’s office.

“You wanted something more, it’s not Sehun, it’s Lee Soo-man, he lives there, now give me my guys”, he blurted out to a confused Jun-myeon.

“Slow down, Byun.”

“Park got a hit on the second test, it’s an unknown, but strongly suggests Lee Soo-man. Jong-in found him while going through the areas I wanted to search yesterday” he said and showed Jun-myeon Jong-in’s print-out. “If you don’t give me the guns I’ll go myself. The Jong’s too.”

He scanned through it:

“Solid?”

“We’ve gone in over less, boss.”

“Okay, I’ll call them right away.”

“Tell them to shake a leg, we’re heading over as soon as the Jong’s are done with Sehun.” He headed for the door but stopped and turned around. “And I think I’ll keep Jong-in as my partner. After this, I mean.”

Baek-hyun hadn’t had a real partner since his first one retired eighteen months ago. At first Jun-myeon had tried to match him with other guys, but it had never worked out due to  Baek-hyun’s insistence on finding “the one true partner”. So when he now hinted he may have, Jun-myeon didn’t say anything, just pursed his lips in acknowledgement.   

  As Jong-in and Jong-dae hadn’t finished yet, Baek-hyun read through the reports of Chan-yeol and Doh, taking note of things that might correlate with the house of Soo-man, if that was where he had kept and killed Min-young. 

“...yeah, he’s a real prick.”

Baek-hyun looked up to see Jong-dae make a face of disgust while speaking with Jong-in. He couldn’t help but smile, knowing that post-Min-seok feeling all to well. He got up and clapped his hands together:

“Is Sehun done and dusted? Anything about Lee?” 

Jong-dae shrugged his shoulders:

“Says he doesn’t know him, and for once I believe the guy.”

“ ‘Key. We’ll see if the search proves otherwise”, Baek-hyun clapped his hands together and continued “Time to BP, Tactical is meeting us in Blue Meadow.”

“BP?”, Jong-in looked bewildered. 

“Bulletproof. Put on your vest.”

The energy in the room changed when they brought out the vests, as it always did. It was a solemn sense of seriousness - and it was added on by Jun-myeon who always came out to see his men off. 

“Ah, the musketeers” he sighed, trying to keep it light. “Jong-in. This is probably the only time I will say this: do exactly what Byun tells you to do.”

Neither of them could contain their laughter, not even Baek-hyun through his feigned indignation.

“Alright, alright, guys. Just look out for each other so we all get to have dinner tonight.”

“I know. We’ll have dinner, boss”, Baek-hyun replied as usual. 

                                       ¤¤¤

  Driving up to the neighbourhood they saw the police had cordoned off the whole street, and curious neighbours standing just outside or on their balconies trying to see what was going on. On their drive there Baek-hyun thought he’d noticed a shift in Jong-dae’s mood. One more palpable than the usual silence that often came before live action.

“Hey, Jong-dae, you okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure, I’m fine. Pre bust-down-the-door- jitters is all” he assured Baek-hyun with a smile.

“Jong-in?”

“Honestly, I’m a little nervous.”

“Nervous is good. It means you know it’s a big deal. Just remember what Jun-myeon said; do  what I tell you to do.”

They got out of the car and walked to one of the busses parked about thirty meters from the house. The activity in and around it made it clear that this was the makeshift command center, where the man in charge was, as well as the eyes and ears on the Lee house. Baek-hyun caught the attention of one of the men who greeted them with half a smile:

“Long time no see, Byun.”

“If it would only stay that way, ey? Jong-in, this is the group leader, Zhang Yixing. Yixing, my new partner, detective Kim Jong-in.”

Yixing shook Jong-in’s hand with one firm press

“You new decs get younger each time around.”

“Don’t say anything about his age.”

Yixing chuckled:

“Oh, I see. You did, Jong-dae.”

“Shh. Let’s focus on our job, shall we?”

“Let’s”, Baek-hyun agreed. “Any activity? It’s the green one up there, right?”

“Exactly. Here’s the floor plan” Yixing said and zoomed in on a picture on the tablet he was holding. “We haven’t seen or heard anything yet, but we’ve only been here fifteen minutes. Thermal imaging showed up nothing, so I’m pretty certain your guy isn’t there. We’re ready to go in on your cue, Byun.” 

“Alright, let’s do it.”

