“Baekhyun!” Tao called excitedly, waving the older man over to him. Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment, waiting to see how Baekhyun would react. By that point, they all knew on some level that something had happened between the pair recently.

“Tao…” Baekhyun said quietly, a little surprised by the cheery greeting. Maybe the others were right, and he had been nervous for nothing. Instinctively he looked over at Chanyeol, who squeezed his hand reassuringly, mouthing an ‘I love you’ before gently nudging him forward.

“Yah! Are you going to just stand there or are you going to get over here and hug me?” Tao yelled, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting in a fake show of anger.

Baekhyun’s feet moved of their own accord, closing the distance between them in seconds. He practically launched himself at Tao, wrapping his arms around his best friend’s neck. He spoke quietly into Tao’s ear, “I’ve missed you.”

Words could hardly describe the relief Baekhyun felt when those strong, familiar arms returned the embrace. Tao held him tightly for a moment, as if making up for lost time, then replied with a fond, “Missed you too, idiot.”

And just like that the moment was over, the world around them starting up again. The others exchanged their own hugs and ‘I missed you’s, chatting for a few minutes about what they had all been up to over the past year. Finally Suho noticed Chanyeol just standing awkwardly behind Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Uh, guys? Meet our newest member, Chanyeol. Chanyeol, this is Kris,” Suho pointed out each person as he said their name, “Tao, Minseok, Jongdae, Luhan, and Yixing.”

“Hi!” Chanyeol grinned widely, waving cheerfully at the others, “Nice to meet you all.”

“Good to finally meet you, Chanyeol,” said Tao, who was closest. “I hear you and Baekhyun have been getting along well lately.”

“Um…” Chanyeol was caught off guard by the statement, not sure if Tao was just being friendly or if he knew. He noticed with a bit of confusion that Kris was staring at him, an unreadable expression on his face, as if waiting for Chanyeol’s response. “Y-yeah, you could say that.”

“Oh, they’ve been getting along very well,” Kris said with a smirk, stepping up beside Tao. The rest of the west coast team looked at Kris questioningly, and Baekhyun realized then that Kris wasn’t going to make this easy for him. He was leaving it up to Baekhyun to tell Tao and the others.

“Well…” Baekhyun said, glancing nervously at Tao before taking Chanyeol’s hand. “Chanyeol and I are… together.”

Kris just smiled smugly at the admission, as did Luhan, who had already heard all about the pair from Sehun. Jongdae and Minseok were surprised but recovered quickly, offering their congratulations. Yixing congratulated them as well, though he didn’t know Baekhyun as well as the rest of the team did. Tao, however, was silent, mouth hanging open slightly as he stared at the couple. When he did move, it was to hit Baekhyun in the arm, hard.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Baekhyun exclaimed, his right hand automatically reaching up to rub the sore spot on his left arm. Chanyeol looked between the two worriedly, unsure if he should say something.

“Not telling me about the homicidal ghost, fine, I get that,” Tao said, frowning. “But how could you get a boyfriend and not even tell me? Why does Kris know before me?”

“Ask Suho about that, not me. Besides, you got a boyfriend without telling me too, you know,” Baekhyun pointed out, pouting a little, though inwardly he was happy. If Tao was whining about that, then it meant he was okay with them dating. Sure, Chanyeol would still probably get the obligatory ‘I know martial arts and I will kill you if you hurt him’ best friend speech later, but he passed the initial test.

“Huh… I guess I did,” Tao replied, as if he had only just realized it. His demeanor immediately changed. “Well then, we’re even!”

Baekhyun didn’t even bother with a response, just shaking his head in exasperation. Yes, he had definitely missed this. He couldn’t even remember the last time he and Tao had been able to just bicker like this, and as strange as it might sound, it was nice. He could do without the bruise that was probably forming on his arm though.

After a while the group realized they were crowding the lobby and decided to head up to their rooms. Kris, who had made the reservations and checked in for them earlier, handed out room keys to each pair. He, Tao, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Kai would be staying on the second floor, the others in rooms on the third floor. Naturally the couples were all rooming together, and Minseok and Jongdae insisted on staying together as well, leaving Suho to room with Yixing.

