Hello lovely people <3

Sorry this chapter took so long. Literally my life's been upside down since the previous chapter until now. Broke up with my bf, had surgery, recovered from surgery, roadtripped to every place imaginiable then drove across the country. I literally wrote most of this in hotel rooms and in the car rides while I wasn't driving lol. There may be more english errors than usual in this bc 1, it's hella long like longer than carcasses (which i thought would be my max longest i could write??) and 2, bc school is about to start and i have nothing ready + havent even moved into my apt rip. I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless~

They chose to travel by ferry to Jeju Island. Although it would have saved them a lot of effort and time to teleport there, Jongin noticed that teleporting caused the wound on Luhan’s shoulder to open up. Although those with powers tend to heal a lot faster than other humans, the physical toll of the teleport was too much. The blonde boy had insisted that he was fine but walking around with blood soaking through his shirt was not as inconspicuous as they would like to be.

Even though SM was gone now, they still went through a multitude of precautions to keep themselves hidden. If someone had somehow managed to avoid the massacre at the facility, then they could potentially still be in trouble. They were careful and cut out the trackers buried at the base of their spinal cord, right underneath the skin. Joonmyun was right: Luhan had known where it was this entire time.

“If you knew, then why didn’t you just escape? You could’ve been free.” Jongin had asked when he found out.

“I didn’t know where to go.” The latter simply replied.

And it was the same for Jongin, looking back in hindsight, who wouldn’t have known anything else but to do as he was told if it had not been for the blonde boy.

As they sat next to each other on the ferry, they can’t help but feel a little bit restless. Their last few years were strictly regulated by the facility; they always had more to improve on, more tests to do, or more cases to work on. The promise of freedom was a foreign concept to them. They had no idea what that would mean for them and for each other.

Riiiiing.

Luhan looked towards the source of the noise, startled. He never actually had anyone call him on the device that Joonmyun had temporarily provided them. Sehun was about to grab it but Luhan quickly beat him there.

“It’s for the case we were working on.” He mouthed as he picked it up.

“Joonmyun?”

“Luhan! I’m glad you picked up! I heard you two are back at the facility now. Is everything okay?” Came his voice from the phone.

“We ran into some complications,” Luhan said, looking at the bandages that now covered his shoulders. “But nothing major.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Joonmyun always sounded cheerful, even while being serious. “Have you found out any clues regarding where Kris could have stored the documents?”

Luhan thought to himself for a little bit. He saw a lot of locations but none of them particularly stood out to him. It was frustrating because he had information but did not know the right questions to ask. An idea suddenly struck him. It was a shot in the dark but better than nothing.

Seoul and Beijing were not around huge bodies of water. That narrowed it down somewhat.

“Joonmyun, have you ever been to Busan? Or Beijing?”

“Yes, we have offices there so sometimes I travel there for business.” Joonmyun answered. “Why? Do you think it could be there? Kris may also sometimes travel there since his company has been rapidly expanding too and he’s been on business trips to potential locations a lot.”

“Hong Kong?”

“We have an office there too.”
 

“Shanghai?”

“There’s an EXO-M office.”

“Incheon? Guangzhou? Jeju?”

There was a pause on the line. “Jeju?”

“Yes, Jeju, have you been there?”

There was a pregnant silence on the phone call. Luhan was worried the other had accidently hung up.

“We have no offices there and neither does EXO-M. I don’t see why M would expand there since it’s such a small island.”

“But you have been there?” Luhan pressed.

“Yes, I have been there a few times. On vacation.”

Putting two and two together, he made the decision. “Then that’s where we’ll go next. I have reason to believe that the island would give us a big clue.”

The usually chipper Joonmyun was slightly more quiet than usual. “Okay. Keep me updated.”

Jeju was beautiful. Luhan had a hard time believing the scene in front of his was real. The skies expanded as far as the boy could see on all directions and it was a beautiful cyan blue. The clouds in the sky were few but white and puffy in the distance.