With that Yixing wolf-whistled and made a couple of hand signs, letting his men know it was time to approach the door of Soo-man’s house. Baek-hyun, Jong-in and Jong-dae stood closely behind them with guns drawn, hearts beating fast. Yixing counted down from three with his fingers. When he reached zero one of the men put a hydraulic door ram on the lock and blew it out. The door flew open and Yixing’s nine man crew entered the house, going through all the rooms as they yelled Soo-man’s name. Baek-hyun had stayed back for a couple of seconds but now turned to Jong-in and Jong-dae:

“Okay, let’s go.”

The inside of the house was dark with curtains drawn shut, and flashlights only did so much, but having seen the layout of the house beforehand abled Baek-hyun to move through it with relative speed. As he heard the last “clear” being called out from upstairs he lowered his gun and looked around more closely; the rooms were made up of heavy wooden furniture, chintz  and porcelain figurines. 

 “I doubt Soo-man’s the interior designer.”, Jong-dae smirked “It’s like a time capsule in here..!”

“I wonder if he even lives here…”

“I think so”, they heard Jong-in say from the kitchen. “There are plates in the sink, no more than two days old.” He opened the fridge. “And food in here.”

Baek-hyun joined him in the kitchen to look around, but something else immediately caught his eye: the kitchen window faced the backyard and in it stood a shed.

“Hey, Zhang!” he yelled out, without taking his eyes off the shed. “Yixing!”

Yixing entered with one of his men.

“The shed”, Baek-hyun said and pointed out the window.

Yixing peered out then turned to his man:

“Take Archer and Chow.”

The man nodded and before long Baek-hyun watched from the kitchen as they entered the shed. One of them came out with his thumb up - it was empty. They all breathed a sigh of relief and Baek-hyun was quick to lighten the mood:

“Now, if there aren’t any dog houses you’ve missed-”

“My apologies,” Yixing interrupted him “but you can’t see the back yard from the street, and there wasn’t any structure on the floor plan. You saw-”

“How old is that?” Baek-hyun asked, suddenly on high alert.

“It was updated three years ago.”

“Jong-in, when did his parents die?”

“I don’t remember the exact date, but long before that. More than three years ago.”

“So his parents die and he decides to build a shed?” Baek-hyun mused.

“I’ll tell the handler to bring the cad. dog round back”, Jong-dae said, following Baek-hyun’s train of thought, and went outside.

“Not that I don’t appreciate your team’s work, but...could you maybe get your guys out of here? They’re not exactly delicate when it comes to crime scene preservation…”

Yixing laughed and wolf-whistled again:

“What do you think the real scene investigators say about you?”

“Ya..! Get outta here!”

They said their goodbyes and Yixing followed his men out.

  Waiting on the terrace in the backyard Baek-hyun took note of the surroundings; the dilapidated lawn, which matched the house, was surrounded by high trees on two sides and a wooden fence on his left-hand side. Soo-man would’ve had almost complete privacy out here, he thought to himself.

“It’s really dark out here. Especially with these gray clouds.”

“Mhmm, I was thinking that too, Jong-in. Let’s step back, give Toben room to work”, Baek-hyun said gesturing to the dog and his handler coming out with Jong-dae in tow. Jong-dae had already explained the situation with the shed, so Toben’s handler carefully suggested the direction to Toben, and Jong-dae joined Baek-hyun and Jong-in.

“I talked to Park, he’s coming down.”

Not a minute later the handler popped his head out of the door and nodded to Baek-hyun who immediately went over. Toben was sitting in the middle of the room with a bright expression, meaning he’d found something. Or rather, smelled something. Baek-hyun couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary from where he was standing, but he didn’t want to get too close at the risk of contamination:

“What do you think?”, he asked.

“Well, usually when Toben hits on places like these it means someone’s cleaned up good - but not perfect. The floor’s concrete, so it’s porous…”

“Blood might’ve permeated it. So Forensics has to cut out a chunk of it to test it?”

“Yeah, that’s usually what they do.”

“Good odds?”

“Toben hits on blood etcetera. Period. He doesn’t tell me if it’s a drop or a drizzle.”

Baek-hyun chuckled. He knew it’d be the lab’s job to figure that out.

“Okay. But thanks, good job.”

Still not going any closer he looked around after Toben and his handler went outside. For all intents and purposes it was just an ordinary shed; a table, some tools hanging on the wall, a couple of tires in the corner.

“A car…”, Baek-hyun mumbled to himself.

“BYUN..!” It was Jong-dae. “You better come out here!”

Baek-hyun was jolted from his pondering and went out to see both Jong-dae and Jong-in staring at him.

“What?” 

They didn’t have to say anything. Scanning the backyard told him precisely what; there in the corner, right up by the trees sat Toben with that bright expression.

#exo fanfic #baekhyun crime story #jongin crime story #jongdae crime story