“Bye-bye,” he sang with a little wave as the elevator doors opened and his early morning visitor stepped inside.

“See you next time, Baek,” replied the other man.

Baekhyun huffed. “Not ing likely,” he laughed after the elevator had descended. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. His reflection in the large hall mirror showed that his black eyeliner had smudged around his eyes, so with another heavy sigh he wiped at it in frustration, smearing it further until he looked like a panda.

“Ugh,” he muttered aloud. “I look like Tao.”

In the middle of deciding to wash his face sooner rather than later, he had a sudden realization. Something’s missing…Ah…That.

His eyes scanned the room, but what he was looking for was nowhere in sight. The house was eerily silent, and after checking the bathroom, study, and the spare bedrooms he was stumped. Then, just as he’d pulled out his phone to call Tao he heard a soft whimpering. The soft sounds led him to the far corner of the room and under the piano. When he squat down he found what he’d been looking for.

Chanyeol was there, curled in a position that looked far too uncomfortable for a grown man. His head rest on his curled elbow and his legs were tucked up like he’d held himself together as he fell asleep. His brows were knit tight and his mouth hung open. His eyes twitched back and forth under his lids and the same noises from earlier softly escaped his lips.

Baekhyun laughed lightly and rested his cheek on his palm, just watching for a moment as Chanyeol dreamed. He looked so distressed that Baekhyun couldn’t help but extend a finger and poke his cheek a few times. Chanyeol whimpered again but he didn’t wake.

Baekhyun whispered to no one in particular.  “Aww. Maybe I scared my new puppy a little too much…”

Suddenly Chanyeol’s face turned over and his eyes opened slightly. Baekhyun was startled but he continued to stare as Chanyeol’s lids fluttered with half-sleep.

His eye brows furrowed deeply in his forehead, he looked up confused. “Baekhyun?” he asked groggily. “Your eyes…did you cry?”

Baekhyun? Where do you get off calling me by name?

“No, you idiot. I didn’t cry.”

Chanyeol smiled slightly. “Okay…that’s good then.” He rolled back over and shut his eyes again. In a second he was back to softly snoring. His face relaxed and his fist unclenched and fell back on the wood.

Baekhyun was quite stunned and he could only laugh, imagining the boy had thought he was dreaming. He stood after a moment and retreated to his room, leaving the boy to sleep.

---

As Kris escorted Chanyeol downstairs around 6:30 in the morning, Tao watched as the boy stumbled and bumped against the walls. He rubbed his eyes with sleep and yawned widely before the doors shut, seemingly unaware of his surroundings. Even after the elevator had descended to the lower floors and Chanyeol’s replacement had taken his place, Tao saw how Baekhyun’s eyes lingered on the door.

His boss turned to him suddenly, dark eyes flashing. “You told him not to sleep with me didn’t you?” He opened his mouth but Baekhyun cut him off. “I already know you did. You ruin all my fun.”

Tao shook his head. “You can’t just try and seduce every new hire.”

“But now that you say I can’t I only want to more.”

“And I assume you acted on impulse last night then?” He raised an eyebrow. “And he rejected you. The kid’s got more self-control than I thought.”

“Pff,” Baekhyun sputtered with a laugh. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back into his couch. “He keeps saying he isn’t gay and has a girlfriend. in’ liar.”

“But he does have a girlfriend. Her name is Lim Hani. She’s only 23 and she’s a second year grad student at Ehwa Women’s Uni.”

Baekhyun looked legitimately surprised. “No ? I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“He’s had a couple girlfriends over the years…why does it matter to you anyway?” He squinted his eyes with suspicion.

“Don’t worry, Baby Panda, I’m not really interested in the kid himself. I’m just enjoying the chase.”

“And I’m curious…what will you do if you catch him?”

Baekhyun clicked his tongue with disapproval. “It’s not a matter of if but when. You were right about me when you said he’s a shiny new toy. And I want it. But something else distracting will come along.”

Tao cringed. “Kris told you?”

“The Dragon isn’t as silent as you’d think he might be. But never fear. I’m not offended.” He grinned wickedly. “I will play with my new toy, and try as he might to resist, he will give in eventually.”

