The first thing Baekhyun noticed when he woke up was that he was very warm, and very comfortable. He snuggled closer into the warmth for a few moments, then promptly turned into a tomato when he realized what the source was. Chanyeol was still sleeping soundly, one arm laid protectively over Baekhyun’s waist. Baekhyun was curled up against the taller man, his head tucked under Chanyeol’s chin. His first instinct when he realized all of this was to pull away, but he stopped himself. He felt comfortable and safe and really why shouldn’t he let Chanyeol hold him like this?  He liked it, liked Chanyeol, and he found that all but his tiniest bit of reluctance was gone. The way Chanyeol had cared for him last night, had seen him at his worst and still stayed, it was all Baekhyun could ever ask for. For the first time, he truly didn’t want to be with Tao. He wanted to be with Chanyeol, and only Chanyeol. It was a surprising realization, but pleasantly so.

He decided to just lay here with Chanyeol, to enjoy this for as long as it took the younger man to wake up. Eventually though this allowed for his train of thought to drift towards the reason they had ended up like this, and he gave an involuntary shudder as memories of the nightmare surfaced. The more he considered it, the more he didn’t think it was a nightmare at all. It had been too real, he had been called ‘Chullie’ and even his voice had sounded different. It had been far closer to a memory than a dream, with one glaring exception: the memory definitely did not belong to him. But then, why was he dreaming of it in the first place? He had no answer for that, and that bothered him more than anything.

“Mmm… Baekhyun?” Chanyeol murmured, blinking sleepily at the man in his arms as he slowly began to wake.

“Morning,” Baekhyun said, smiling softly. He reluctantly started to pull away from Chanyeol, knowing that they couldn’t lie in bed all morning, and sat up. He didn’t even know what time it was, but they had to be at the office at some point to continue the evidence review.

“Good morning, you look happier. No more nightmares?” Chanyeol asked, returning the smile. He sat up as well, stretching his arms above his head for a moment. Then he glanced at the clock on the nightstand behind Baekhyun. “Um… I think we were supposed to be at the office like an hour ago.”

“No nightmares,” Baekhyun confirmed, then turned his head to check the time. His eyes widened when he saw it. “Crap, yes we were. Sehun is probably sitting there wondering if we died or something.”

“Well, nothing we can do about it now. Wanna take a quick shower? I can just change in the other room, then I’ll make us something for breakfast while you’re getting ready,” Chanyeol offered, already moving to get out of bed.

“Should I trust you in my kitchen?” Baekhyun asked, eyebrow raised. He stood up and headed over to his dresser, picking out clothes for the day. “Need something to wear?”

“What do you think I’m going to do, blow it up? I’m not Kyungsoo, but I can manage,” Chanyeol replied, walking over and pushing Baekhyun’s shoulder playfully. “Nah, while sleep clothes are fine, I don’t think your normal-sized jeans will fit a giant. I can just wear what I had on yesterday, no big deal.”

Baekhyun’s only response was an eye-roll, though he was still smiling. He gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom, while Chanyeol left the room and went to the other bedroom where he had left his own clothes. He changed quickly, then went into the kitchen to see what Baekhyun had. It was nothing fancy, but he managed to put together a breakfast of toast and eggs without catching anything on fire. Baekhyun finished his shower and came out a few minutes later, and they ate as fast as possible. They decided to just leave the dishes in the sink for later, wanting to get over to the office as soon as they could. Just as Chanyeol went to open the front door though, Baekhyun stopped him, reaching out for the taller man’s hand.

“Is this okay?” Baekhyun asked shyly, looking down a little. He had slid his hand into Chanyeol’s, gripping the slightly longer fingers with his own.

“Of course it is,” Chanyeol said, grinning. He squeezed Baekhyun’s hand slightly in what he hoped was a reassuring way. “Why though?”