“The water looks so amazing! Let’s get closer!”

Luhan rushed Jongin in an effort to get down to the sandy beach faster. Jeju was so beautiful and Luhan was unwilling to waste any time on the island. As they got closer to the water, the blond opted to take off his shoes to feel the sand in between his toes. Jeju looked like pictures from a book or a movie. Luhan had never thought that he would have the chance to be here himself, to breathe the fresh ocean air and to bask in the warm sun. He had never felt more alive than he did at that moment. As he turned around to look at Jongin’s amused expression, he felt for once that everything was right.

“I know we’re supposed to be looking for clues but we can do that while walking along the beach right?” Luhan gave the taller a pout and the biggest puppy eyes he could.

This drew a laugh from Jongin. “Just don’t over-exert yourself. Your shoulder is still healing. It might be a good time to get some food anyways. We haven’t eaten all day.”

Luhan tried not to look too excited and cheered silently but the twinkle in his eyes gave him away. They walked along the beach leisurely while Luhan pointed at this and that while talking animatedly about everything he saw. It didn’t take long for them to reach a small café where they sat down to enjoy a meal together.

This feels good, Jongin thought.

The last time they were able to share a meal together was only a few days ago but felt like another lifetime. In truth, it was like another lifetime. A lifetime where SM still existed. Not to mention, the last time they ate together was when Luhan got shot. This thought puts Jongin on edge even as the warm spring breeze and lazy sun tries to lull him into a sense of security. Although the food was unmemorable, the lunch was blissful. But all good things have to end some time.

“Do you know where we’re supposed to look?” Jongin had asked, letting his curiosity and his work ethic that had been previously drilled into him prevail.

“I have an idea.” Luhan had said between mouthfuls of his seafood jigae. “I have an idea of which areas we should be looking. It will be within sight of the water.”

Jongin deadpanned. “But this is an island. There’s water everywhere.”

“Just trust in me, Kim Jongin.”

Surprisingly enough, it didn’t take long before they stopped in front of a run down warehouse in the middle of the woods. At first, Jongin was about to walk past it without much of a glance but it was Luhan that had stopped him. The shorter male frowned at the sight and walked up closer to take a better look. Although the old warehouse looked beaten down and looked unused, it had security cameras installed on the roof that were actively in use.

Jongin quickly pulled Luhan behind a thicket of trees to avoid being detected. There had to be some significance if Luhan stopped in front of the warehouse, especially when there are security cameras monitoring its proximity.

“Do you think it’s in there?” Jongin asked.

“Possibly. I’ve seen this place before. In one of Kris’s memories.”

“And it’s suspicious that it still has cameras. We should check it out.”

“Can you get us in there, Jongin?”

He paused. Yes he could get them in there but what if it was dangerous? What if there were traps? He was worried about putting Luhan in danger again and Luhan could sense it.

“I don’t think Kris would be the type of person to put a trap on the inside. He seems way too cocky for that.” Luhan argued. “Plus, I can stop us from getting hurt. You saw me stop the bullets.”

Jongin considered this for a moment. Luhan was right. He was a lot tougher than he looked. Luhan knew more about this case than he did at the moment and so he wrapped his arm around the older and they disappeared in a puff of blackness.

They looked around the warehouse, both tense in anticipation but nothing sprung out at them as Luhan had predicted. The warehouse was huge and empty besides some broken columns on the sides and some shattered glass from where the windows had been broken. The high windows allowed the orange sunset light to flood into the warehouse, illuminating everything a dull orange. In the middle of the room sat a safe.

“Could it be?” Luhan gasped.

He rushed towards it with a protective Jongin trailing not far behind, his eyes darted around the room weary of any suspicious movements. Luhan kneeled down in front of the lock and tried futilely to open it.

“It’s locked.” He stated with a hopeless sigh.

“Do you have any idea what the code might be?” Jongin prompted.

