Chapter 3

Take Me Away

Kyungsoo watched as Suho practically collapsed into the passenger seat of his car, looking one hundred percent like the tired, overworked business owner that he actually was. It was a rare sight; as their leader, Suho always tried to put on a strong front, and rarely let on to how worn out really he was. He knew it was days like this that Suho hated what they did though, and it was obviously weighing on his mind. It was understandable – they had just told a couple that they weren’t sure if their home was safe for their two young children, because one of their investigators had gotten locked into a room by some unexplainable force and they had no idea if it was malicious or not. A large part of why they had started EXO was to try to help people coexist peacefully with the paranormal and to make them feel comfortable in their homes, whether they actually had paranormal activity going on or not. Any time they couldn’t do that, it was disappointing to say the least. This time had been particularly difficult for all of them, for obvious reasons. Suho had let him hear the EVPs they caught before they showed them to the family, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.

“Are you going to tell Baekhyun what we caught? Or Sehun and Kai for that matter.” Kyungsoo asked as he pulled out onto the road, heading towards Suho’s apartment to drop him off. He had thought about stopping by his own apartment first, he had some information on a possible case he wanted to show their leader, but it could wait until tomorrow. He was supposed to be picking up Kai soon anyway, so he didn’t really have time for that. The younger man was staying at his apartment tonight; apparently Sehun had a webcam chat planned with Luhan and Kai didn’t want to be around for it. Kyungsoo doubted those two were nearly as bad as Kai claimed, but he wasn’t going to complain about getting to spend time with his boyfriend.

“I’m not sure, do you think I should?” Suho hadn’t really planned on it. He didn’t really want to be the one to remind Baekhyun of that night or possibly make it worse for him, and he didn’t see any need to bring it up to Kai or Sehun. They’d just tell Baekhyun anyway, which would probably be worse than Suho telling him.

“Not really, but I do think he’s going to be angry if he goes through the evidence himself and finds it anyway.” Kyungsoo pointed out, knowing that Baekhyun was the type to do just that. Even considering the circumstances, it wasn’t like them to not share evidence with the team, and eventually he would get curious.

“I’ll consider it.” Suho replied, sure that Kyungsoo was right but not really wanting to think about it at the moment.

“Speaking of Baekhyun, how did it go with Chanyeol last night? Did he actually show?”  Kyungsoo asked, deciding to just change the subject. The evidence issue was out of his hands, and he couldn’t force Suho to do anything about it if he didn’t want to.

“He did, believe it or not.” Suho chuckled, smiling slightly for the first time since they left the client’s house. “Chanyeol showed up at work this morning in one piece, so I guess it must have gone okay. I didn’t press for details.”

“Well, that’s good. I was sure he would fight it harder than this.” Kyungsoo laughed as well, just as he pulled into a space outside of Suho’s apartment building.

“That makes two of us. He wasn’t exactly nice when they met, but we can work on that. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Suho replied, Kyungsoo nodding in agreement as the older man got out of the car. Waving, he watched for a minute to make sure Suho made it inside safely. Then he sent Kai a quick text to let him know he was on his way and drove off.

It was another three days before Chanyeol got his first chance to investigate with the team. He and Baekhyun had been meeting everyday at the office for a few hours at a time, going over procedures for investigations, equipment set up, and anything else Chanyeol had questions about. Baekhyun still wasn’t being pleasant exactly, but for the most part he was patient and answered all of Chanyeol’s questions. He even started letting Chanyeol touch the equipment so he could show him how it worked, though he still wouldn’t let him anywhere near the thermal camera.  The others had been by every now and then as well, just to check in and get to know Chanyeol a little better.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been sitting in the office for about half an hour when Kyungsoo and Kai showed up. They were going through a few old case files, Baekhyun explaining what kind of background information they gathered before an investigation and how they documented evidence. For the most part that was all Kyungsoo’s job, but Suho liked for everyone to know just in case their case manager got sick or had to take time off for any reason. Chanyeol had just opened his mouth to ask yet another question when the office door opened, causing them both to look up. Kyungsoo smiled at them as he walked in, Kai trailing behind him.

“Good, you two are already here,” he said, the pair sitting down across from the two that were already there. “Baekhyun, you’re off tonight right?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun confirmed, noticing the folder Kyungsoo was holding. “Why, do we have a case?”

“We do, I’ve already discussed it with Suho. He’s on his way over with Sehun now.” Kyungsoo replied, handing the folder over for the other two to look at. “I don’t have too much information yet, just a general description and a list of claims. I had it set up for us to check out a theater a few hours away tomorrow night, but I got a call earlier and Suho and I agree that this takes priority. They’ve got a young child who is absolutely terrified to be in the house, and it’s not far so we’d like to just go ahead and check it out tonight.”

