“A woman, huh?”

Jonghyun can’t get over his frustration of letting Key go so easily. Where the hell was his head? But along with that anger was a soft curiosity that bugged him like the scraping at the back of a door in the dead of night. The claws sounding sharp, but Jjong knew that they very well may belong to a harmless creature.

If Key had been been framed incorrectly, then maybe he was allowed to open the door.

 

Or maybe he should just shut up, do his job, and stop thinking so much.

 

“Yeah, but,” Onew interrupts, “The guy afterwards. It was him. It was. The dark hair, the pale skin, the thin shoulders. It was Kibum.”

 

Taemin picks at a thread on his dark jeans, nodding, “The sign he held up at the end made it seem like he intended for a certain person to watch it ‘high school sweetheart, I beg of thee please tell them, it was me’. Jjong, I don’t know what he means, but he definitely didn’t kill Byung Hee. Not directly anyway.I mean he left a knife there for some reason, but she was already dead.”

 

Jjong’s hands clench the steering wheel. If you watch something horrible happen and do nothing to stop it,  isn’t it just as bad as doing it? “I don’t want to see any of the tapes.”

Taemin leans over from the back seat, laughing lightly, but it isn’t because he finds it funny. It’s because he’s confused. “Jjong. You usually at least scan over what we find. You can’t really just be satisfied with us just telling you about it, like really?”

I don’t want to see Key in that situation, Jjong finds himself answering in his head, and it only makes him more pissed off that he could think something so stupid.

 

Onew shrugs it off and stares out the foggy window, sending Taemin a look. I’m not gonna mess with Jjong tonight, he seems especially angry.

Taemin gets the message and says nothing more.

“Key’s not innocent yet, so I’ll be ready for two of them now. She had a long dark braid right?”

“Yeah.”

Jjong nods, his teeth playing with his lip, the lights in front of him misty and tinted pink from the fog. I could have kicked him. I could have elbowed him.

I could have.

I could have.

I could have.

But it doesn’t mean much if you never do it. And these thoughts are only there because something never happened. There’s a reason it never happened. There’s got to be, right?

 

The leather of the wheel feels smooth against Jjong’s rough hands as he finally pulls to a stop outside of the abandoned bar.

Taemin silently activates the sensor, and it invisibly loops around the sleek car in protection; a deadly ring to outsiders.

“Oh we forgot to to press the sensor at the market.”

Jjong groans, “God you’re right. The boss would kill us,” Starting with me not doing my job as a leader correctly.

Onew shrugs and blows a piece of caramel hair out of his eyes, “We’re all a little loopy tonight so don’t be so hard on yourself.”

 

“Easy for you to say; you’ve done your part.” Jjong makes a sour face at himself in the rearview mirror. God I’m dumb. Get your together.

 

The Lee’s hurry ahead of him, crossing the dark street. Onew’s tall  figure shakes for a second before tugging his jacket closer around himself. Taemin, but of course, leans his head into his brother’s shoulder and wraps his thin arms around Onew in an attempt to share some of his warmth.

 

“Taemin you , you think you have enough meat on your body to warm Onew up?

Dream on,” Jjong shouts as he clicks the lock on his keys to secure the convertible; beginning to cross the street himself.

 

Taemin shoots a middle finger over his shoulder before the two disappear into the yellow tape mess of Machra bar.

 

“That kid I swear-”

 

But his mutters are muffled suddenly by a cold, pale hand.

 

“Miss me pretty boy?” a warm breath whispers into Jjong’s ear.

 

This time Jjong doesn’t hesitate to throw his elbow back with force and straight against Key’s lips and teeth.

 

In seconds Jjong has Key pushed up against the grey brick wall of the parking lot.

 

“Did you think you could just leave and we’d suddenly be buddies? I’m a cop. And you’re a murderer. Your dumb words and a gun doesn’t change that,” Jjong hisses, finding himself to be a lot angrier than he usually is with criminals. It feels personal this time.