The blonde knitted his forehead together and wracked his brain for answers but couldn’t seem to think of any. Unfortunately, they heard a click that interrupted their actions. Jongin felt his sweat turn cold, as cold as the metal of the gun that made the sound as the owner slid off the safety.

They both look over towards the small sound and come face to face with an angry Kris with a pistol in his hand, trained at the two of them. If they had any reason to fear Kris before, it was amplified a million times over after finding out that Kris had a hand to play in the downfall of the facility. Luhan visibly paled by a few shades. Jongin had moved himself in front of the injured blonde in an effort to shield him from sight.

“Kris, drop the gun and nobody has to get hurt.” Jongin tried to reason with him. He did not want to risk letting Luhan get hurt again in the off chance he couldn’t teleport the elder out of there in time. Although Luhan has shown to be able to fend for himself, Kris was an enigma and Jongin was not about to leave anything to chance.

“I thought I got rid of you. I thought you two would have died along with that god forsaken facility but I guess now I have the satisfaction of finishing you off myself.” Kris sneered. “Although, I am quite curious… How did you guys find this place?”

“Well, what brought you here?” Luhan spoke up from behind Jongin, drawing attention to himself for the first time.

“I own this warehouse. I can be here any time I want.” The giant snarled.

“But why now? Why are you here now of all times? At the same time that we are here?” Luhan continued, pressing Kris on.

“For a dead man you sure have a lot of questions.”

“For someone who likes control, you sure are sloppy about tying up your loose ends.” Luhan argued back.

Jongin inwardly ran through all the possible ways this scenario could turn out. He could not tell if Luhan had some tricks up his sleeves or if he was stalling for time.

“Well, I’m about to tie up some of those loose ends right now.” Kris said.

Well, .

Jongin watched in seemingly slow motion as Kris pulled the trigger on his gun. With lightning fast reflexes, he turned around and flung his arms around the smaller and teleported them a few meters to the right to avoid the incoming projectile. Kris re-aimed in their direction and once again shot at them, only to miss again due to Jongin’s powers. He brought the two of them to the other side of the safe, further away from Kris now.

“Go, Jongin, I can take care of myself.” Luhan said as he pushed off Jongin to stop a third bullet from hitting the two of them.

Jongin reluctantly put his faith in the blonde as he teleported from their spot to behind Kris, catching the taller by surprise. A well-aimed kick should have caused the man to fall on the floor so that Jongin could hold him down. However, an unnatural force propelled Kris sideways just as he was about to hit the floor and allowed him to clamor to catch his balance once again a few feet away.

All three parties were staring at each other with intensity as the room stilled. Kris had a fight in his eyes that screamed for blood but Jongin was worried about Luhan, who he was sure would bleeding again due to the teleportation. Kris quickly switched his aim at Luhan instead when a giant clank of iron interrupted the three of them.

They all looked over as the orange light flooded in from the now open door. With the setting sun behind the new figure, it was hard to make out who it was at first. As he gasped and took a few steps inside, the figure was undeniable.

“Kris?” The figure had gasped in shock. As he let the briefcase in his hand fall to the floor with a thud.

“Joonmyun.” Kris had acknowledged back, barely disguising his own surprise.

“Kai. Luhan. You are all… What’s going on here? Luhan are you hurt?” Jongin guessed that Luhan had to be bleeding again for Joonmyun to be able to see the red from that distance.

“I’m fine.” Luhan answered quickly, looking at Kris apprehensively.

. Jongin looked at Kris, fully expecting the giant to aim the gun at the harmless intruder that just walked in to silence him. However, he made no movements to do so.

“Kris, please don’t hurt them. I asked them to do this. It’s not their fault.” Joonmyun had said instead, unexpectedly.

Jongin supposes that it was good for Joonmyun to own up to this, especially since he was trying to get back EXO-K’s stolen documents. However, it didn’t seem necessary for Joonmyun to do this.

