Recently, Choi Junhong had become a nightwalker. 

That wasn't to say he was carrying out illegal activities or purposely looking for trouble in the cover of the night. Far from it. Junhong- or Zelo, as he was better known as- was well aware that the streets of Seoul were dangerous to roam through after the sun had set, even for someone who was part of the CSI. What with the constant acts of theft, violence, harassment, and even murder (the Mockingbird case was a prime example), a person would have to be either very brave or very foolish to walk out alone and unarmed into the depths of night. 

Therefore, the NAA Guardian pistol tucked safely in his waistband holster made Zelo only half-stupid. 

He walked straight ahead on the empty crosswalk, not bothering to wait for the signal to turn green. Who had the time to wait? Certainly not him. Definitely not the agents. The team was running out of time working on the case. They were doing everything they could, yet not a single promising lead had been produced. All they had as evidence was the dead bodies of the little birds, two elderly men, one young woman, one older woman, and... 

'One crime scene inspector.'

Zelo forced himself to stare straight ahead. He began to pick up the pace, going from a steady stride to a slightly hurried lope, as if eager to focus on the burn in his muscles. As if walking faster would help escape the painful thoughts and memories in his mind.

It was becoming a habit, this wandering of the night. On the first night he hadn't even planned on going outside. He'd been laying in bed, waiting for sleep to block out the echo of Sunggyu's announcement in his head. Finally, after unsuccessfully staring at the ceiling for an hour, he'd given up and decided to leave his stuffy room. Zelo didn't exactly know why he was doing this. It was already his fourth night out in a row. The fifth night since Yongguk had died. No, he hadn't died- he'd been murdered. Killed by a cold-blooded murderer; robbed of his life by the heartless, cruel, and possibly inhumane Mockingbird. 

"Hey, what's going on?" Zelo whispered as he took a seat next to Chanyeol. The boss had called together an impromptu meeting, summoning all of the agents available in the building. Normally Zelo didn't attend these debriefings as he was rarely part of a case, but Sunggyu had emphasized his desire for everybody who was inside to be present.

Chanyeol shrugged and peeked at his surroundings. "I don't know. I was looking through Lee Seonwoong's notebooks when I heard the announcement. I didn't even know Sunggyu was holding a meeting today..." Suddenly his face brightened. "Do you think we finally have a lead to follow? Maybe that's why we were called." 

Zelo, too, glanced around. He was the only weaponry agent there, as far as he could see. Chaerin had told him to go on ahead while Yongguk, strangely enough, hadn't even shown up that morning. Maybe he was sick or running late. Still, even with a few people missing the room was almost full. Most of the others looked as clueless as he was; however, there were some agents who wore a grim expression like they knew what was happening. Woohyun, for one, was looking oddly upset for someone as carefree as himself, and beside him Myungsoo was staring straight into space with shock flashing in his eyes... No, not shock. It was more like... what should he call it... devastation?

The weapons technician frowned. He was about to call out Myungsoo's name and ask if he was okay when the door swung open. A hush fell throughout the room as Kim Sunggyu strode inside, walking briskly towards the front board.

The Seoul branch director settled his gaze on his agents without saying a word. A minute passed, then two, then three, soundly ticking away until Zelo grew impatient of waiting. In the back somebody coughed, but still Sunggyu didn't make a sound. It was only after he released a heavy sigh that he started to speak.

"What I'm about to tell you is going to be one of the most difficult things I've ever had to say," Sunggyu began. He slowly glanced from person to person. His voice was low and full of authority as usual, but there was something different about him today. Was it his hair? His clothing? No, those looked the same as usual, emitting the typical no-nonsense style the boss tended to favour...

It was only when Sunggyu looked directly at Zelo that he noticed what it was: his eyes. His eyes, normally shrewd and full of wit, were rimmed red with a tragedy he never would have imagined in his entire life.

"Bang Yongguk was murdered by the killer last night."

He gritted his teeth and abruptly turned the corner. Sunggyu's words had been followed by a moment of shocked and disbelieving silence. Then, as quickly as it had come, it'd been broken by anguished cries from every corner of the room. Not from Zelo, though. All he had done was stare at the director, convinced that he was stuck in some sort of nightmare because really, it wasn't ing possible that Bang Yongguk was dead-

"Ow! What the hell's your problem? Watch where you're going, jerk!" 

Zelo muttered an apology to the woman he'd bumped into. He'd been so lost in his thoughts, he'd barely been paying attention to where he was headed. Releasing a breath, he forced himself to slow his pace and walked on before the woman could make a scene. 