Tao had just finished getting settled in with his luggage when he heard a light knock on the door. Kris got up to answer it, and wasn’t at all surprised to find Baekhyun on the other side. He nodded in greeting, stepping aside to let Baekhyun enter the room. Then he turned back to Tao and said, “I need to talk to Suho about our plans for the week, I’ll be back in a bit.”

It wasn’t exactly subtle, but Tao was grateful all the same. Despite the happy reunion earlier, he knew that he and Baekhyun still needed to have a real talk. Obviously Baekhyun knew it too.

“Hey,” Tao said, sitting down on the edge of the large bed in the middle of the room. He patted the space beside him for Baekhyun to sit as well. “What’s up?”

“Hey…” Baekhyun accepted the invitation, taking a seat on the bed next to Tao. “I just wanted to… I mean… we’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Tao nodded. “Honestly, I was surprised at first. And worried… I really didn’t want to hurt you. But… I think in the end, it was better to get it out in the open. No secrets, right?”

“No secrets,” Baekhyun agreed. Chanyeol wasn’t the only one he needed to open up to more, and he was determined to get things back to normal between him and Tao. “I’m glad I told you.”

“So, you’re okay now? You’re happy?” Tao asked. It had seemed that way earlier, but he wanted to hear it from Baekhyun for sure. “With Chanyeol, I mean.”

“I am. I really, truly am,” Baekhyun replied, completely confident in his words. “When I first met him, I never would have imagined things could turn out like this, but I couldn’t be happier that they did. It’s why I told you, you know. Don’t take this the wrong way, but… I knew, somehow, that if I stayed hung up on you that I would be missing out on something really special.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not offended in the least. You really like him, don’t you?” Tao asked, smiling when he saw the blush creeping onto Baekhyun’s cheeks. “Ah, you do. Do you love him?”

Tao was only playing, but Baekhyun felt his face getting redder anyway. “I… I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Really?” Tao was caught off guard by the admission. He hadn’t really expected that kind of reaction to his teasing, not sure how serious things really were between the pair.

“Chanyeol told me he was in love with me recently,” Baekhyun said, smiling softly as he thought back to the confession. “I told him that I wasn’t ready to say it back yet, and I guess I’m still not. But… it looks like things are heading in that direction. He means a lot to me, and I think we’re both in this for the long run.”

“Aww, I’m so happy for you Baekhyun!” Tao giggled in a completely unmanly fashion, pulling his friend into a one-armed hug. “Being in love is… indescribable.”

“Yeah… I just wish I had more time to enjoy it,” Baekhyun sighed, his thoughts wandering back to Heechul and the pendant as usual.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you, Baekhyun,” Tao said, tone serious again. “You’ve gone through so much lately and I barely even noticed anything was wrong. Even before the ghost thing… I knew you were upset about me leaving, but I never thought… I only considered my own feelings when I chose to come here. I didn’t think about how you would feel living in that apartment by yourself, or what you must have thought when I didn’t even discuss the decision with you first. I knew you weren’t okay, but I was so focused on my own happiness that I just assumed the others were looking out for you and left it at that. I’m just happy that you found someone to pick up the pieces where I failed.”

“Tao, don’t apologize for living your life,” Baekhyun replied, shaking his head. “I’m twenty-four years old, you know, it isn’t your job to take care of me. You’re allowed to be with the person that makes you happy without worrying about how I feel, and I don’t ever want you to feel guilty for that. You were there for me whenever I asked you to be; never once did you fail to answer the phone or return a call, and you’re always worrying about me. I was the one who was too busy closing myself off to let anyone help me, and I’ve got no one else to blame for that.”

“But still, it was my fault that things even got to that point, and I shouldn’t have let it happen… I should have told you sooner, or, I don’t know, done something!” Some part of Tao knew that Baekhyun was probably right, but that didn’t erase the regret he felt over how he had treated his best friend for the past year. “You’ll at least let me help now, right?”

“Don’t really have a choice, do I?” Baekhyun asked. “I don’t know what you all think you’re going to do against a ghost, of all things, but I think you’ve finally managed to drill into my thick skull that taking on everything alone is not for the best.”