“It was you? You sent them?” Kris gasped, dropping the aim of his gun. “How did you know?”

“Know what? Of course it would be you. Everything in that safe belongs to me and you had no right to take them. They’re mine.”

Kris seemed confused by this. “…Are you talking about the locked box?”

“Yes. What else would I be talking about?” Joonmyun answered. “And I’m here to take it back along with everything in it.”

Kris sighed. “They rightfully belong to me. It’s the least you could do to at least give them back to me.”

Wait. They belonged to Kris? Jongin was already lost listening to them talk but now he was even more confused now.

“So the songs and the information actually were stolen from Kris?” Luhan asked. Something didn’t sound right to him. He knows Joonmyun wouldn’t be the type to lie and steal but with everything that had been going on, he knew that they were keeping something from them.

“Songs? Files?” Kris barked out a bitter laugh. “I don’t care about any of that.”

This confirmed Luhan’s theory as realization dawned on him.

“You wanted something else from Joonmyun but accidentally took the EXO-K files by accident.” Luhan stated, drawing a curious gaze from Jongin, who seemed to be the only one out of the loop now.

“They were supposed to be mine. The least you could have done was to give them back to me.” He once again trained his sharp gaze at Joonmyun, who was silent the entire time, looking like he was at a loss for words.

“I know. But I was selfish. I just wanted to keep them. Kris, I know it’s hard for you but I’ve also been a wreck since then.” Joonmyun tried to explain.

“I think since we have been helping you throughout this whole case, we deserve a fair explanation of the situation.” Luhan prompted.

“Especially since we almost died at the facility because of this.” Jongin added. “And how exactly did you trace us back to the facility?”

“Kris, you know about the facility?” Joonmyun asked, this to be news to him.

“He was there when the facility crumbled.” Jongin confirmed.

Joonmyun’s eyes were wide as they turned back to Kris.

“I guess since that facility is gone now there’s no harm.” Kris started hestitantly. “As you two probably realized, I also have powers like you and I was once a slave of the facility as well.”

Joonmyun’s eyes rounded even more, if that were possible. “You were from SM this entire time?”

Kris nodded. “I escaped early on and got a lucky break working in the entertainment industry as a manager. Sometime soon I ran into Joonmyun and—“

“We were in love.” Joonmyun finished for him. His eyes were filled with so much pain and confusion staring into Kris’s angry ones. “And you never told me about this?”

Jongin cast a confused glance at Luhan, who did not seem to mirror his confusion. In his round orbs reflected a wisdom beyond his years as he took in every word that came from the two. The former had an inkling of idea that Luhan had known something but never asked about it because he figured it wasn’t his problem.

“I couldn’t tell you because I wanted to protect you. I was fool and believed you loved me back. How stupid of me though.” Kris scoffed.

A first love is all-consuming and unrelenting. You can forget everything else but never forget the bittersweet feeling of this romance. You never realize when the seed is planted but when you do, it will have taken root so deep inside you that it can never completely been pulled out.

The facility taught Jongin two things: the first was how to be obedient and the second was to be an emotionless killing machine. Being around Luhan was like being surrounded by the warmth of a thousand splendid suns. It was frightening yet beautiful all at once. Having the emotional intelligence of a puppet to suddenly embracing all these new feelings were altogether overwhelming and challenging. This makes Jongin ponder on his relationship with Luhan. He was so enamoured by the blonde that being separated from him was unimaginable. That terror that seized his chest while searching for Luhan as the facility was collapsing was unlike any other he had experienced.

For Kris, who had at the time had come from the facility as well, Jongin could not have imagined his pain.

“Kris, you knew I love you. I always have but you disappeared without a trace.” There was pleading in Joonmyun’s voice but also an underlying anger.

“Don’t try that bull on me. You married someone else. What was I to do?” He held his ground, his knuckles clenching into a tight fist.

“It wasn’t by choice! I tried to tell you so many times. My father expected this of me as his only son but I never loved anyone else except you. I didn’t go through with the wedding because I knew how much it hurt you but by that time, you had disappeared.”