He still couldn't believe that Yongguk had been killed. Bang Yongguk, the man who had taken the young agent under his wing and taught him almost everything he knew about weapons and artillery. Bang Yongguk, the man he'd looked up to as more than just a senior officer. He'd been the strongest man Zelo had known, both inside and out. Not just that, but Yongguk had been his mentor, his guiding light; he'd practically been like family to him...

And now that family was dead. Gone forever. 

What was he going to do now?

It was then that Zelo felt something wet trail down his face. It was hot, salty, and making his vision blurrier by the second. When the water began dripping down his chin he halted in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the curious stares of passing pedestrians. 

"I'll find him," he promised aloud.  The young officer wiped the tears away from his eyes. He wasn't going to cry tonight. No, Zelo was determined to stay strong for the task set before him. "Whoever did this do you, I'll find him and make him pay. You can count on it." 

As if answering his vow, a loud noise emitted from across the road. Zelo instinctively swung his head to see what it was. Two people, maybe a few years or so older than himself, were standing on the sidewalk. They were right in front of each other, with one of them holding the other's jacket in a tight grip. It was almost like a scene from a modern romanticism painting: the couple, both motionless, were locked in what seemed to be an intimate kiss. Zelo couldn't see them very well in the dim lighting, but there was something almost familiar about the pair. Sort of like he'd seen them from somewhere before.

'They kinda look like those two... Myungsoo and Sungyeol,' he mused absentmindedly. Zelo gave them another disinterested glance before turning to the street that led to his apartment. Suddenly exhausted, all he wanted to do now was go to sleep and forget about life for a while. 

On the other side of the street, Kim Myungsoo released his grip on Lee Sungyeol's coat. He took a panicked step backwards and stared. The buzz from the alcohol was quickly fading away, allowing his mind to focus on one single question: what had he just done?

Myungsoo took another unsteady step back. "That was- I didn't mean-" He fumbled for an explanation, an excuse, anything that would clean up the mess he'd just created. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't come up with a single sentence that sounded even half-reasonable. What was there to say? Hi there, I'm sort of drunk and losing my mind at the moment. Let's pretend the past two minutes never happened. It didn't mean anything, anyways.

But the thing was, he wasn't really drunk and it did mean something to him.

Sungyeol looked back at him, face as impassive as ever. With his eyes shadowed by the dark, there was no chance of knowing what he was thinking. Was he shocked? Furious? Puzzled? Did he completely hate Myungsoo's guts or did he just think the ravenet was an intoxicated idiot? It was at times like this that Myungsoo wished more than anything that he could read minds. Even as a detective, guessing games had never been a favourite of his.

Taking a shaky breath, Myungsoo attempted to speak again. But this time, before he could open his mouth, movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. On the other side of the road a tall, gangly figure was disappearing down the street, and from around a corner a group of boisterous, possibly drunken students was emerging. Their rowdy laughter was loud enough to shatter the private little world the two agents had made for themselves. 

"And then he said to me, I'll lend you my car for a month if you can drink all this beer in two minutes!"

"Tried to down the entire pitcher in thirty seconds, this ..."

"I don't blame him, it's a pretty sweet ride-"

Myungsoo felt a grimace twist his mouth. There was no way he could talk to Sungyeol out in the open. Not with these distractions. Not only did he have to explain his actions- just what had he been thinking?- but he also had a burning desire to know what had happened to the younger man and why he'd been AWOL for the past few days. To say those types of conversations weren't meant to be discussed in public was putting it mildly.

As if noticing the elder's distress, Sungyeol gave a barely perceptible sigh. He jerked his head over his shoulder and began limping in the direction opposite of the noisy students. "Come. I live only three blocks away from here." 

"Wha- You're going home?" Myungsoo asked, bemused. What was happening? Was Lee Sungyeol, the secluded, private, mind-your-own-business man really inviting him to his house? It should have startled him, but in retrospect, Myungsoo had long since passed that point. The night was just full of surprises. 

Sungyeol didn't look back but his low voice was as clear as day. "You obviously have things to say and questions to ask. I don't know about you, but if you're going to badger me, I'd much rather you do it where we don't have a chance of being overheard."