“I… I don’t know, I just wanted to.” Baekhyun still wasn’t looking at Chanyeol, and now his face was coloring, though he tried to stop the blush. Taking a steadying breath, he forced himself to look up. “I like you, Chanyeol. I think I’m ready to say that now.”

Chanyeol’s mouth dropped open a bit, not having expected the sudden confession. “Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you, if you need more time you can have it.”

“I’m sure,” Baekhyun nodded, tightening his grip on Chanyeol’s hand. “It would still be good to take things slowly for now, but… if you still want to, I’d really like it if we could, you know… date.”

“Baekhyun, I’ve wanted that for the past month and a half, that hasn’t changed,” Chanyeol said, reaching up to brush his free hand lightly against Baekhyun’s cheek. “If you want it too, then of course we can. Nothing would make me happier.”

“Good. That makes you my boyfriend now, right? And since you are…” Baekhyun trailed off, seeming to debate with himself for a moment. Then, cheeks turning even redder, he leaned up slightly and pressed his lips to Chanyeol’s. As far as first kisses went, it wasn’t exactly perfect and magical like they are in the movies. Chanyeol was so stunned that he didn’t even respond, staring at Baekhyun with wide eyes even when the older man pulled away. But then, his face broke out into a stupid grin, one that didn’t leave his face even as they walked into the office thirty minutes later. Baekhyun was equally pleased, not even caring much about the knowing looks Sehun and Kai (who must have gotten roped into doing evidence review when they didn’t show up on time) gave them when they showed up for evidence review together holding hands.

Unfortunately, the good mood couldn’t last forever, and the giddy look was wiped right off of Baekhyun’s face about two hours after they had arrived. Kai had found a great piece of evidence on one of the DVR cameras, and Baekhyun tried to look as excited as the other three were, but inside he wished they had never found it.

“Maybe we should try doing some EVP work?” Suho suggested, vaguely recalling voices being one of the claims for this particular area. “Didn’t they say an inmate committed suicide in one of these cells?”

“Yeah, in cell fifteen I believe,” Kyungsoo confirmed. “It was one of the last deaths to ever take place here. Apparently the guy caught his lover cheating on him, then went crazy and killed his lover along with the person they cheated with. I guess he was overcome by the guilt though, and killed himself six months into his sentence. That was in 1988, less than a year before the prison was closed.”

“Wow, that’s tragic,” Suho said, frowning. Suddenly there was a loud bang, seemingly from the direction of the cell they had just mentioned. “Huh, guess he heard us talking about him.”

They could all hear the bang, which in itself was interesting. But not nearly as interesting as what happened once Suho and Kyungsoo had left the cell and started to leave the cell block. Almost as soon as their backs were turned, a black shadow in the general shape and size of a person exited the cell after them. It stood there for a minute, seeming to watch the pair as they walked away, then turned and headed for the door at the other end of the block. Right towards the stairs that led down to the cell block Baekhyun and Chanyeol had investigated. Baekhyun felt a chill run down his spine as the puzzle pieces started to come together. The story, the dreams, the presence in the cell… somehow, he knew that the person he had encountered was the ‘Chullie’ person from his nightmare. He just didn’t know what exactly it all meant yet.

He managed to plaster a smile on his face when he noticed Chanyeol giving him a worried look, hoping that his boyfriend – boyfriend, he would have to get used to saying that – wouldn’t ask about it. He didn’t want to worry anyone when he wasn’t even completely sure what was going on, especially Chanyeol who worried enough over him as it was. Fortunately Kai and Sehun didn’t seem to notice, the pair having gone back to watching and listening to the tapes once the excitement was over. Baekhyun went back to what he was watching as well, once it was clear that Chanyeol wasn’t going to say anything for now. The group spent a few more hours going over things before they finally finished, finding only a few more strange noises and one possible EVP for evidence. Suho and Kyungsoo came by around then to see if they had found anything, and were pleased with what the other four had to show them. They decided they would go meet with the client in a few days to present their findings, certain that the prison’s employees would be both happy to know they weren’t crazy and relieved to know that nothing at the prison appeared to be harmful. Baekhyun wasn’t very sure that was true, but he chose not to say anything. Besides, if he was right in his suspicions – and he really, really hoped he was not – then there really wasn’t anything dangerous in the prison, not anymore.