Kris’s eyes widened as a flash of pain and other unexplainable emotions flashed across his handsome features.

“You were gone for 2 years, Kris. I thought you died. You couldn’t imagine my surprise, my relief, and my pain, when you revealed yourself as the brains behind EXO-M 2 years later.” Joonmyun’s eyes began tearing up as he continued. “Kris, I looked for you everywhere. I was so relieved when you returned but you refused all contact with me and it hurt me all these years. I wanted so much to be with you again and always kept the box close but when it got taken, I could only assume it was by you. That’s why I asked Kai and Luhan to retrieve it for me. I needed the box back because they were the only things I could hold onto to remember us by.”

“I—“ Kris stuttered. “I wanted the photos too to at least keep our memory alive. Joonmyun, I almost went crazy that week that I found out about your marriage. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t even go back to my apartment. When I did go back though, you had already taken them away.”

“That week was absolute hell for me too. I remember being forced into the marriage by my father and then you disappearing. I had lost all hope by the end of the week and they were the only things keeping me from losing my sanity.”

They both took the time to let all this new information set in. It was a lot to take at once, especially after years of misunderstanding and separation. Joonmyun looked at Kris, searching for the feelings that he once harbored, hoping and praying that the Kris he once knew had not completely disappeared. Kris, meanwhile, could not look back at Joonmyun and could only stare at the space in front of him as regret and bitterness rang in his mind. He walked over to the safe and knelt down in front of it and turned the knob several times before a soft clang was heard as he unlocked it. He pulled open the safe to reveal Joonmyun’s smaller safe. The lock on it was broken and the combination dial was haphazardly dangling sideways as a result of a forced entry.

“It wasn’t my plan to take those documents that were in your safe.” Kris said as he walked towards Joonmyun with the safe in hand.

“And you two,” Kris said, looking at Jongin and Luhan. “I won’t apologize on letting the government know about the facility. When I first saw that you had powers, I assumed that the facility was trying to capture or kill me.”

Kris turned his attention back to Joonmyun. “I was always taught that my life was expendable but I didn’t know what I had to lose until I thought I was going to get captured again. You don’t understand what the facility was like, Joonmyun. It stole away years of my life and took me from everyone I ever loved. My immediate thought was about these though.”

Kris opened the latch on the safe, revealing its contents finally. Jongin and Luhan had stepped in a bit closer to get a better look. Inside, on the bottom seemed to be documents but sitting on top of it was another an open envelope. Spilling from it were polaroids. Polaroids of scenery, of different places, and of them. Kris and Joonmyun, happily smiling.

“Even if I didn’t have you anymore, at least I had my memories and these pictures. I slowly lost memory of all my loved ones at that facility but I knew I couldn’t lose what we had. I just couldn’t. They were everything to me and everything that was left of me. That’s why I knew I had to avoid being captured again. I couldn’t bare to lose the memory of us.”

Kris was always an intimidating man but Luhan could not help but shudder in fear of him as he is talking. He was willing to bring everything to the ground just to protect the few memories he held precious. He was truly a dangerous man.

When you play the game of love, you fall into the prisoner’s dilemma. Both sides could end up losing but both sides could also end up winning. However, the world is never fair and the rational choice does not always appear to be the best choice.

Joonmyun took the case from him and gently set it to the ground beside them. He then cupped either sides of Kris’s face, gently lifting his head so that they could look into each other’s eyes. Touching Kris again felt like a dream. It has been years and there wasn’t a day where he didn’t think about the taller. Not wanting to let him slip away again, he threw his arms around the taller man’s neck and hugged him close. Kris was stiff against his touch at first but he craved Joonmyun’s touch more than anything in the world. He hesitantly slipped his arms around him and pulled him close. He still smelled the same. It was purely Joonmyun. He missed him so much.