Without waiting for a reply, he continued walking away from their unexpected meeting spot. It was at a slower pace as his injuries made it difficult to move normally, but he still made it about ten steps ahead before Myungsoo finally began to follow. He caught up to the newcomer and gave him a side glance, taking careful note of how the passing streetlights threw his healing cuts into greater detail. He winced at how grisly some of them looked. For a brief moment he considered propping Sungyeol's arm around his shoulders and helping him to walk, but brushed the idea off. Sungyeol would have just pushed him away anyways.

They didn't speak another word until they'd reached the door of the apartment.

---------------------

Sungyeol flickered the lights on and gestured for Myungsoo to enter. "After you," he said dryly, but any sarcasm was lost by the following grimace of pain. 

Myungsoo warily eyed his companion before walking into the living room. He let his gaze roam around his surroundings, feeling grudgingly curious about the type of home Sungyeol occupied. It was a single bedroom apartment with an interior to match the newcomer's personality. There was a basic set of black and white furniture complete with a sofa, coffee table, and small television, but that was it. No photographs, no potted plants, no decorative figurines; nothing to indicate personal taste or a sense of character.

In other words, this place suited Lee Sungyeol just fine.

"Nice home," was all Myungsoo said as he took a seat on the couch. He could feel himself sobering up- it was as if his previous buzz had completely fizzled out of his system. The bravado provided by the alcohol had long since disappeared, leaving behind an exhaustion he knew sleep wouldn't be able to cure.

"Hn," Sungyeol grunted in reply. He dragged himself over to the windows and quickly checked the locks, as if wanting to be absolutely certain of his apartment's security. When he returned to where Myungsoo was, he flickered his eyes over to the coffee table before sitting down on the other side of the couch. 

Myungsoo, too, glanced at the table. He was mildly surprised to see a CSI badge laying motionless on the glass surface. Sungyeol must have left it here before leaving on his little trip. Huh. Why hadn't he taken it with him? A detective's badge could be incredibly useful at times, serving as proof of authority or a beacon of safety... Unless, for some unknown reason, he hadn't wanted to associate himself with the law...

The raven-haired man was suddenly reminded of an unpleasant thought. "They think you're the killer. The Mockingbird."

Sungyeol said nothing. 

Myungsoo continued, "Last I heard, it was mostly Chen and Kahi who were really suspicious of you. They think you may have a connection to Park Kyung, the partner of the trafficker who provided the birds to the killer. If you ask me, they were grasping at straws with no real evidence to back up their claims. But they- and possibly other agents- are starting to get desperate. I have a feeling that until they find a new lead or are forced to admit your innocence, you won't be 100% crossed off the list."

Still, Sungyeol remained silent.

In the room, the only noise that could be heard was the faint screech of tires as cars zipped to and fro outside. Although Myungsoo's words had been loud and clear, he suspected that his companion hadn't really been listening to him. Sungyeol's hands were clasped and he was staring straight ahead, eyes giving no hint as to what he was thinking inside. Myungsoo took the chance to glance over the newcomer's injuries again. Most of the blood looked dried and flaky, meaning his cuts had closed, but everything still appeared broken somehow. Raw. The cuts and bruises looked as though they were causing him constant discomfort, like a wasp that was trying over and over again to pierce the barrier of the skin.

And that was just the outside. Judging by the way he'd been limping, Myungsoo wouldn't be surprised to know if Sungyeol had a few cracked ribs or a sprained, if not fractured, ankle.

Should he take the beaten man to the hospital? That would have been the best option, but he knew if he suggested the idea it would only be shot down, no room for argument. Myungsoo gave him another look-over before resuming the conversation. "We need to clean your wounds."

Just as he'd expected, Sungyeol refused. "These are only scratches. I'll be fine." 

"Scratches?" Myungsoo shot him a disbelieving look. "You have blood all over your clothes and open wounds the size of my hand. Do you think I'm blind or something? What even happened to you, anyways?" He swept his eyes along the room in hopes of finding a first aid kit, but came up short. The older inspector debated with himself for a moment, then stood from his seat. He headed into the open bathroom he'd seen beside the kitchen. By now, he figured he was the exception to house guest etiquette. As quickly as he could, he dampened a clean towel with warm water, then found a bottle of rubbing alcohol and roll of unused bandages in the sink cupboard. Armed with his makeshift medical arsenal, Myungsoo returned to where the apartment's owner was sitting wordlessly on the couch. 

"Here," Myungsoo said brusquely. Without thinking he pressed the towel against Sungyeol's bloody cheek, trying to wipe away the rust-like stains. An arm immediately shot up and grasped him by the wrist, preventing him from making another move.