 

Blood dots the side of Key’s lips, smeared a bit on his skin as well.

“Okay one you’re not a cop. And two I left your gun back at the market,”

Jjong furrows his eyebrows, “ Weoh, why the hell would you do that?”

Key smirks, “ I didn’t think I’d need it.”

“Bull.” Jonghyun’s tanned hands dig Key’s shoulders deeper into the rough brick.

 

Key rolls his eyes, “And three: you and I both know I never murdered anybody.”

Jjong swallows, unsure,“How am I supposed to know if that’s true or not.”

 

Key arches an eyebrow.

 

“What. It’s not like I’ve been given a lot of information.”

 

Key a bit of the blood off of his bottom lip, staring into Jjong’s eyes. Jjong unexpectedly finds himself shivering at the sight of Key’s tongue.

 

“What information have you been given, Jonghyun ?”

 

You have a missing sister. Someone you call your sweetheart. A dead father.  A mother.

 

A mother.

 

“Oh the braid.”

Key’s eyes bore into his, searching to find what he already knows, and unsure of which pieces to give him and which to leave unsaid. He wants him to know; he does. Just not at the wrong time.

 

“What about the braid?”

 

Jjong’s eyes drift slightly to the side of Key’s head, roaming over the wall and trying to remember everything Taemin and Onew had told him, everything covered on the Boss’ presentation.

 

“Your mom’s hair is dark and long, isn’t it? I mean I know a lot of people’s hair is but you know what I mean. What other woman would you just be blindly following around aside from someone blood related?”

 

“I don’t do anything blindly. I can see clearer than you.”

At this Jjong scoffs, “Oh yeah?”

Annoyed, Key jerks his head in the direction of the club across the street, directly facing Jjong’s back.

“Those ushers have been eyeing us for about two minutes. At least. They’re probably going to call someone if you don’t either let go of me, or we head over there. Do you see anyone else hanging out in a trashy parking lot this late, besides drunks and the homeless; people that shouldn’t be here in the first place? ”

 

Jjong hesitates. I need to get to Onew and Taemin, but I can’t get out my walkie without letting go of Key…

We need to be somewhere more public. He won’t be able to just run or attack.

 

Jjong makes a crushing grab for Key’s hand, and holds so tightly onto his fingers that Key winces as he begins to be dragged towards the club.

 

All that’s on Key’s mind up to the point of facing the ushers is: Ow ow ow.

 

The club’s guards eye them up and down. One off them coughs awkwardly,” You know, the gay bar is a couple blocks from here,”

 

Key suddenly howls with laughter, only to receive an even more uncomfortable pinching on his wrist and fingers.

His laughter comes to a hault.

Jonghyun easily pulls an ID from an inside pocket of his jacket and holds it up for the ushers. The slackening in their jaws as they realize it’s one of those badges. Of the ones who are worse than cops gets the two men fumbling with the blue velvet rope and politely, if not anxiously, gesturing for the two to enter.

Key leans uncomfortably close to the nearest usher and whispers seductively, “Thanks boys, but gays can party hard wherever they choose.”

 

The guards’ eyes widen and Key lightly touches a finger on to the tip of his nose, “You have really nice-”

But Jjong tugs Key away before he can say anything else, and the two are suddenly absorbed into the atmosphere of the club. The strange electronic music mixed with the beats of a saxophone. The colorful, sweating people with pointy shoes and tangled hair. The lights. The excited taste of newly turned 21 year olds.

 

“Hey!” Jjong hurriedly calls to the nearest barista, “Key here wants a drink.”

Jjong smashes Key onto a richly colored stool and as Key fumbles with his words to respond, Jjong pulls his thin walkie back from his jacket.

 

“Taemin!” Jjong yells over the thumping music.

 

A clear “Jjong?” resonates back, “Where the hell are you?”