“Good. It only took how long?” Tao said, smirking slightly. His best friend was nothing if not stubborn. “I don’t know what we’re going to do either, but we’ll figure something out. I have no clue why this guy seems to have some kind of vendetta against you, but I do know that none of us are going to let him hurt you again, even if I have to kick his back to the afterlife myself. “

“Huang Zitao, my own personal bodyguard. You would find a way to do it too, wouldn’t you?” Baekhyun had to admit, as worried as he was about the spirit, he did feel better being surrounded by his friends. He just hoped that none of them would get hurt in his place. “Thank you, Tao. Whatever happens, I’m just happy to have you here.”

“Yeah, so am I.”

The following morning the group met up at the hotel’s complimentary breakfast buffet, eating together before they split off into smaller groups to explore the city. They had plans as twelve later in the week, including a couple of investigations, but they decided that for the day they would go off on their own and actually see the city – something they rarely got to do when they traveled for work.

“Alright, everyone know where they’re going?” Suho asked once they had finished eating and were getting ready to leave. “Cell phones charged and all of that?”

“Yes, mother,” Kai replied, rolling his eyes. They had all come to expect this from Suho by now, and went along with it to make him feel better. “Can we go now?”

“Well excuse me if I don’t trust any of you not to get yourselves lost!” Suho frowned, but nodded anyway, calling out as the others began to exit the hotel, “Stay together! And have fun, I guess.”

With that, they headed out. Luhan was taking Kyungsoo to visit a few historic (and haunted) locations around the city, including the places the group would be investigating later on. They wanted to gather some background information for the investigations, and explore a few potential cases for the west coast team. Sehun and Kai tagged along, mostly to keep each other company when their boyfriends went into ‘geeky historian’ mode, as Kai liked to call it. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Tao, and Kris were going out on a “double date,” which actually meant that Tao was dragging them all out regardless of what they wanted to do. He claimed that he wanted to spend some quality time with Baekhyun, but didn’t want Chanyeol to feel left out. The truth was that it was the perfect excuse to go shopping and simultaneously judge whether or not Chanyeol was really decent boyfriend material – Tao trusted Baekhyun’s judgment, but he still wanted to make sure this new kid was good enough for his best friend. The remaining four were planning to just be tourists for the day, Jongdae and Minseok having invited Suho and Yixing to accompany them when the pair didn’t seem to have any other plans. The biggest item on their agenda was a trip to Alcatraz Island, though they unfortunately hadn’t been able to get tickets for the nighttime tour.

“Man, this place gives me the creeps already,” Sehun said as they pulled up outside of the old, crumbling church. Luhan nodded in agreement next to him, glad they were visiting during the day. Though he enjoyed learning the history behind the places they investigated, and even looking at the evidence they captured, Luhan was not too keen on experiencing any paranormal activity first hand. Unlike the others, he was not so curious about the afterlife that he was willing to put himself at the mercy of entities that he couldn’t even see. It was why he had gotten involved with a team in the first place; he got to pursue his interest in both history and the paranormal, while others did the field work for him. Luhan did go on investigations with the rest of his team, but usually just helped with setup and manned central command. Some part of him knew his fears were mostly unfounded, as the team had almost never encountered a true malevolent spirit, but the recent incidents with Baekhyun had taken away any desire he may have had to take part in the investigations.

“Yeah, this should be an interesting one,” Kai said, stepping out of the front passenger seat. The other three got out of the car as well, and the group headed for the building’s front steps. “We don’t get to investigate churches very often.”

“No, especially not ones with such history,” Kyungsoo agreed. He reached for the ornate metal handle attached to the church’s large, wooden front door, pulling it open with a bit of effort. The church was one of the two places they would be investigating later in the week, and Luhan had arranged for them to meet with one of the institution’s volunteers to find out a bit more on the history and claims. After that, they were planning to tour a few historic buildings that they weren’t going to investigate, but did have claims of paranormal activity – more for fun than anything, at least for Kyungsoo and Luhan.

As they entered the church, they were greeted by a kind looking woman who introduced herself as Dana, one of the people who regularly volunteered there. She thanked them for coming, and offered to show them around the property.