“Sounds good,” Baekhyun nodded, glancing briefly over at Chanyeol next to him. The man had instantly perked up at the word case. “When does Suho want to leave?”

“I think as soon as he gets here. It’s a little less than an hour away, so by the time we get all the equipment loaded up and get over there, it should be dark.” Kyungsoo also noticed Chanyeol’s excitement, and grinned at their newest member. “Chanyeol, I hope you’re ready.”

About two hours later, Suho pulled up in front of a quaint little home, Baekhyun pulling in right behind him. It was usually cramped enough with five of them and all their equipment in the van, so having an extra person they decided it was best if Baekhyun and Chanyeol followed behind in Baekhyun’s car. Once they were parked, Suho, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun went up to knock on the front door while the other three stayed behind to start taking equipment cases out of the van. Well, Kai and Sehun started on the equipment, Chanyeol just stood there not really sure what to do. Baekhyun hadn’t told him that much about the set up part, just about the actual investigation process, so he was worried he might get in trouble if he started touching things without permission. He stood there debating for a minute, before finally deciding to just ask one of the other two. He hadn’t talked to them too much, but they seemed nice enough.

“Uh, hey… is there something I should be doing?” He asked, grinning sheepishly at the pair. Stopping what he was doing for a minute, Kai seemed to just then realize that Chanyeol probably had no idea what to do and smiled. He noticed the older man kept shooting curious glances towards the house as well, the other three having already gone inside.

“For now we’re just unloading stuff, you’re welcome to help as long as you’re very careful,” Kai replied, setting the case he had been holding gently on the ground next to the van. “The other three are meeting with the home owner now, she’s giving them a tour and showing them which places the activity seems to happen most. We’re not all needed for that, so Sehun and I usually just get a head start on setting up while they’re doing that.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Chanyeol nodded, reaching for another one of the cases, making sure he was very careful with it. He had been threatened enough times about breaking the equipment, he didn’t want to know what would happen if he actually did. “Why those three though?”

“Well, Suho insists on meeting with all the clients, being the leader and all,” Sehun joined in, having heard the conversation from where he was gathering cords together out of the van’s back seat. “Kyungsoo goes along with a notepad to write down all of the claims for later reference, and Baekhyun needs to know exactly where he’s supposed to be setting up cameras.”

The three spent the next few minutes talking amongst themselves, Kai and Sehun happy to explain anything else Chanyeol didn’t understand. Soon, the other three were heading back out of the house, ready to start setting up now that they had a better idea of what was going on inside.

“Alright guys, we’ve got claims of voices, objects moving, shadowy figures, and even a full body apparition,” Suho said as he walked back towards the vehicles, the other two right behind him. “It seems like whatever is there is scaring this little girl, so I want to get this figured out. We definitely need cameras in both the master bedroom and the daughter’s room, as well as covering the stairs down in the living room. Oh, and Chanyeol, I want you to stick by Baekhyun during set up, watch what he does so you can get an idea of how things work.”

“I think we should set one up in the attic as well, since they said they heard things being moved around up there,” Baekhyun added, Suho nodding in agreement. He said nothing about Suho’s other statement; he had already resigned himself to spending the rest of the night with Chanyeol. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad. If he was being honest, except for a few annoyances he hadn’t really minded spending time with the younger man over the past few days, but he had no idea what he would be like on an investigation.

After a bit more discussion, they got to work setting up the cameras and audio recorders. It didn’t take too long, the house being much smaller than the mansion they had investigated last time. There were the two main floors, plus the basement and the attic. Baekhyun flitted around from room to room, making sure everything was set up properly. He of course didn’t set up everything on his own, that would take far too long, but he checked everything that anyone else set up to make sure that the tripods and rigs were all steady. The last thing they wanted was something falling over, and if something did fall over they wanted it to be paranormal – if the equipment was not set up well, there was no way to be sure what was paranormal and what was just poor camera placement. He also had to double check all of the camera angles on the monitor to make sure they had the best view of each room. Chanyeol followed along quietly for the most part, having realized over the last few days that Baekhyun would answer his questions, but got annoyed and snippy if he asked too many. He knew he would have a lot more during the actual investigation, so for now he decided to just watch Baekhyun as he worked. 