 

“Doesn’t matter. Taemin. The woman. The woman from the video.” His head ducks up to check on Key. He seems in no hurry to run or attack, but  focussed on what looks to be flirting with the barista. “The woman. It’s Key’s mom. That’s why he was with her. The boss got it mixed up. I think. I think-” Jjong’s eyes settle on a laughing Key, his head tossed back, his dark eyes pretty and his skin glowing.

I think he framed himself on purpose. I think he was trying to protect his mom.

“Jjong? Jjong what do you think?”

Jjong shakes his head. He needed to know more. He didn’t want the other members having bad assumptions of Key before they even knew the whole story. Hell he didn’t even know the whole story, but something felt wrong. The guy in front of him wasn’t a killer. The little Hyori in his memories had a brother. A good brother. Key was a loyal family member. He was good.

He had to be.

Otherwise Jjong would probably get fired, or worse, keep his job and get silently shamed by the other members.

“Taemin.”

“What?”

“I’ll be at the scene soon. I’m just going to keep watch for now, okay? I’m fine. ”

“O-kay? I’ll let Onew know, but Jonghyun If you need help-”

“If he shows up,” Jjong watches Key continue to laugh with the barista , “I’m sure I can handle him myself.” And with that, Jjong shoves the walkie back in his jacket and goes to stand behind Key.

 

“No Martha, I’m sure he’ll come around. He’s probably just got cold feet. And if he doesn’t I’ll beat his , kay?”

The barista, apparently Martha sighs , “I hope so,” before noticing Jjong and sending an excited, and, god, obvious wink in Key’s direction before shuffling off to help the next customer.

 

Key, now at Jjong’s height from his seated state, swivels around to face Jjong.

“If you wanted to hold my hand you could have just asked.”

 

“What the was that wink for?”

 

Key considers this.

 

“Do you really want to know?”

 

Jjong makes a frustrated sigh, “No. What I really want to know is why the hell you’re the most wanted male in my industry right now. Why I have blurred memories of you from high school. Why I think your little sister doesn’t have a killer for a brother. And oh yeah, why haven’t you tried to run from me. You don’t really think that little of me, do you?”

 

“You are kind of little.”

 

“I’m 5’8 thank you very ing much.”

 

Key throws his head back in that laughter that mesmerizes Jjong for a moment, and stands to his full height.

 

“I‘ll make you a deal. I’ll answer all of your questions if you dance with me.”

 

“What? Hell no.”

 

Key raises an eyebrow then slowly moves closer to Jonghyun, lightly collecting his hands in his own, then burying his hot breath into Jjong’s ear.

 

“My dad did something very bad. Actually he did a lot of bad things.”

 

Jjong freezes. Dad? The powerpoint hadn’t said anything about Key’s father.

His sudden hunger for more information, and Key’s touch, causes him to thread his fingers into Key’s and slide his feet backwards.

 

Slowly, quietly, softly, the dancing crowds of people envelope them, and Jjong finds himself wanting Key’s touch. He couldn’t explain it. He could see his hands, and he could see Key’s hands. He could see Key’s tall outline, and his soft hair framing his carved face, and those eyes. Those eyes that smiled at him like some ing elf from a twisted children’s story. And all that his mind kept repeating back to him was. I want those hands on my shoulders. I want that head cradled on my neck. I want those eyelashes tickling my skin.  I want him up against me. I want it. I want it.

 

And he certainly got what he wanted.

 

Jjong didn’t utter a word, but Key understood him immediately.

They drift, a part of the crowd, smoothing their unsure hands over the other, and letting the strange music carry them, letting themselves float and float until they got to that point where you’re so absorbed with what’s happening that it all blurs. Jjong’s face so close to Key’s that Key  has to resist the urge to place his hands on either side of that face he had longed to belong to him for so long and press them into his skull, press them until this silver god in front of him dissolved into a powder.

 

“I knew your sister.”

 

“I know. I’m glad.”

 

“Is she..?”