As a certain look took over Baekhyun’s face Tao couldn’t help but sigh as he always did and wonder. How did I get stuck with you again?

---

About half a week later…

The office was a bustle with sound. The news was blaring from an outdated television, workers yelled across the room, papers were shuffled, sirens whirred outside, file drawers were closed, and leather shoes stomped and squeaked across linoleum tile. All of these sounds should have been a comfort to Kyungsoo, a memory of his not-so-distant past as a desk-jockey. But his discomfort was caused by the fact that he knew he shouldn’t be there, that as a newly formed undercover cop he definitely should not be in the headquarters of the Korean equivalent to the American FBI. And he should definitely not be hiding under a desk.

So when he saw a familiar pair of legs pull out and sit at the desk he was hiding under, he as quietly as possible gained his attention. Unfortunately, that involved quite a jump and squeal of surprise from the man in question.

A face shot under the desk and a pair of scared looking eyes greeted him amongst a crazed mass of brown hair.

“Kyungsoo!” he whispered harshly. “What are you doing here!?”

“Hi, Henry,” he said with a small shy wave and scooted his knees closer to his chest. “Can you sit back and pretend you’re not talking to someone hiding under your desk?”

He frowned but did as he was told. After casually scanning the room to make sure no one had noticed he pretended to log in to his computer.

“How did you even get in here?” he whispered quietly. “The NIS has top level security, even if this floor is only level 3 clearance.”

“You know as well as I do that it has holes. In my case it was the cleaning crew. I came in this morning when they did.”

“You’ve been here for three hours already!?”

“Yeah…mind if I stretch my legs?” He extended them out from under the desk without waiting for an answer.

“Seriously, what are you doing here, Soo? Didn’t you just go undercover? It’s a bit risky to come into a law enforcement office right now don’t you think?”

Even without looking he knew Henry was upset with him. He sighed. “I know that. I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I need your help with a little something.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I need information.”

“Well, I don’t know why you think I can help. The NIS doesn’t carry information on any specific persons and-“

“Can the crap, Henry. Everyone knows about the legendary file rooms here.”

“I don’t know why you didn’t just come here with me, Soo. The NIS could really use an agent like you. With your grades, average police work is beyond you.”

“Yeah, well apparently that’s what my boss thought too,” he laughed dryly. “So can you get me the damn files or not?”

Henry paused. “Who for?”

“His name’s Park Chanyeol and the other is-…actually never mind…just that one.”

“Is this for your case?”

“Yup. My street informant has nothing on him. I want to know where the Byun’s recruited him. He’s definitely Korean, so I doubt the name’s an alias. I want to know if the Byun’s are recruiting out of Hong Kong again and whether I need to contact someone there.”

“…I got it. Wait here and tuck your legs back in. If anyone sees you I’m in big trouble.”

“Thanks, Henry.”

The pair of legs left the desk and Kyungsoo was left to absentmindedly strum his fingers on his knees. Henry was gone for only about ten minutes and when he sat back down the file slipped casually under the desk to Kyungsoo.

“You can look at it but you can’t take it with you.”

He nodded, mentally noting that Henry couldn’t see his action. “I know.”

His eyes skimmed quickly over the page, memorizing it and noting that it really was only one single page. He remembered when he first looked over the Byun file it had been the rough equivalent of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and that had only been the first of many.

Park Chanyeol. 27 Years old. Born November 27th, 1988. Graduated with only average grades from Konkuk University in 2009. Started working for JS Corp the same year. Entry-level position, only managed to get promoted last year. Number cruncher. No access to any important information. No significant money in his bank account.

And that’s the part where it got weird.

He looked to be in debt the past few months. His bank statement and credit card bill showed he spent an unordinary amount of time at the race track and a pachinko parlor. Perhaps the track is where they met, Kyungsoo wondered. The accounts debt magically vanished a few weeks ago.

But by all accounts, Park Chanyeol was explicitly ordinary. Kyungsoo didn’t understand the logic behind it. He had no money, no special skills to speak of, no weapons training, martial arts, or linguistic prowess.