As they were all getting ready to leave, Baekhyun noticed Chanyeol trying to catch his eye, probably wanting to ask about earlier. He pretended that he didn’t see and left the building as quickly as possible, getting in his car and driving off before Chanyeol had even made it to the sidewalk. He felt horrible for blowing him off when they had just gotten together that morning, but he needed to get this new problem figured out first, and he didn’t want Chanyeol involved if it had the potential to be dangerous. Not for the first time that day he cursed his luck, wondering why something else just had to happen when he had finally figured out the issue with the pendant.

When he got home, the first thing he did was open up his computer and start searching. His grandfather was completely forgotten as he looked frantically for anything about the supposed murderer who killed himself in the prison. It took several hours, but he eventually found what he was looking for, and his heart sank. There were two articles, both of them confirming what part of him had already known. His nightmare had been a memory, a memory belonging to Kim Heechul – the inmate who committed suicide, the person whose voice he had heard both in that cell and in his dream.

Two Men Murdered in Local Hotel

A terrible tragedy befell the town last night after two men were found stabbed to death in the room they had been sharing at the Shining Star Hotel. Police were called to the hotel when the front desk received reports of odd sounds and screams coming from a room on the second floor, but when they arrived the men were already dead. The victims were Siwon Choi (26) and Geng Han (28), who checked into the hotel at around 9pm last night. The estimated time of death is 1:30am, half an hour before the police showed up. The culprit is believed to be Heechul Kim (28), the man having been found at the scene still covered in blood. His fingerprints were also found on the murder weapon, and the police think that perhaps he intended to be caught and punished. It appears that Mr. Kim was Mr. Han’s lover, and that the victims were having an affair which Mr. Kim discovered last night. Mr. Kim admitted to committing the murders out of jealousy, and will be held without bail until he is sentenced.

- written by Jungsu Park, April 7^th, 1988

Inmate Sentenced to Life Commits Suicide

Yesterday evening, an inmate at Pennsylvania State Penitentiary was found dead in his cell in what appears to be a suicide. Heechul Kim (29), convicted of double murder and sentenced to life without parole, hung himself with his bed sheets after lights out while his cell mate was asleep. Kim killed his lover and another man in a fit of jealous rage when he found out they were having an affair, but allowed himself to be caught and confessed to his crimes in a show of remorse. It is suspected that he still held feelings for his dead lover, and ended his life because he couldn’t live with the guilt. Kim had no family come forward to claim his body; he will be buried in the small cemetery on the prison grounds.

- written by Jungsu Park, November 6^th, 1988

What Baekhyun did not know was why he had dreamed of this event. He hadn’t heard the story on the tour, he hadn’t been paying attention at the time, which was why he was so surprised by the evidence in the first place. He definitely hadn’t known the murderer or victims’ names, or the location of the murder or even the weapon. So how could he have dreamed of the memory so vividly? He had an idea of course, but honestly it was too frightening to think about, so instead he gave up for the night and went to bed. It took awhile for him to fall asleep, part of him scared that he would have another nightmare without Chanyeol there to comfort him, but he didn’t. He dreamed of something much nicer.

The darkness was even more welcoming, now that he knew who the presence was. He couldn’t believe that it had taken him so long, really. This time, he didn’t wait for it to speak to him.

“Uncle Yunho?” He asked, voice coming out quieter than he intended. Everything was quiet in this place. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’ve been trying to talk to me.”

There was no response, but Baekhyun could feel Yunho trying, so he urged him on. “Uncle, please. I need to hear your voice, I need to know what you’re trying to tell me. I figured out the pendant, thanks to you, but there’s more isn’t there? Otherwise you wouldn’t be trying to contact me again.”