 

Key rubs his sharp nose up and down Jjong’s warm neck, nodding, and Jjong tightens his hold on Key, trying his best to tell him he was sorry, but also shivering from the feeling of Key’s nose against his neck. He was so sorry that his throat shriveled into an awful feeling of regret. He hadn’t really known Hyori, but he knew how important his own little sister was to him. Younger sisters are something innocent, something you want to protect more than that hope at the bottom of Pandora’s box; and Key hadn’t been able to in the end.

 

“My dad...it got really bad one night. And I just couldn’t do anything. All I could do was scream but the neighbors couldn’t hear.I don’t think they wanted to.  Actually I think they did hear, but they didn’t want to listen. Nobody ever wanted to listen. I screamed so loudly with all I had. I screamed with my lungs, I screamed with my eyes, I screamed with everything but my fists but nobody ever-”

 

Key laughs bitterly, and his lips before turning his head to the side, eyeing the light dancing on the ceiling.

“Jonghyun why do you even want to listen. You never did before. I knew you saw me. I knew you could see me in the hallways tripping over my feet whenever you came into my sight. I know you try to block high school out of your mind and all those girls you forced yourself to date, but I also know you remember my sister going over to your house. Maybe you didn’t know what was happening, maybe you couldn’t see the bruises on her legs, maybe you couldn’t see my limp, but I know you saw the way I’d look at you. I know you knew I was alone.”

 

“Key-”

 

The left side of Key’s mouth trembles, making the dried blood dance, and a craziness comes into his eyes. His dancing turns more jerky, his neck abruptly turning and rolling, his fingers trailing in the air, and he laughs roughly.

“Maybe you don’t remember me the way I remember you, Jjong, but I’ve been there at the back of your memories somewhere. You want to know why you have blurred memories of me from high school? It’s because you blurred them yourself. I know I was never anything more than a lonely looking pier that you glanced over in the hallways, but you were the ing sun to me. And I still can’t shake that feeling. And I ing hate it.”

 

Jjong’s hands drop from Key’s sides, and he stands there, pushed lightly by the swaying crowds, and staring at Key. He tries to say something, but what the hell can you say to that?

 

Key’s knees shake, and suddenly he’s running, looking through the empty spaces between people and finding his way towards the back of the club. People always panic in crowds because all they can see is the people. All of these people. All of these people standing in the way. But Key had grown so used to empty spaces that now they were all he could see. He easily darted through them, and crashed into an olivey green bathroom stall, franticly locking it behind him and trying to catch his breath. .

 

Jjong is chasing after Key the second he turns away, but he can’t see empty spaces the way Key can, and he fumbles, bowing his head multiple times in apology as he weaves his way through the colorful crowds, stretching his neck above as far as he can, but giving up after a while because his height never did him much good in scouting situations.

 

The bathrooms.

 

“Key!” Jjong yells as he stumbles into the bathroom, kicking open the first stall, but finding nothing.

“Key which one of these are you in seriously,” He pushes open a few more before grunting angrily, “Well I guess that eliminates one of the questions, doesn’t it? Now you have tried to run away from me. Go ing figure.”

Jjong collapses onto the ground in front of the last stall, and sets his head on the dripping sink behind him.

“Key I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was too much of a in high school to pay attention to you for more than two seconds. I know you got nervous around me-”

“Panicked,” Key’s voice echoes from the stall in front of Jjong.

Jjong sits up abruptly, and sets his palms against the stall door.

“So I did sit in front of the right stall.”

“Yeah major brownie points for you,” Key leans on the backside of the stall, on the enclosed side, his arms crossed to keep them from shaking.

Jjong’s forehead leans onto the door, his hands on either side of his head, “Key.”

“What the hell do you want? I’m trying to take a here.”

Jjong chokes on his laughter, “Key.”

“I’m listening .”

“Can’t you just open the door?”

“Mmm. Finish what you were saying first.”

