Music: Exo - Monster instrumental

              Baekhyun and K Will - The Day

              Exo - Heaven

Baekhyun doesn’t know what makes him do it. He had never really been a fan of the Physical Exercises, all that unnecessary mess. Today though, he reaches out and places a hand on Kyungsoo’s collarbones and the heat of his palm sears through his clothes burning his skin through. Kyungsoo steps back away from him eyes growing wide in surprise but Baekhyun follows behind, pressing his hand even more firmly into the exposed flesh and Kyungsoo steps back, back, back his lips pursed in a hard grimace till his back hits the wall. His head bangs against the wall and his lips part in a wordless gasp. 

“You want to play with me, Kyungsoo? Alright. Let’s play.” Baekhyun grins as he moves his hand downwards, closer and closer to Kyungsoo’s heart. “I’m going to burn your heart white, a place all for myself.”  A low keen escapes Kyungsoo’s lips and it send a thrill skittering over Baekhyun’s skin. He hasn’t felt this alive in some time. 

“Please.”Kyungsoo pants. His hands come up to clutch at Baekhyun’s hand, fingers wrapping around fingers desperately.

Baekhyun laughs. 

“What? Finally scaring you, am I? Do you know what they call me, Kyungsoo?”

He bends down towards Kyungsoo. “They call me the Monster.” 

Kyungsoo gasps something inaudible. 

“What? A monster? I have been trying to tell this to you, all this time. But you don’t listen very well, do you, Kyungsoo?” He curves a finger inwards, letting it sink into Kyungsoo’s already singed flesh. But now maybe you will.” 

He presses his advantage. Wrapping his free hand around Kyungsoo’s jaw and forcing his eyes to meet his eyes, pushing, pushing in, forcing his way in. The whiteness is undeniable but it’s wavering in pain, with Kyungsoo’s attention distracted elsewhere. Baekhyun pushes forward, relentlessly, and he feels tearing, tearing, spurts of blood everywhere spilling and gushing out in Kyungsoo’s mind, he hears Kyungsoo’s mind drown in it’s own blood, gasping and wheezing, trying to clutch desperately for a little bit of whiteness to hide behind.  It’s too late now, too late. Baekhyun focuses on the voice he heard the other day in Kyungsoo’s memories, sniffing it out in his head. One last push and a gush of blood and he bursts clears into Kyungsoo’s memories. 

“…... . .” Kyungsoo kicks the tires of his now useless car. Something under the hood of his jeep is smoking almost aggressively and he knows well enough not to step near it. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. A broken vehicle is not something he could afford right now. Not when he is running out of time. This is… bad timing. It’s already close to midnight, daybreak wasn’t that far away. There are no taxies around, and no point of calling a designated driver over to a broken car.

“You look like you need a little help.” a cheerful voice calls out from  behind him. It’s the voice, Baekhyun recognizes that easily enough. Kyungsoo squeezes his eyes shut. 

“No, thanks.” he grunts. “I’m fine.”

“Aww, come on, now, that’s not the voice of someone who’s voice says fine.”

“And that is not the voice of someone I would be asking favors from.”

“Aaaaaand why not?” the voice sounds mock offended now, almost sulky. 

“I saw you today. I was watching you. I saw you with those men, then those Church ladies and those school kids. How much money did you manage to steal?” Kyungsoo tilts his head, looking at the blurred image of a man leaning against a car reflected in his front window. Said man tilts his head back let’s out a lilting laugh, entirely unrepentant of his crimes. 

“A lot. Enough to fuel my new fancy ride on a long journey cross country.” 

“That’s not your ride, though, is it?”

“It is. At least until I snatch the keys of something fancier.” 

Kyungsoo sighs. He is late. Very late. He is not supposed to leave and just travel without permission, without security. Getting caught would be… unpleasant to say the least. He straightens and looks up. The door of the diner opens and music wafts out along with laughter. A road sign creeks lazily above his head, WE MEET BY ACCIDENT, it reads in red, English letters. 

“Fine.”

More laughter. When he turns around the man is already walking towards the drivers seat, almost smugly swinging his hips. Kyungsoo seats and buckles himself in carefully, avoiding looking at the man. He is not very good at being around strangers, or people in general, but the other seems entirely fine with it. 