“Yes…” Yunho finally spoke, voice sounding muffled and distant. It was one of the most amazing things Baekhyun had ever heard; being able to talk to his uncle like this after so many years, even if the circumstances were less than desirable, meant more to him than he could put into words. “I’m… sorry, Baekhyun. This… difficult… not enough… energy.”

“I know, it’s okay…” Baekhyun said. One by one, the tears began to fall. He was so happy, but at the same time, he missed Yunho more than ever when he realized this is all he would ever get. A few muffled words spoken in a dream. “I wish I could see you.”

“Don’t cry,” Yunho said, though he sounded sad himself. “Heechul… he… only nightmares, for now. I can protect… try to stop… but… soon…”

“Soon, what?” Baekhyun pressed, sniffling a bit. Yunho tried to say more, but it was clear he wasn’t able to, and soon his presence began to fade. Baekhyun called for him desperately, but to no avail, he was gone.

Much to Baekhyun’s disappointment, and relief, he had no more dreams that night or at all for the next few days. In fact, things almost seemed to return to normal, and he began to wonder if he had anything to worry about at all. If the dreams were just dreams, or if Yunho had been wrong about whatever Heechul might be doing. That Sunday, he and Chanyeol had their first official date. It wasn’t all that different from their usual Sunday movie nights, really. Just, instead of takeout and a movie on Chanyeol’s couch, they went out for dinner and then to the movie theater.

Deciding they didn’t want the others to hear about this quite yet (goodness knows Suho and Kai were going to tease them when they found out), they avoided Kyungsoo’s restaurant and instead chose a nice little café not too far from the theater. The place wasn’t very busy, so they were seated quickly and a rather cheerful waitress named Tiffany came over to take their orders. Once she was gone, the pair was silent, staring awkwardly at each other as they waited for their food.

“So, umm… I hope this place is okay?” Chanyeol finally spoke, smiling nervously. “I wasn’t really sure what you would like, but I heard the food was good.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine,” Baekhyun nodded. “I’ve never been here before, but it seems nice. Though, we could have just gone for pizza or something, you know I wouldn’t mind.”

“I know, but… I guess I just thought, since it’s a date and all… “ Chanyeol said, looking down at the table. He reached for the napkin in front of him, fiddling with it as he talked. “I mean, if you would rather have pizza, we can go somewhere else.”

“That’s not what I meant. This is great, really.” Baekhyun smiled, hoping to reassure the other man. “All I was saying is that you don’t have to try so hard to impress me.”

Before Chanyeol could reply, Tiffany returned with their food. She carefully set the dishes down on the table, then wished them a good meal and headed over to check on another table nearby. Flashing the older man another smile, Chanyeol dug into his food, Baekhyun following suit after a moment. He had to admit, the food was pretty delicious. Still, right now that was about the only part of this date that was going well. As they ate Chanyeol made a few attempts at small talk, asking how the food was and if Baekhyun was excited for the movie, but otherwise they were quiet. Baekhyun found himself glancing at Chanyeol every few seconds rather than focusing on his food, and he noticed that his boyfriend seemed to be in his own world half the time, looking very worried about something. He frowned at this, and after a while he sighed, setting his fork down. He had just been poking at his food for the last five minutes anyway.

Chanyeol looked up at the sound, worry growing on his face. He hadn’t touched his own food in the past few minutes either, too lost in his own thoughts. “What’s wrong, Baekhyun? Is there something wrong with the food?”

“No… the food is fine, I’m just not hungry anymore,” Baekhyun replied, shaking his head slightly. No, the food wasn’t the problem.

“Oh… well, I guess I’m finished too then,” Chanyeol said, looking around for Tiffany. He saw her a few tables over and waved to get her attention, asking for the check when she made her way over to their table. She smiled and said that she would be right back with it. As she walked away, Chanyeol and Baekhyun both reached for their wallets.