Luhan was beaming at this point and had a huge smile plastered on his face. Jongin, being the least experienced of the four, was about to say something but was nudged surprisingly harshly by Luhan before words could escape his mouth. Jongin looked at Luhan only to receive a shake of the head so he tried looking anywhere but at them.

“The briefcase is for you two. It’s my end of the promise.” Joonmyun finally said as he pulled away. His eyes reluctantly shifted from Kris to where he had dropped his briefcase earlier. “Thank you for everything. You two have done more for me than I could ever ask for. We have much to talk about but it wouldn’t have been possible without you.”

Jongin had teleported over to the briefcase and popped back to where Luhan was a split second later with it in hand.

“Congratulations, Joonmyun, Kris. I’m glad we were able to help.” Said Luhan enthusiastically. He still couldn’t help beaming despite himself.

“This is everything we talked about?” Jongin questioned about the briefcase in hand.

“Yes. I can only wish you two the same happiness you have bestowed upon me.” Joonmyun answered.

Jongin nodded and looked at Luhan, who held out his hand to knead his fingers into tan calloused ones.

“Time to go?” He asked.

“Time to go.”

Staring into each others’ eyes with their fingers linked together, they disappeared from the warehouse with a small click.

Epilogue:

There was a slam of the door followed by some scuffling.

“Hey babe.” Came Jongin’s deep voice as he called from the doorway.

Luhan wrinkled his nose. Jongin had picked up quite a few American habits since moving to California a few months ago. It wasn’t bad but it was sometimes cringe-worthy how cheesy Jongin was. In English too.

Jongin and Luhan began their travels in China, as per Luhan’s suggestion. He had always wanted to visit for as long as he could remember and was ecstatic at the chance to be able to visit his home country again. They were given a large sum of money after their last case and could have been able to live comfortably for a while but they were both eager to explore what the world had to offer. Luhan decided to become a private Korean tutor while Jongin found a job at an animal shelter due to his newfound love of dogs.

Once in a while, one of them would suggest a new place and they would relocate there. They lived in four different cities in China before one of Luhan’s students planted the idea of moving to overseas in his head. Luhan had brooded over the idea the whole day until Jongin came back home later that afternoon.

“Let’s move somewhere else, Jongin-ah.” He said as soon as he heard the tall male come in.

Jongin looked up from taking off his shoes and saw that Luhan was standing in the doorway already.

“Okay. Where to?”

“Europe.”

“Europe? We don’t speak the language.”

“Yeah but I have been picking up a little bit of English. It could be fun.”

And so there was Edinburgh, Scotland first, much to Jongin’s chagrin. He could not understand anything there. Then there was Phoenix, Arizona. London, England. And finally, San Diego, California.

In between settling and resettling, Luhan slowly helped Jongin recover his purged memories bit by bit. It had been difficult at first for Jongin to rediscover all the lost memories. Some of them were of the torturous training methods of the facility while some of them were of losing his family. There were some nights when the memories were too heavy a burden on Jongin but Luhan was always there beside him, sharing the weight with him

They would stay in one place anywhere from a month to 4 months before packing up and finding a new place. It wasn’t that they were still on the run because they were still worried but because they now had the freedom to be anywhere they wanted to be. They also discovered in their years of traveling that home wasn’t a physical address. It was where you were happiest.

Jongin popped into the shared bedroom of their modest San Diego flat and plopped down on the bed beside Luhan, who had been watching TV. He kissed the blonde full on the lips, which the latter responded to enthusiastically.

“I’m home.”

AND IT'S DONE. I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINALLY FINISHED OMG *_*

Thank you bbs for sticking by this story and reading it til the end! I love you guys so much! Y'all have been so patient <3

I'm a shipper of sinking ships LOL i'm a masochist. kailu and krisho shippers unite c':

I have one more story to finish before the summer ends so keep an eye out for my new Hunhan oneshot~

Comments are always loved<3 Let's be friends on Tumblr! (msg me hehe)