“Where to, Fancy Pants?”

Kyungsoo grits his teeth and tells himself that he doesn’t have the luxury of being picky right now.

“Apgujeong, Seoul.” 

An impressed whistle. “You’d think someone from Gangnam could afford a car that doesn’t break down though.” 

“Just drive.” Kyungsoo leans his head against the headrest and pretends to sleep as the man next to him chortles and launches into yet another string of chitter chatter. When he opens his eyes, after what feels like only a few minutes, there is sunlight in his face. He glances down at his watch, 6am, a time when even the club hoppers and the tweens are asleep. A cursory glance and he knows the vehicle is parked near a popular department store in Apgujeong, a few minutes drive away from his apartment. The loud mouthed man is no where to be seen but the car keys are sitting in the drivers seat. 

It is only when he drives himself home and pretends to wake up when Secretary Ahn buzzes at the door that he realizes - his wallet has been emptied of all his credit cards and his cash, the whole 2000 dollars of it, save for a messy handwritten note on the back of grocery store bill. “You snore when you sleep. Might need to get that checked out, Fancy Pants.” 

Baekhyun blinks as the memory fades and he feels Kyungsoo’s attempt to push him but he holds on fast, following that voice, following it because that is the only Kyungsoo’s memories seemed to be grounded on, and he is standing in front of a fountain. Head bowed staring at dying roses. It’s quite peaceful here, even though it is a lot more noisy than what he is used to. You would think it would make him feel a little less lonely but it doesn’t. Because everything he hears seems to come in pairs. Sounds of people, of birds, of vehicles, nothing seems as alone as he had been, all throughout his life, growing up as who he was. 

He likes escaping to places that has him surrounded by other people and their lives, but once you know that kind of loneliness it never does really leave you. It clings, sticky, to your very pores and refuses to let go, even in the face of a million opportunities to be a little less lonely. Baekhyun remembers this well from before, Baekhyun remembers this memory, this loneliness. 

“Fancy Pants! I thought it was you!” Kyungsoo’s heart jumps, in that light skitter-y way it does when you hear the voice of someone you recognize in a crowd full of strangers. 

There is a strange feeling of anticipation in Kyungsoo even before he turns around and Baekhyun feels an echo of it thrum beneath his skin. Baekhyun stares, through Kyungsoo’s eyes, at Kyungsoo’s World, with just as much anticipation as Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo twists, his eyes widening in surprise, even though a part of his already knows who this voice belongs to, and Baekhyun holds his breath… just a little bit more, just a little bit more before he has a complete Story. Kyungsoo stumbles a little over his own feet in his sudden twist and laughter ring out, the same brighten from his night drive. 

And there he is. There he is, Baekhyun thinks, his eyes drinking in the figure of the person Kyungsoo’s memories are tied to. Kyungsoo gasps, as yet another white white barrier he had put up in his head rupture open. 

There he is. Just a little taller than Kyungsoo himself,  dressed in ripped jeans and a baggy white Tshirt that probably was someone else’s, eyes wrinkled and lips curved into an impish smile.

“Helloooooo, angel,” he starts singing suddenly. “그림 같아, 하늘을 보면 너만 보여…..!!!!” He adds in various hand gestures and hip swings to match, walking towards Kyungsoo. “City street lights 불이 꺼지고, 달이 사라져도 눈이 부신 건, 하늘이 떨어트린 별, 그게 바로 너니까 .(Hello angel, you’re like a painting, You’re all I see when I look to the skies, City street lights, even if the lights go out, And the moon disappears, it’s bright because, I have a star that fell from the skies, And it’s you.” Passersby are stopping to stare, some are giggling, pointing and even whipping out there cameras to record. The boy continues, laughing, as if he himself is the funniest thing in the world. 

“What. What are you doing?” Kyungsoo hisses, embarrassed . The boy laughs, twirling around Kyungsoo and climbing up on to the edge of the fountain and throwing his arms wide. “너에게 저 하늘은 모든 것을 다 주고, 나에게 이 세상은 너를 준 거야….!!” (The sky gave you everything. And this world gave me you) “Join me!”  The crowd cheers and he g