“I’ll pay,” Baekhyun said once he realized Chanyeol had been planning to. The taller man shook his head, credit card already out.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got this,” Chanyeol said, holding up the card and handing it to Tiffany when she came back to the table. “I asked you out, I’m not going to make you pay for it. Besides, you buy me food all the time, it’s only fair.”

“Alright, if you say so…” Baekhyun replied, deciding not to argue. He put his wallet away and waited for Tiffany to return with the card and receipt.

Ten minutes later they were standing in line at the movie theater, waiting to purchase their tickets. The theater was just down the street so it didn’t take long for them to get there once they left the café. Being the weekend, the theater was rather packed, and they were in line for a few minutes before they were close enough to see the show times.

“So, anything in particular you wanted to see?” Chanyeol asked as they got closer to the ticket counter. “It looks like that romantic comedy I heard about is playing tonight.”

“You want to see a romantic comedy?” Baekhyun replied, staring at Chanyeol in slight disbelief. What was going on with him tonight?

“Well, isn’t that what people normally do when they go on dates?” Chanyeol said, and suddenly Baekhyun realized why the younger man had been acting so strange all night. He didn’t reply, instead waiting for the couple in front of them to finish purchasing their tickets. Then, before Chanyeol could do anything, Baekhyun went ahead of him and approached the counter.

“Two adults for the next showing of Resident Evil, please.” Baekhyun pulled out his wallet and slid his credit card under the ticket window, ignoring any protests from Chanyeol behind him. He thanked the woman behind the window as she handed over their tickets, then grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and dragged his boyfriend out of the line.

“What was that all about?” Chanyeol asked once they were off to the side a bit, away from all the people. Baekhyun stopped walking, turning to face Chanyeol.

“That was about the fact that so far, neither of us are enjoying this very much.” Chanyeol’s face fell at those words and Baekhyun sighed, reaching out to take both of the younger man’s hands. “Chanyeol, I told you earlier, you don’t have to do anything special to impress me. I don’t want a normal date, I want a date with you – not you trying to do what you think a good boyfriend does, just you. Going out is nice, but I honestly wouldn’t care if we had just gone to your apartment like we always do; what matters to me is that whatever we do, I’m spending time with you, and that we’re both happy. You can’t be happy if you spend the whole night worrying about what I think.”

“I guess you’re right,” Chanyeol replied, face brightening a little. “I’m sorry; I guess I was just trying to make this perfect. I had myself convinced that you would never like me back, and now that we’re here I’m still scared that if I mess up, you won’t want to be with me anymore.”

“You don’t have to be scared, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said, lacing their fingers together and pulling Chanyeol closer to him. “I know that both our friendship and our relationship started on shaky ground, but I swear to you this is what I want. I’m not going anywhere, especially not over something as trivial as what restaurant you take me to on a date. And you don’t have to try to be perfect… takeout on your couch, laughing over a cheesy horror movie… that’s perfect enough for me, as long as I’m with you.”

“It’s perfect for me too,” Chanyeol said softly, his previous worries gone. He leaned down slightly, closing the remaining distance between the two of them as he pressed his lips to Baekhyun’s. Eyes fluttering closed at the contact, Baekhyun leaned into the kiss, moving his arms up to wrap them loosely around Chanyeol’s neck. Though their first kiss had been special in its own way, he found that he enjoyed this one much more, now that they were both coherent enough to participate.

Eventually they remembered that they were in a public place and separated, trying to ignore the few people who were staring at them as they headed for their theater. They had gone to a less crowded area to talk, but they had still been in view of the main area and two men practically making out was bound to get some attention. Baekhyun tried to fight down his blush as they handed their tickets over to the usher, who directed them down the hall to the right. By the time they made it into the theater the movie had already started, and they climbed the stairs to the upper rows as quietly as they could, trying not to disturb anyone. The back row was completely empty so they decided to sit there, taking the two middle seats.