“The original church building was built in 1892,” Dana said, leading the group into the main area. “Since then it’s been expanded and rebuilt, after sustaining earthquake damage.”

“Were there any deaths in the earthquake?” Luhan asked. He reached for the bag he had slung over one shoulder, pulling out his iPad to take a few quick notes about the place. Kyungsoo stared at the device for a moment, thinking ruefully back to his own collection of handwritten notes. He’d have to talk to Suho about that.

“Unfortunately, yes. There was a service going on at the time, and the ceiling collapsed… few made it out alive,” Dana replied. She gestured towards the large windows in the back of the main chapel area. “The original church – what’s left of it anyway – is back there. I’ll show you after we’re done here in the main building. It was so damaged that it wasn’t worth rebuilding, so they constructed a new building here and left the ruins up as a memorial of sorts.”

“I see,” Luhan said. “How about here in the main chapel? What activity goes on here?”

“Most of the claims happen out in the old building, but there are reports in here as well,” Dana said, pointing towards the pulpit. “Back in the fifties there was a rather unfortunate accident up here. There used to be candles set up right behind the altar during sermons, and the Father at the time was a rather… animated preacher. He knocked over a candle, caught his clothing on fire. The congregation tried to put it out, but they weren’t fast enough, and the Father died right here in front of them. A lot of the reports in the chapel center around this area – shadows, movement, voices – and people attribute it the Father.”

“Any other activity in the main building?” Sehun asked. He noticed absently that there were still candles behind the altar, but they were set much further back than they had likely been when the Father died.

“Ah, yes. We have a hall in the basement that we rent out for wedding receptions, funerals, things of that nature, and many people have reported seeing the apparition of a man down in that area. He is believed to be a former volunteer who hung himself in one of the storage rooms,” Dana explained, motioning towards the door. “If you would just follow me, I’ll show you the rooms downstairs and explain some of the specific claims. Then we can head out to the old building.”

“Sounds great,” Kyungsoo said, smiling at her. The four men followed Dana out of the chapel to continue the tour.

“So, you’ve had it pretty tough lately leader,” Jongdae said, patting Suho’s shoulder affectionately. He and Suho were sitting on one side of a booth at the first McDonald’s they had found, waiting for Yixing and Minseok to return with their food. The four of them had decided to make a quick pit stop for lunch before they headed over to catch their boat to Alcatraz. “I know you like to act like everything is okay, but it can’t be easy on you having to take care of all of your usual responsibilities on top of training a new member and worrying about Baekhyun’s situation. You holding up okay?”

“I’m fine Jongdae,” Suho replied. When Jongdae gave him a disbelieving look, he added, “Really. Things have been a bit stressful lately, yeah, but I’m not the one you need to worry about. Anyway I’m doing a lot better now that we’re all together… I think we all really needed this trip.”

“That I can agree with,” Jongdae said. While he enjoyed working with Kris and the others, and had fallen in love with California, he really missed his former teammates. “How are you getting along with Yixing? You two didn’t really talk much last time, did you?”

“No, but so far we’re getting along fine,” Suho said. “He’s uh… he’s nice.”

Jongdae raised an eyebrow at that; he could have sworn he saw a tint of red on Suho’s cheeks. He didn’t get a chance to ask about it though – Yixing and Minseok chose that moment to return, each carrying a tray full of food.

“Suho,” Minseok whined, pouting cutely. He sat his tray down on the table. “I want to sit with Jongdae!”

Before Suho could protest, he was being pulled out of his seat by the arm, Minseok practically shoving him into the other side of the booth. Minseok claimed the now empty seat next to Jongdae and gave Yixing an expectant look. Yixing seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, looking mortified, before finally giving in and sitting down next to Suho. He glared at Minseok as the two of them passed out the food they had gotten, the older man simply grinning back at him. While Suho was for the most part oblivious to the whole exchange, Jongdae was more confused than ever, certain there was something going on between Suho and Yixing – and whatever it was, Minseok knew about it. He would have to pull Minseok aside later and find out what this secret was; he hated being out of the loop.