"I think I can clean myself," murmured Sungyeol. He took hold of the cloth and started to wipe his face, hand moving with fluid, nimble motions. 

"Oh- Sorry." Slightly flustered, Myungsoo tried to hide his embarrassment by placing the disinfectant and bandages on the coffee table. Why was he so out of it today? He wasn't normally prone to idiocy, but right now he felt like a world-class fool. He knew he should have just gone straight home from work. Nothing good ever came out of drinking... But then again, he wouldn't have run into Sungyeol on the street...

He shook the thoughts out of his head and cleared his throat. "So. Are you going to tell me what happened?"

It was only when Sungyeol had reached the cuts on his neck that he began his story at last. 

"When I was a young child, my parents died in an accident. I was told they were killed on a boating trip near Jeju Island. I don't remember everything, but I do recall not particularly caring about the details. I know the date: November 21st, not that it matters. To me, my mother and father were caretakers who had very little contact with me. I'm not sure why. Perhaps they wanted to enjoy a life without a child to look after. Perhaps they assumed I would do well alone, without them. But it doesn't matter anymore. Now they're nothing more than a distant memory and an obligation to remember." 

Myungsoo slid his gaze towards Sungyeol's face. His expression, now free from dried blood, was as apathetic as ever, but he thought he could see a sliver of emotion flickering in his eyes. 'You're the same as me,' he thought, but didn't dare say this aloud. For the first time since they had visited the church together, he was beginning to understand the mystery known as Lee Sungyeol.

Sungyeol continued, "At that time I had no other relatives to take me in. I was put into a foster home, but ended up staying with them until I decided to leave. It was the home of a single mother and her son. The mother was kind to me. She adopted me a year after I came into her care. But the son..." His voice suddenly hardened. "He was also part of my adoptive family. But not once did I ever see him as a brother figure."

"Park Kyung," Myungsoo said quietly. His mind was running a mile a minute putting the pieces together. Lee Sungyeol and Park Kyung, adopted brothers. That explained why Sungyeol had disappeared when learning about the connection to the black market dealer. Whatever had happened between the two of them, Myungsoo suspected was bad. Just thinking about Park Kyung was evidently enough for Sungyeol to clench his jaw and stare into space with that hateful light raging in his eyes.

To put it simply, it was the most emotion Sungyeol had displayed since the day he had joined the work force. 

Sungyeol gave a curt nod. "You may think you have a good idea of the type of person he is. A trafficker. A black market dealer. A man who's made his home underground and both openly toys with and ignores the law. But what you're unaware of is exactly how dangerous he is, and everything he's capable of once he puts his mind to it.

"I knew he wasn't normal from the moment we met. When I first stepped inside the house, he was waiting to greet me. He smiled and said hello, welcoming me like the dutiful son his mother expected him to be. But the look in his eyes..." Sungyeol tightened his fist. "It was excited. Thrilled. As if I was a new plaything he couldn't wait to break and destroy into pieces."

Myungsoo took a few moments to process Sungyeol's story. "What exactly did he do to you? Was there anything..." he hesitated, trying to find a word that wouldn't mark him as insensitive. He didn't want to say anything that could possibly trigger an emotional reaction from the injured man.

Sungyeol twisted his lips. "No. It was never ual, if that's what you mean. He wasn't interested in assaulting me that way." He tossed the bloody towel onto the coffee table, not bothering to clean the rest of his injuries. 

"To him, it was all about pain. Kyung was fascinated with it. He liked the idea of testing the human body and seeing how far their physical and mental boundaries could be pushed. He called it curiosity, but I knew he was nothing more than a sick-minded, sadistic bastard. I've lost count of the number of times he cut me, burned me, hung me upside down, held my head underwater, and even tried to find my pressure points with senbon needles."

Myungsoo listened, feeling more than slightly nauseous. To think somebody would even dream of hurting a child in such a way... His heart gave a vicious twist when he thought of all the terrible abuse Sungyeol was forced to endure. How on earth had he survived everything?

As if sensing the older agent's distress, Sungyeol released a little sigh. "Stop. I don't need your pity. It's all in the past. Obviously I learned to handle it, or I wouldn't be here now. I was fine." 

"Are you serious? You were fine?" Myungsoo straightened his spine. Hearing Sungyeol's defensive- no, careless- remark made a rush of anger shoot through his veins. "You were abused to such extremes and you're telling me you were okay? You were just a kid! I'm surprised you're even still alive! How can you tell me that you were fine despite it all?"