Jjong sighs, “I wasn’t even sure of who the hell I was in high school. Wait. Okay. I know nobody is, but I wasn’t even sure how to handle the fact that I was into guys, okay? Maybe that was something you swallowed easily compared to all the other you had to deal with, but do you know how hard it is to have girls come up to you everyday, and having to look at their legs and hips and expectant faces and think ‘dammit why is nothing there?’ Because there really wasn’t. And I’m sure you know how many times I tried to find something, but there was nothing to find. To be honest I just tried to not pay attention to any of the good looking boys at our school because I just didn’t know how to deal with-”

 

“Wait wait,” Key suddenly interrupts from behind the door, “ Hold up, you think I’m good looking?”

 

“I’m doing the biggest eyeroll you’ve ever seen but you can’t actually see it.”

 

Key suddenly yanks the stall lock to one side and whips open the door, causing Jjong on the other side to tumble backwards. Key pulls Jjong up and pushes him against the space between the dripping sinks; pressing his forehead against his.

 

“Kim Jonghyun, do you want the answer to your last question?”

 

Key’s face is so dangerously close to his that he has to swallow and control himself not crash his lips against his. He manages to squeak out a low, “Ye-s.”

 

“I’m the most wanted in your industry right  now because they think I killed three women, right? You know this. But you also know that I didn't touch anybody. Aside from you, right now I mean,” Key grins into Jonghyun, and trails his hand onto the side of Jonghyun’s neck, rubbing his thumb back and forth over his pulsing skin. Jjong stops breathing.

“Killers don’t see anything as brightly as I do. Killers are poisoned in some way. Oh I’ve had a hell of a lot of poison tried to be shoved down my throat, but I’ve never swallowed. I’m not a killer. You want to really know why? I see you so brightly that it burns my eyes and pisses me off to the point where I can’t even think, but I enjoy it somehow. I enjoy it so much that I can forget about my dead sister buried where no one can find her, and my dead father who I don’t know where the he’s buried, somewhere in hell, and my mother. My mother is dead too, but her body isn’t buried. Her body is still breathing. She’s still making air, but she’s so poisoned with hate that I can’t see her as alive anymore. Jonghyun. Sometimes when people get poisoned so much they can’t help but spread that poison. They don’t know any better, THEY DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER BECAUSE THEIR MINDS DON’T WORK THE WAY OURS DO.

 

“Jonghyun,” Key’s voice hitches.

 

“Jonghyun, I am not a killer. But two members of my family are, and I have been trying desperately to save one of them from the poison but I can’t do it anymore.  I CAN’T. I fended the police off and tried to frame myself but people just keep coming and coming like dirty river water. I can’t do this anymore. I’m trying to give you the tools to help me out of this mess but how the am I supposed to know if anyone can clean this up? I can’t TELL AND I CAN’T TAKE IT.”

 

The terror in Key’s eyes reach out like spindly arms on a tree towards Jonghyun, and he wants to hold him. Jonghyun wants to hold him so badly that this strange echo in his chest wouldn’t stop screaming at him.

 

But he never gets the chance to, because suddenly Key is whispering weakly, “ I’ll see you at the next checkpoint,” and disappearing back out into the empty spaces of the crowd;

far far away from the one person that was keeping him sane.

 

A/N:

For those of you reading this, I'm sorry it took me 2 weeks to get this uploaded. School is wild ugh. I seriously have no idea when the next chapter will be up, and for that , I apologize in advance. There isn't really much I want to say about this chapter, I think the chapter itself kind of conveys my feelings for jongkey HAHHA. i LOVE EVERYONE WHO HAS EVEN READ JUST A SENTENCE OF THIS TORY, AND IF YOU HAVE, PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! woh I did not mean for that to be in caps but I'm too lazy to change it omfg. But yeah this is my favorite chapter if you couldn't tell ehheee. Plz plz fangirl with me about jongkey waaa. Okay ily all byee I dunno when i'll be back srry I .