“Tao, wait up!” Baekhyun called, trying to keep up with his best friend. They were currently at their fourth store for the day, and Tao was practically zipping around the place, searching for on-sale items. Baekhyun trailed behind him, barely having time to look for anything for himself before Tao was moving on to the next rack.

“Is this what you have to deal with all the time?” Chanyeol murmured, leaning against a wall towards the back of the store. Kris, who was standing next to him, sighed.

“You have no idea. Usually, there’s no Baekhyun to chase him around or help carry his bags, so I have to,” Kris replied, but there was a fondness to his voice. “It’s worth it to see him that happy, though.”

“It is,” Chanyeol agreed, understanding completely. He watched as Tao held up a shirt to Baekhyun’s chest, the older man trying to push him away and laughing at the silly print on the front. “I’ve seen Baekhyun smile more today than I have in a long time… I’m really glad they resolved things.”

“Yeah, me too. You’re okay with it then?” Kris asked, switching his gaze from Tao to Chanyeol. “Those two being so close.”

“Of course I am,” Chanyeol said, blinking in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Maybe because your boyfriend is about to go into a dressing room with the guy he’s been in love with for the past few years?” Kris ventured quirking an eyebrow. “Just a thought.”

“A guy who also happens to be your boyfriend,” Chanyeol pointed out. “I trust him, so I don’t think I have anything to worry about. Do you?”

“No, I trust them both completely,” Kris replied, without the slightest hesitation. “So, you’re not overly jealous and you seem to actually care about him, if the fact that you’re still standing here after everything that’s happened is anything to go by. Good enough, I guess.”

“What, you were testing me?” Chanyeol asked, incredulous. Somehow, he had been expecting this from Tao today, not Kris.

“He’s like a younger brother to me. Don’t hurt him,” Kris said, not really answering the question. “Or do I need to remind you that my boyfriend is perfectly capable of breaking your face? Not that he would have to, I would gladly do it myself.”

“Nope, no reminder needed here,” Chanyeol replied, gulping nervously at the look Kris was giving him. “Message received.”

“Good,” Kris smiled, looking nothing but friendly, as though he hadn’t been threatening to do Chanyeol bodily harm mere seconds ago. Chanyeol found that more frightening than anything.

“All done!” Tao proclaimed, walking over to them with two more bags dangling from his arms, in addition to the three he had from the other stores. Baekhyun was right behind him, though he had only added one new bag to his collection, the majority of which didn’t belong to him anyway.

“Time for lunch?” Chanyeol asked, grinning widely. His stomach made a loud grumbling noise, as if to punctuate the statement. Baekhyun chuckled and shook his head, moving over to his boyfriend. He leaned up slightly, standing on his tippy-toes, and kissed Chanyeol’s cheek.

“Yes, time for lunch,” Baekhyun replied. He shifted his bags around so that he had one hand free to hold Chanyeol’s as they walked out of the store.

Watching the whole exchange, Tao sighed wistfully, “Why aren’t we that cute anymore?”

“We were never that cute. Are you going to give me those or not?” Kris didn’t wait for an answer, taking the bags off of Tao’s arms before the younger man could really protest. Knowing there was no point, Tao gave in, leaning over to hand Kris the rest of the bags.

“I love you, Wu Fan,” Tao said quietly before moving away. He knew that Kris was just showing affection in his own way. Kris didn’t reply, but the glance he shot Tao as they followed behind the other two said everything.

“I am exhausted,” Baekhyun said, flopping down onto the bed as soon as he and Chanyeol had made it back to their hotel room. “Can I go to sleep now?”

“It’s not even eight yet,” Chanyeol said. He sat down on the edge of the bed, placing a hand on Baekhyun’s knee. “You can’t really be that tired already?”

“You didn’t practically run your way through an entire mall today, did you?” Baekhyun shot back, glaring rather pathetically. He was far too tired to really look mean. “I could sleep for days after a shopping trip with Tao.”

“Well, I can’t argue with you there.” Chanyeol was incredibly glad he wasn’t in Kris’s place when it came to that. “But, weren’t we supposed to look through those notes some more tonight? You said it was important.”

