They made their way up to their room in silence.

“It’s a nice hotel.” Eric said. Hyesung was still annoyed and didn’t pay much attention to whether it was a particular quality hotel or not.

They arrived at their room. It was very modern and clean.

“At least the bed is pretty big.” Eric commented.

Hyesung looked at the bed feeling defeated. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” He mumbled.

“Don’t be stupid. It’s only for a few hours, I promise I don’t bite.” Eric smiled.

“What about the case?” Hyesung muttered then.

“The guys in headquarters will have to handle it for the time being, there’s nothing we can do about it.” Eric reasoned. He was right, Hyesung thought, why does he keep being right?

Hyesung put his bag down on the bed and began to look for his tooth brush.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for my toothbrush.” Hyesung frowned, what else would he be doing?

“Are you going to bed now? It’s not even 10.”

“Well… I’m-” he hesitated.

“Come on, let’s go to the bar. I could use a drink.” Eric said before walking to the door.

“I think I’ll just stay here thanks.”

“No, you need a drink too. It’s been a stressful night.” And he practically dragged him out the door.

***

The hotel bar was quite busy, obviously doing well from number of cancellations. Eric told Hyesung to go find a table while he got the drinks. Hyesung found a small table in the corner. He sat down and watched as Eric tried to get the bartenders attention. Who was this guy? He suddenly thought. He met him yesterday, so why did he feel like he’d known him for years?

“Here you are.” Eric finally came over with their drinks. “Are you hungry or anything?”

Hyesung shook his head before taking a sip of his drink. He suddenly felt awkward; the realisation that he didn’t know this man but had to share a bed with him was dawning on him. A silence developed between them.

“So is the team at headquarters looking into the names?” Eric broke the silence.

“Yeah, they are.” Hyesung replied. Silence again. He took another sip of his drink.

***

Now half way through their second drinks, conversation had finally started. The alcohol was taking effect and they were both feeling relaxed. They talked about small stuff like how many siblings the other had; how long they had worked in the police force and where they grew up etc. What was strange was easy they found talking to each other now that they started.

“So,” Hyesung began “Why did you transfer to my station?”, taking a genuine interest in the other man. Eric pondered the question for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to respond. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer.” Hyesung quickly said.

“No it’s okay.” Eric took a sip of his drink before continuing. “It was my choice. A while ago I found something I shouldn’t have found. I took it to my Super’ but he didn’t want to know about it.”

“.” Hyesung muttered.

“Yeah, well then came bribes. After refusing bribes came threats and blackmail. I wasn’t allowed to move without them threatening me or my family. I was only a kid; I couldn’t do anything. Finally, after years, someone else found something too, someone who could do something about it. The corruption was under covered and everything, I could’ve stayed but I didn’t want to.” Eric smiled sadly then.

“What about your family?” Hyesung asked.

“I didn’t want to tell them; it would’ve hurt them too much. They think I got promoted.”

Hyesung could sense the bad memories coming back to Eric.

“You’ve made a new start now.” Hyesung tried to comfort him, suddenly feeling guilty about the way he had treated him when they first met. How could this guy seem so energetic after being through that?

“What about you? Why were you left sad and partner-less?” Eric asked, taking Hyesung by surprise. He hesitated, he hadn’t spoken to anyone apart from the Super’ about it, and that was only in formal terms. Eric noticed the awkwardness. “Sorry, did he pass away?”

Hyesung shook his head. “No, he left.” He took a big gulp of his drink, wincing slightly. “We were in the middle of a case, and we had to go to this scumbag’s house. His was a dealer, but really small time, mostly he just acted as an informant for the police so we didn’t think it would be dangerous. We arrived and sat down to ask him come questions and suddenly the guy loses it.”

Eric frowned.

“He suddenly grabbed a baseball bat hit me over the head, hard. So what did my partner do? He ran away leaving me in that guys’ house alone. Turns out the scumbag was just having a bad trip or something. Soon after he hit me he had called an ambulance. I was in hospital for a week. My partner never came to see me once, in fact during that time he applied to be transferred. I haven’t seen him since that day.”