Once everything was set up and all the lights were out, the six of them met up at central command, which again was just a small office on the first floor across the hall from the living room. They made sure everyone had flashlights and walkie-talkies, grabbed whatever other equipment they needed, and then split off to start the investigation. Kyungsoo and Kai had taken first shift at central command, after swearing to Suho that they would actually watch the monitor this time. There was a very good reason that he didn’t like the two of them partnering on investigations, but he also knew that between work and school they didn’t get to spend that much time together, so occasionally he would let it slide. He had sent Baekhyun and Chanyeol up to the second floor to check out the bedrooms, then dragged Sehun with him down to the basement.

Upstairs, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had wandered into the little girl’s room. According to the parents, their daughter claimed to see a young boy in this room. She said that he liked to play with her toys, but didn’t really talk to her. The girl seemed pretty frightened by the whole thing though, and spent most nights sleeping in her parent’s room. Sitting lightly on the bed, Baekhyun placed the mini DV he’d been carrying on the nightstand next to him, pointing it towards the other side of the room where the girl kept most of her toys. If the boy really did like to play with them, then maybe one of them would move while they were there. Noticing Chanyeol standing in the doorway awkwardly, Baekhyun rolled his eyes and patted the bed next to him.

“So…” Chanyeol said quietly as he sat down, not quite sure what they were supposed to be doing. Baekhyun had told him in general how these things went, but he didn’t know where to start. “Is there something specific we should do first?”

“Not really,” Baekhyun shrugged, leaning back on the bed a little. “It’s always good to get base EMF and temperature readings, but otherwise it’s mostly whatever you feel. Our goal is to find out if there are really spirits here, and if there are to get them to interact with us. We just have to figure out the best way to do that.”

“Okay. Want me to try doing the EMF sweep then?” Chanyeol asked, reaching for the device they had brought with him. It was actually a combination meter, called a Mel meter, so he could measure the temperature and EMF at the same time. Standing up when he saw Baekhyun nod, he walked around slowly, moving the device over the walls and different areas of the room.

Baekhyun  watched him for a moment to make sure he was doing it right, but he’d shown Chanyeol the correct way the day before and he seemed to be doing fine. He let his mind wander for a bit, thinking about how odd this felt. It had been something like two months since the last time he properly took part in an investigation with a partner, rather than sitting in central command the whole time or going off by himself. Even then it hadn’t been for very long, just a quick EVP session that Suho had pretty much forced him to participate in. Part of him missed it; he really did love what they did, and watching the monitor just wasn’t the same. At the same time, he just couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was missing. It had been a year, and he knew he should be over this by now, but it was hard when it felt like half of him was gone. He didn’t feel the same excitement and passion that he once had for this without his best friend to experience it with him. He appreciated Kyungsoo and Suho trying to help him, he really did, but whenever they offered to partner with him it was just another reminder that Tao wasn’t there. When he was alone, it was somehow easier to forget. After the last time though… he couldn’t help the way he kept glancing at the door every few seconds, checking that it was still open.

“Uh… looks like the EMF is at a pretty constant 0.2mG and the temperature is around 70 degrees.” Chanyeol said once he was finished, shooting Baekhyun a concerned look when the older man jumped.

“Oh, sorry. I was just… thinking,” Baekhyun replied once he noticed the look Chanyeol was giving him. “That seems fine though, pretty normal readings. I think maybe we should try doing some EVP work. She said the boy didn’t talk much, but talking to him could get him to show himself in some other way, like moving a toy.”

“Sounds good to me, I’m just following your lead for now,” Chanyeol grinned, sitting back down on the bed.  “How exactly does that work? I mean, I know the basic idea, but I’ve never really done it before.”

“It’s pretty straight forward, you just talk and ask questions, see if you can get something to respond. You also want to make sure you state where you are, and which investigators are in the room. I’ll start, and you can join in whenever you have something to say.” Baekhyun said, grabbing the audio recorder and quietly noting who they were, and what room they were in before beginning. “Is there anyone in here with us?”

He waited for a second, to see if there was any kind of response, but heard nothing. He did notice that something about the room seemed different though, like the energy had changed. Chanyeol appeared to notice as well, rubbing his arms slightly like he had gotten goose bumps.

“If you’re here, could you do something to let us know? Make a noise, or move something maybe?” Baekhyun continued, again pausing to listen for a response. It took a minute, but they both heard a faint knocking sound that seemed to come from the back corner of the room, near the closet. It was very timid sounding, like whatever was in the room was afraid to get any closer. “We just want to talk, okay? There’s nothing to be scared of, we won’t harm you.”

There was another faint noise from the corner, this time more of a shuffling sound. Baekhyun tried to see if there was something that could have been making the noises, but there was nothing that he could see, paranormal or otherwise. As far as he remembered, the DVR didn’t have a good shot of that corner either. He had set up the mini DV to point right over in that direction earlier though, so he hoped something would at least show up there.