Sungyeol glanced in his direction. His eyes were shadowed by the dim light, making it impossible once again for Myungsoo to guess what he was thinking. "I can't say he wanted to seriously hurt me," he said in a low voice. "Don't believe that I'm trying to defend him, because that's the last thing I will ever do if I can help it. Yes, he was abusive, but he also knew when to draw the line. That was the greatest irony, the fact that he still wanted me to live. A year after I arrived at that house, my adoptive mother suffered a heart attack and passed away. Kyung had just turned the legal age, so I was left in his care. That was when he began teaching me how to survive. How to live with not only the pain inflicted by him, but with the ones inflicted by the world, as well."

After a minute of silence, Myungsoo asked quietly, "Is he the person you told me and Yongguk about? The one who taught you so much about weapons?"

"You have a good memory." Sungyeol's tone was clipped. "Yes, that's him. I owe my knowledge and possibly career to the one person I wish never to be in debt to." 

"How did you get away from him then? Did social services find out what was happening?"

The younger detective stared at the dirty towel. "Not social services. It was an uncle of mine from my mother's side. Six years after I'd been living with Kyung, he somehow managed to contact me. He'd been living in England and only recently heard news of my parents' deaths, so he decided to move back here immediately to look after me. I agreed and cut off all ties with Kyung. It's been thirteen years since I left him, and I haven't seen or heard from him in that time."

Myungsoo shuddered at the very thought. "You stayed with him for six years..."

"I had no one else to depend on." Sungyeol almost spat out the word, as if the taste of it filled his mouth with rot. It was obvious that he detested and found difficult the idea of relying on other people. "Like you said, I was nothing but a child. What else could I do? Live on the streets? Despite everything I wanted to survive, to live on. So I stayed with him."

"And then thirteen years later, you decide to go back to the man who gave you hell and then some." Myungsoo grimaced. "I still can't believe you went off alone. What were you thinking? I don't care if you think he wanted you to live; he could have killed you! Are you out of your mind?"

In a terse voice, Sungyeol replied, "I thought he was the murderer. Woohyun mentioned he was involved in the case somehow. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The savage killings seemed too similar to his style." 

"Still, that doesn't explain why you went by yourself. Why didn't you at least tell us?"

Just as he'd suspected, Sungyeol refused to answer.

Realization dawned upon Myungsoo. "You were going to kill him, weren't you? You were going to kill Park Kyung."

"I wasn't going to kill him." For the first time since they'd met, Sungyeol showed signs of hesitation. It was faint, but the lines around his eyes betrayed his uncertainty. "I was just going to talk to him."

"Right. Just to chat." Myungsoo shook his head in disbelief. "Either way, you still disappeared to find a criminal who's more than capable of killing you." He was aware of the edge creeping into his voice, but he made no attempt to hide it. He was tired, he was frustrated, and Lee Sungyeol was giving him the biggest headache he had ever given him before. If Myungsoo was angry, then it, he wasn't going to censor it for a rookie who only thought of himself.

Sungyeol responded just as sharply, "We were getting nowhere with the case. I thought that if anything, I would be able to get information out of him. He was Kwon Jiyong's partner, if you've forgotten. It was possible that he knew about the buyer of the mockingbirds. Not to mention he's one of the biggest dealers in the black market. He knows everything that happens underground, so there was an extremely high chance of him knowing something connected to the case."

"And you thought he would just tell you?" Myungsoo shot back. "Did you really think that after thirteen years of no contact, he would give you the information just like that? From what I've gathered, Park Kyung seems like a goddamn psycho who doesn't give a rat's about people." Myungsoo didn't swear often- he prided himself on his ability to resist Nam Woohyun's bad influence- but the thought of Sungyeol's lone journey made his blood pressure rise to threatening levels. "That's what makes him so dangerous, isn't it? It's not that he hurts people, but that he can and has no qualms about it. He doesn't care that he's spilling the blood of another human being. We're just objects for him to push and play with, maybe dissect after we're dead. In other words, he's the one who's not human." 

Sungyeol's voice had returned to being toneless. "So you can understand why I believed he was the killer." 

There was another silence. Myungsoo stared at his CSI partner, suddenly feeling at a loss for words. He was still furious at Sungyeol's lack of interest in his own safety, and the fact that he had left on his own without telling anybody. Nonetheless, at least Sungyeol had made the effort to tell him everything. That alone was a huge improvement on the newcomer's aloof and distant mask he always wore. Myungsoo forced himself to forget his anger and continue the conversation in a civil manner. He'd learned over the years that speaking with a hot temper wasn't always the best way to go. "How did you get away from him? I doubt he just let you skip out of his office once the two of you were done." 