The movie was pretty terrible, and ten minutes in they found themselves whispering to each other, trying to predict what would happen next and arguing over which character was the worst. Baekhyun pushed up the armrest between them so that they could sit closer together, and after a few moments of internal debate, Chanyeol put his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders and pulled the older man against him. Baekhyun said nothing, simply snuggling closer and resting his head on Chanyeol’s chest.

The rest of the evening went much better than it had started, and by the time Baekhyun dropped Chanyeol off at his apartment, they were both thoroughly pleased. Baekhyun hoped that Chanyeol’s doubts had been erased after their conversation earlier, and before they parted ways he assured his boyfriend that he had a wonderful time, and most certainly wanted to do it again. He went home that night happier than he had been in a long time, falling asleep without a single worry for once.

It was not until the following night that Baekhyun realized he was very wrong to think everything was fine. Chanyeol had just left, the pair having spent the afternoon doing more searching for Baekhyun’s grandfather. They still hadn’t found the man, but they had managed to narrow it down some after Baekhyun got a few more details from his mother. Chanyeol had wanted to stay, but since he had work in the morning and couldn’t afford to oversleep again, they decided it would be better if he didn’t.

As soon as Chanyeol was gone, the air in the apartment changed. Baekhyun almost felt like he was back in that prison cell, a sudden uneasiness overcoming him. The apartment even seemed to get colder, though he wondered if he was just imagining it. Either way, he didn’t like it; he was starting to feel unwelcome in his own home. He tried to tell himself that he was just being paranoid, and eventually decided to just shower and go to bed. It was a bit early, but he and Chanyeol had already eaten dinner, and he had nothing pressing to do for the rest of the night. Hopefully when he woke up, this strange feeling would be gone.

By the time he was standing under the warm spray of the shower, he had almost convinced himself that it was only paranoia. He had spent so much time with Chanyeol lately that it felt strange to be alone, that was all. There was absolutely nothing in his apartment to be afraid of he told himself, eyes closed as he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair. Then, as if his thoughts had been read, the uneasy feeling intensified. Despite the warm water raining down on him, the air around him was getting colder and colder. Baekhyun shivered as a cool breeze that shouldn’t have been there met his bare skin. He wrapped his arms around himself, keeping his eyes closed still; he felt like a child, pretending that if he couldn’t see anything, then it wasn’t there. He knew better than that though – he could sense that horribly familiar presence behind him, watching him.

“My dear, dear Baekhyun…” The voice was as haunting as Baekhyun remembered, as was the hand that grasped his shoulder from behind. “Am I that frightening, that you won’t even look at me? Think if you wish for it hard enough I’ll just go away? How cute.”

A pained cry escaped Baekhyun’s lips as a set of sharp fingernails raked across his shoulder and down his back, digging into his skin. After a moment the hand pulled away, and as quickly as it had appeared the presence was gone. The oppressing air that had taken over the apartment lifted and the temperature returned to normal, as though nothing had ever happened. The only evidence left of the encounter were the four long scratch marks that marred Baekhyun’s skin, extending from his right shoulder down to the middle of his back.

Baekhyun collapsed onto his knees, head pounding and shoulder aching as his world started to spin, that all too familiar dizziness returning. He sat there for a moment and rested, pressing his forehead to the shower floor and closing his eyes almost as soon as he had opened them. Finally he managed to collect himself enough to turn the water off and stumble his way out of the shower, throwing on the first set of clothes he could find without even drying off. He caught a glimpse of the scratch marks on his back in the mirror and noticed they were bleeding slightly, but he was far too tired to worry about cleaning or dressing them. Once he was dressed, he somehow made his way over to the bed, and was out within seconds of his head hitting the pillows. He didn’t notice the blankets drape themselves over his body, or hear the whisper that was barely audible even in the silent room.

“I’m sorry, Baekhyun… I’m not strong enough to stop him.”