“Are you the little boy that’s been seen in this room?” Chanyeol asked, finally deciding to join in. He tried to think of ways he might be able to make the child feel more comfortable. “You know the little girl who lives here, don’t you? Anna? She says you like to play with her toys.”

They heard more quiet shuffling noises. It seemed like they were moving out of the corner now, more towards the toy box on the other side of the room. Realizing what was going on, Chanyeol carefully slid off the bed onto the floor. He paused for a moment to see if anything happened, but it still felt like there was a presence on that side of the room. Very slowly, not wanting to startle the boy, he began to move over to the toy box.

“We can play, if you’d like,” Chanyeol whispered gently, reaching out to pick up a small pink ball that was sitting on the floor a few feet away from the toy box. “You don’t have to get any closer if you don’t want to. This ball is nice, right? I’m just going to slowly roll it over to you, okay? If you want, you can roll it back to me, and we can play like that.”

He held up the ball as he was talking, then put it back on the floor and with very little force, rolled it over towards where the shuffling sounds had stopped. Baekhyun noticed what he was doing and quietly scooted to the end of the bed so that he could get a better look. Then he realized that Chanyeol was blocking the view of the ball from the mini DV.

“Chanyeol,” He hissed quietly, motioning towards the camera. “You’re in the way, move.”

Chanyeol turned to look at him, confused, and for a second Baekhyun worried he wouldn’t understand. He didn’t want to speak again, worried that he would scare the spirit away, but if that ball moved they absolutely had to get it on film. After a moment though, Chanyeol saw what Baekhyun was pointing at, and very subtly moved to the left. The ball was in perfect view of the camera now.

“You don’t have to be shy,” Chanyeol spoke again, once a minute had passed and nothing happened. “All my friend and I want to do is play. That’s all you want too, isn’t it? I’m sure you’re not trying to frighten Anna.”

It was silent for another minute, but then, to their complete surprise, the ball slowly but surely began to roll its way back to Chanyeol. A huge grin broke out on the younger man’s face, and even Baekhyun smiled a little. That had been really amazing, and he was pretty certain that between the mini DV and the DVR they had gotten it on camera.

“That was good, really good.” Chanyeol praised, looking towards where the boy seemed to be. “We can keep playing if you want, just like that. Or you can pick another toy, if there’s something else you like more. But while we’re playing, my friend over there is going to ask a few questions, okay? You don’t have to answer if you’re uncomfortable, but we would really like to talk to you.”

As he rolled the ball back in the direction it had come from, Chanyeol briefly looked over his shoulder and nodded. Baekhyun took that as his cue to join in, so he moved the audio recorder to the edge of the bed next to him and began talking.

“Hey there,” he spoke softly, trying to follow Chanyeol’s example and remember that he was talking to a child. “My name is Baekhyun, and my friend that you’re playing with is Chanyeol. We would really like to know your name too, do you think you can tell us?”

The ball once again rolled back to Chanyeol on its own. There was no audible response, but hopefully something was being picked up on the recorder. Baekhyun waited a minute, then asked another question, and things continued like that for several minutes. After awhile, the presence they felt seemed to dissipate and the ball stopped returning by itself. Quite satisfied with the experience, the pair decided to go check the other second floor rooms, until eventually Suho radioed them to take the next post at central command. Apparently Kyungsoo and Kai had not been able to keep their promise, so Suho was sending Kai and Sehun up to investigate the claims of noises from the attic, while he and Kyungsoo walked around the first floor.

By the time the pair made it downstairs and into central command, the room was empty. They had passed Kai and Sehun on the way down, and the other two must have gone to the back part of the first floor where they couldn’t see them. They each sat down in one of the chairs that had been placed at the desk, and for a while they just watched the monitor in silence. Now that they were back in a more ‘normal’ situation, it seemed like neither knew what to say to the other.

Baekhyun wasn’t sure what to make of what they had just experienced. It had felt… different, and not just because of the paranormal aspect. For the first time in months, he was almost disappointed to go back to staring at a screen. Recently it seemed like he had wanted to do nothing but sit in central command, trying to escape the emptiness he felt each time he had to walk around some old building with someone who wasn’t Tao. Up in that room though, he hadn’t felt empty at all. He had finally felt a hint of the excitement again, the joy in all of this that he had been missing for the past year. Of course, he attributed that to the shy spirit they had interacted with, but he couldn’t deny that without Chanyeol none of that may have happened. He hated to admit it, but maybe being partnered with Chanyeol wasn’t completely terrible.