"You'd be surprised." Sungyeol curled his lips into a thin smile, but there was no trace of humour to be found. "He said he was busy and had other matters to attend, so I left. In my opinion, he grew bored of his little game. Kyung is a black market criminal but has the personality of a self-absorbed child." He then turned to Myungsoo and looked directly at his face.

"But I think the real question you should ask yourself is, why do you believe me? What's stopping you from dismissing my story and handing me to the authorities?"

Myungsoo returned his unwavering stare. He remembered once how, on a particularly restless night, he'd compared Sungyeol's eyes to a one-way mirror. Always observing what others did, but never giving a hint as to what he felt inside. But now, sitting on his couch and listening to him talk, Myungsoo thought he was finally able to see past those mirror eyes. Yongguk had told him that Sungyeol needed somebody to tear away his cold mask, to break down the walls surrounding his heart. The agent had been skeptical then, but now he fully understood what those words meant.

He briefly closed his eyes. "Because of my intuition. Like a certain weaponry agent was fond of saying, an investigation is 10% fact and 90% instinct." He picked up the badge from the table surface, then pressed it into the hands of his silent partner.

A sudden ringtone broke the hush of the room. Startled by the shrill volume, Myungsoo reached into his pocket to take his singing mobile out. "Hello?"

"You piece of , where the hell are you? Don't tell me you're still getting air. Did you seriously just ditch us here?"

Woohyun. Myungsoo cursed his own foolishness. He had completely forgotten about his friends at the bar.

"Sorry, sorry." He could picture it in his mind- Woohyun would be scowling at his phone and Sunggyu would have his head slumped on the table, both red in the face with empty glasses surrounding them. "Something came up and I had to leave. I'll pay you back later, don't worry."

Perhaps it was the seriousness in Myungsoo's voice that made Woohyun immediately lose his irritation. "What happened? Is it something about the case? Or did..." His voice trailed off, but they both knew what he was going to ask about.

"I'll tell you later." Myungsoo gave a side glance to the auburn-haired man. He was still holding onto his CSI badge, griping it as if it was the buoy that kept him from drowning in a sea of turbulence. "Just make sure you and Sunggyu get home in one piece. We have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow."

"We spend a night out drinking and you expect us to even show up at work? You're worse than Gyu," grumbled Woohyun, but his jab was halfhearted. He sounded as though he was distracted by what Myungsoo had to tell him. 

Exchanging farewells, Myungsoo ended the call and turned back to Sungyeol.

"So. What are you going to do now? Go back to work and act like nothing happened?"

Sungyeol gave no answer. However, in contrast to the other times he had been quiet, it seemed that this time he was actually contemplating Myungsoo's question in his head. 

When it was clear that he wasn't going to offer anything, Myungsoo continued. "I think you should stay here for a while. You're only going to raise suspicion if you walk into HQ like that. Give yourself time to recover. If you're not going to see a doctor, then at least treat your wounds properly. In the meantime, I'll talk to Woohyun about this. We can trust him. He believes in you, as well."

Again, there was no reply. Myungsoo looked down to check the time on his watch, when Sungyeol suddenly broke the silence with an unexpected remark.

"You said you didn't mean it."

"What?" Myungsoo looked blankly at the other agent.

Sungyeol repeated, "Back on the street, you said you didn't mean it. When you kissed me. Or have you forgotten about it already?"

"Oh- That..." Myungsoo was taken aback. As embarrassed as he was, it actually had slipped his mind, what with everything he had heard about Park Kyung. "I mean... Well, I was drinking and needed to clear my head, and then I just ran into you and..."

Sungyeol almost seemed amused at his flustered state. "I'm guessing it was a mistake on your part, so I won't mention it again." Placing the badge on the table, he stood up and grabbed the used towel. "If you can't hold your liquor, I suggest you keep an eye on your alcohol intake next time."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Sorry." Myungsoo forced out a laugh, but inside he knew. Sungyeol was wrong. He may have kissed him on impulse, but it hadn't been a mistake.

It had been just right.

[A/N] A Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year's in advance! I hope all of you lovely people are enjoying your holidays! Thank you to everyone who's still keeping up with this miserable story, you are truly fabulous ❤