“What an arsehole.” Eric commented.

“I would have risked my life for him but he left me in the most ing petty situation.”

“Wasn’t he sanctioned? That should have got him sacked.” Eric frowned.

Hyesung shrugged, seemingly deep in thought. Eric watched him, seeing the pain in his face. He still wasn’t over it. Your partner is supposed to have your back no matter what, the person you trust most in the world. To have that trust betrayed is devastating.

“I was in love with him.” Hyesung blurted out. Eric regarded him with sympathetic but curious eyes.

“Did he know?” he asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Hyesung shrugged before downing the remains of his drink. “D’you want another drink?” He asked, standing up.

“I’m fine thanks.” Eric replied.

“How long were you two partners for?” Eric asked when he had come back to the table.

“8 years.”

“But you can’t have loved him for all 8 years?” Eric leaned towards Hyesung. Hyesung was now definitely tipsy.

“Yes I did. From the moment I saw him.”

“Wow.” Eric muttered. “He must’ve been hot.”

“You have no idea.” Hyesung mumbled, dreamily. It so felt good to be talking about this, after locking his feelings away inside him for so long. “I wanted him so badly. I had to stop myself fantasising about having him while he was around. It was especially bad around the three-year mark, oh my god.” Hyesung ran his fingers through his hair.

“Fantasies huh?” Eric questioned, leaning in slightly closer to the other man.

“Yep.” Hyesung laughed, now that he’d started he wanted to tell everything. “Shall I tell you my fantasies?”

Eric shrugged, trying to act nonchalant.

“I’d be working late,” Hyesung began anyway “all by myself in the office and then he’d arrive with food and wine, because he was worried I was working too hard. So we’d drink and eat and suddenly he’d kiss me and tell me that he loved me, then we’d on the desk.” Hyesung whispered the last bit but was giggling the whole time, a blush creeping over his cheeks.

“That’s really romantic.” Eric joked, now leaning back, not believing what he was hearing. He liked tipsy Hyesung much better than sober DS Shin.

“Wow I’m being so embarrassing.” Hyesung put his face in his hands.

“Cute.” Eric said quietly, looking at Hyesung, but perhaps he wasn’t as quiet as he thought. Hyesung looked up at him. Their eyes connected. Silence. What was that look in his eyes? It looked like want. Hyesung began to bite his lip hesitantly as he looked at Eric. Eric swallowed dryly.

“Falling in love with my partner was the biggest mistake of my life.” Hyesung said, not breaking eye contact.

“Nothing good ever comes of getting involved with your partner.” Eric downed his drink and stood up, only breaking eye contact when he turned around. Hyesung got up to follow him.

They waited outside the elevator in silence. Finally, it arrived. People got out; they got in. Only them. Hyesung got in first, then Eric who stood right beside him. So close. He could feel his heartbeat start to accelerate. He glanced at Eric. Wow, had his face always looked like that; so…so… defined.

The doors of the elevator closed. 2 seconds. Hyesung pushed Eric and pinned him to the wall. Eric’s eyes widen in surprise. Kiss. And then he was kissing his mouth. Eric froze for a moment before kissing him back. He put an arm around Hyesung’s waist and Hyesung threaded a hand through his hair to pull him closer. . Soon the kiss deepened as Hyesung ran his tongue over Eric’s lips, wanting access. Just as Eric gave permission the elevator doors opened at their floor. Hyesung broke the kiss and walked out of the elevator. No. Eric was breathless. He looked at Hyesung. Hyesung’s eyes did not leave Eric’s; they were tempting him, inviting him, ordering him to follow. How could he refuse?

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Hi, hope you're enjoying the fic. 

Since I'm quite a new writer, I'd really appraciate it if I could get some constructive criticism, so I'll be able to improve my writing and the story. If you have time to do this I'd be grateful. 

Thanks!!