Chanyeol was similarly unsure about what had just happened, though for different reasons. When the two of them had interacted with that boy, it felt like a barrier between them had been removed. For a few moments they had been able to communicate freely, seeming to understand each other perfectly. Baekhyun had even smiled, the first genuine smile that Chanyeol had ever seen from him, and it was definitely something he wanted to see again. The problem was that Chanyeol didn’t know how he should act now that the moment was over. He wanted to believe that after having that experience together, Baekhyun would be a little more willing to open up, but he knew it was more likely that the barrier had gone right back up. He also knew that if he pushed too much, Baekhyun would dislike him even more, which is why he had made it a point not to annoy him so far. Still, he felt like he had to take a chance. If he didn’t start pushing and figuring out why the older man was so closed off, they would never be able to be friends, and Chanyeol at least wanted that much. Bracing himself for whatever might happen, he finally decided to speak.

“Look, Baekhyun,” he started, turning slightly in his chair to face his partner. “I know you don’t like me. But I really think that we should try to get along, if we’re going to have to work together.”

A little surprised when Chanyeol spoke, Baekhyun sighed when he heard what the other had said. He was suddenly feeling rather drained, and he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. He knew he couldn’t just ignore it though, so he turned to face Chanyeol as well, rubbing a hand over one eye tiredly.

“Chanyeol, it’s not that I don’t like you, okay? I’m not going to lie and say I do like you, but you seem like a nice guy and I really don’t have any problems with you personally.” Baekhyun explained, hoping that the younger man would understand. “I just have some personal issues that I need to deal with – and no, I’m not going to tell you about them. I think for now it would be better if we just focus on trying to work together, and not worry about things like friendship.”

“Are you sure? Maybe talking about it would help,” Chanyeol pressed, surprised that Baekhyun had even admitted that much.

“I’d rather not, thanks. No offense, but I don’t know you well enough for that, and even if I did I highly doubt you could help.” There was a slight edge to Baekhyun’s voice, warning against anymore questions, but Chanyeol either didn’t notice or he ignored it.

“You don’t know that though, a lot of people find that it can really help to get an outsider’s perspective on something. And believe it or not, I have a degree in psychology, so –“ Chanyeol stopped himself, realizing too late that he had crossed a line. Baekhyun was glaring at him, obviously angry.

“I don’t need a shrink. And I really don’t think pouring my heart out to you about how I’m in love with my best friend, who has a boyfriend and lives on the opposite side of the country, is going to help anything. I don’t want to be your friend, or your partner or anything else,” Baekhyun’s voice was dripping with venom, all thoughts of being nice from earlier totally forgotten. “Suho seems to have this ridiculous idea that he can bring you in and it will suddenly fix everything, like some kind of replacement friend and teammate all in one. But you could never compare to Tao or replace him, so stop trying to be my friend or whatever else it is you’re doing and leave me the hell alone.”

Chanyeol stared at him in stunned silence for a moment, not really sure how to react. He had been expecting Baekhyun to be a little annoyed with him, tell him to shut up maybe, not… that. Apparently Baekhyun hadn’t been expecting it either, looking just as shocked at himself. Inside, he was kicking himself for getting so worked up. He definitely hadn’t meant to say all of that – he had never admitted his feelings out loud, to anyone. He had never even told Suho or Kyungsoo, as far as the two of them knew he was just upset because he missed his best friend.

“I’ll… I’ll leave you alone then, if that’s what you want,” Chanyeol said quietly after a minute, seeming to finally snap out of his shock. Now he just looked like a kicked puppy, and Baekhyun instantly felt guilty. He said nothing though, not trusting himself with words after his little outburst. The rest of the night seemed to crawl by, the tension in the room almost tangible. They were both incredibly relieved when they finally heard Suho calling over the radios to wrap up the investigation.

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Beau1996 1305 streak #1
Chapter 13: I've never been to Fort McHenry although I leave fairly close to Baltimore 🤔
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Chapter 12: You go Chanyeol - put that grandpa in his place!
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Chapter 11: Yikes !! Super scary 🙀
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Chapter 10: That was a heavy duty nightmare! Maybe the killer was the spirit in the jail??
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Chapter 8: I like this chapter a lot - Suho gave excellent advice but most importantly there is hope for future love!
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Chapter 6: I think it was in the movie Sixth Sense where the kid tells the ghost that his wife can hear him if he speaks to her while dreaming
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Chapter 5: I would be running...
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Chapter 4: Baekhyun has found a new confidant!
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Chapter 3: The fatal "I'm in love with my best friend who loves someone else"!!
Beau1996 1305 streak #10
Chapter 1: Exo ghost busters 👻