“Oh, yeah,” Baekhyun said, pouting slightly. It was important, but that didn’t mean he particularly felt like doing it. Though they had largely ignored the notes after their original assumptions about the pendant, he had brought them with him anyway. After that dream, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something huge, and he hoped that maybe the notes would trigger something and help him remember the dream. “We should probably get started on that. I think we’re missing something, and we don’t have a lot of time to figure it out, at the rate things are going. I gave some of the materials to Kyungsoo this morning; he said he would look through them when he got back. I figured it might go a bit faster if we’ve got three of us working on it.”

“Definitely,” Chanyeol nodded in agreement, glad for the help. He wanted to get this figured out as soon as possible – hopefully before they had to go back home. “So, do you think there might be something in them about how to stop Heechul?”

“Maybe, I don’t really know,” Baekhyun replied. He sat up on the bed, reaching for the notes and journals piled on the nightstand and grabbing whatever was on top. The pendant was tucked away safely in the drawer of the nightstand. “But it’s worth taking a second look, we don’t really have any other leads right now.”

“If there’s something in here, we’ll find it,” Chanyeol said, grabbing his own stack of notes. He had just flipped to the first page when he heard a light knock on the door, most likely one of the others. He glanced over at Baekhyun, the older man already absorbed in his reading, and sighed, leaving his comfortable spot on the bed to answer the door.

Chanyeol pulled the door open to reveal Kyungsoo, who smiled as he was invited inside. “Hey guys, did you have fun today?”

“Yeah, it was great,” Baekhyun answered, looking up from the page he was on. “How about you? What’s up?”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Kyungsoo said. He took a seat at the desk in the corner of the room, Chanyeol returning to his place next to Baekhyun on the bed. “We got back a few hours ago, so I decided to go ahead and take a look at those notes you gave me.”

“Did you find something?” Baekhyun asked excitedly, attention completely on Kyungsoo now. He deflated slightly when Kyungsoo shook his head.

“Not exactly. It’s more that… I noticed something strange,” Kyungsoo said, trying to come up with the right words. “I didn’t have a chance to read anything in detail yet, but I flipped through the first couple of journals and well… doesn’t it strike you as odd? They all kept detailed journals, and kept them well preserved for generations. But in that first journal, he mentions more than once that it was a tradition passed down from his father. So where is his father’s journal?”

“You know, you’re right,” Chanyeol said, thinking back to what he had read when they first acquired the journals. “I remember thinking that was strange too. He talks about his father quite a bit, and mentions that he got the pendant from his father as well… but otherwise, there is no record of the father. If he kept a journal, why wasn’t it preserved with the others?”

“Unless it was, and we just don’t have it,” Kyungsoo supplied. “Are you sure this is everything, Baekhyun?”

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun said, frowning. “My grandfather said it was, but I guess he could have been lying. I don’t know why he would, though.”

“I think there’s something in there that he didn’t want you or your father to know, and I think your father figured it out,” Kyungsoo said, pulling a few folded up pages of notes from his pocket. “As detailed as your father’s notes are, they don’t seem complete. There are weird phrases, a lack of continuity… it’s like they were edited, and parts were just chopped out.”

“You’re saying… you think those aren’t his real notes? That he edited them so that my grandfather wouldn’t find out what he knew?” Baekhyun asked, eyes wide. That would explain why the notes never really seemed to pinpoint a cause for the accidents, only vaguely implying that it could be related to the pendant… he knew that someone as smart as his father had been couldn’t have done so much research without finding the truth.

“It’s a possibility,” Kyungsoo replied. “Something is definitely not right about these.”

Suddenly, bits and pieces of the conversations from Baekhyun’s dream came flooding back.

“There is a curse, and I’m going to find a way to break it before it kills me…”

“You know my father, he’s even more of a skeptic than you.”

“I already edited my notes…”

He still couldn’t remember everything that Yunho had tried to show him, but it was enough to realize that Kyungsoo was right. They were missing something, and whatever it was, it was the key to solving this mystery. Baekhyun also knew that he couldn’t keep this to himself any longer, even if they thought he was crazy. “Guys, I… I need to tell you something.”