Take Me Away - 5
 

The next morning was much more pleasant than the previous one had been. Baekhyun and Chanyeol spent the day going over the rest of the evidence, and were excited to show their findings to the others. The whole scene in the bedroom had been caught on the DVR camera as well, and though that was definitely the most astonishing piece of evidence they had caught, there were also some interesting sounds from the rest of the house – footsteps and such that backed up personal experiences the others had. The pair also had lunch together again, though this time they decided not to bother Kyungsoo. Baekhyun had to admit, now that he had gotten past his initial resentment towards Chanyeol, he really enjoyed talking to the younger man.

This change in their relationship had not escaped the rest of the team’s notice, and a few days later Baekhyun found himself sitting in Suho’s apartment, wondering what he was going to tell him about it. They both had the night off (well, Suho was supposed to be working, but he had Jinki and Chanyeol at the store looking after things), so Suho had invited Baekhyun over to discuss possibilities for new equipment they could use. Baekhyun highly doubted that was the actual reason he wanted to talk, but he didn’t exactly have a good reason to decline the invitation.

It was around dinner time when Baekhyun got there, and neither them particularly felt like cooking, so they decided to order delivery. As they waited, they chatted a bit about the case, both still pretty amazed at what they had caught. Suho and Kyungsoo had met with the family two days ago and showed them the evidence, and things had gone much better than last time. They assured the family that the little boy who appeared to be there did not seem harmful in any way, and that if they showed their daughter there was nothing to be afraid of, eventually she wouldn’t be scared either and would hopefully be able to be in her room without problems. Suho also brought up the equipment he was considering trying out (apparently that hadn’t been a complete lie): laser grids and a geophone. A laser grid was exactly what it sounded like, a device that projected a grid of laser lights over an area. The idea was that if a shadow figure were to appear somewhere, it would block out some of the lights and be easier to see. The geophone was a device that could sense vibrations and would light up accordingly, which was useful in determining when footsteps and bangs were just sounds, and when there was actually something physically hitting the floor or a wall or whatever it may be. Baekhyun agreed that it would definitely be interesting to try those out; he and Kyungsoo would have to look over their budget later and see if they couldn’t invest in a few. Their food showed up after about twenty minutes, and it was only after they had started eating that Suho brought up what Baekhyun was certain was the real reason for this little meeting.

“So, you and Chanyeol seem to be getting along well,” Suho said, trying to sound casual about it. “Is there something going on I should know about?”

Baekhyun nearly choked on his food. “What?”

“Well, I don’t know. You guys seemed to suddenly get along overnight, I thought maybe you had some unresolved you had finally taken care of or something.” Suho replied, acting like he was simply talking about the weather rather than suggesting that two of s were carrying on a physical relationship. “I mean, you were alone together in that tiny office for awhile.”

Baekhyun did choke this time, face turning bright red. Suho patted his back lightly when he started coughing, handing him a glass of water which Baekhyun took gratefully. Once he was able to breathe again, he glared at the older man.

“Why would you even think that?” He whined, still blushing. He decided to give up on eating for now, not wanting to choke again. He couldn’t believe Suho would actually think that… he and Chanyeol… together. They had barely decided to be friends a few days ago, let alone anything else. Besides, Baekhyun was only interested in one person, not that he was going to tell Suho that.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Suho questioned, eyebrow quirked. “When I assigned you two to evidence review, I was worried I would be short two team members by the end of the day. Instead I hear from Kyungsoo that you two were happily having lunch together, and you seemed pretty chummy when you were showing us the evidence too. I’m just curious what happened to change things.”

“Yes, well, Kyungsoo needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.” Baekhyun grumbled. It seemed like every time he talked to Kyungsoo lately, it lead to uncomfortable conversations with Suho. “Nothing in particular happened. I just realized I was kind of being a jerk and treating him unfairly, so I apologized and we decided we could try being friends. Friends. That’s it.”

“Alright, alright, I believe you.” Suho said, happy that Baekhyun at least was getting over his initial problems with their newest team member. It was certainly a step in the right direction. “I don’t think it would be a bad thing though, if there was something going on. It might be good for you to try being interested in someone else, could help you move on.”

“What do you mean move on?” Baekhyun asked nervously. Suho couldn’t know, could he?

“Baekhyun, I’m not as stupid and unobservant as you all like to believe. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice the way you’ve been acting for the past year? The way you look when you talk about him… it’s not the look of someone simply missing a friend, it’s the look of someone who’s had their heart broken.” Suho noticed the other man’s eyes widen slightly, and wondered if he really hadn’t realized how obvious he was being. “Don’t worry, I don’t think Kyungsoo or anyone else has noticed. They’re too busy with their own relationships. I don’t know why you would think you couldn’t tell us in the first place though, we are your friends.”

“I know, I just… I thought it would be better to just not say it at all,” Baekhyun admitted, though if he was being honest he now knew that was wrong. It still hurt, but it was like a weight had been lifted off of him in that restaurant the other day. It was easier to talk about now, and really he wasn’t even sure why he had been nervous a moment ago. He knew Suho wouldn’t judge him, and his friends weren’t so terrible that they would go and tell Tao, even if Kyungsoo did have a big mouth sometimes. “I was so scared of him finding out that I just couldn’t say it. The other night was the first time I’d said it out loud… the first time I admitted to loving him.”

“Baekhyun…” Suho sighed. Then it clicked what exactly he said. “Wait, the other night? Who else did you tell?”

“Oh, um.” Shoot. He had planned on leaving that part out. It was a little embarrassing to be honest. “I sort of accidentally told Chanyeol.”

“Chanyeol? Is that why things were extra weird between you two the other night?” Suho asked, a little surprised. Whether it was on purpose or not, if Baekhyun had actually opened up to Chanyeol like that… well, this was interesting.

“Yeah… I might have gotten a little angry at him when we were sitting in central command.” Baekhyun’s cheeks tinged red again at the memory. “He kept asking questions about why I didn’t like him, trying to get me to talk to him and all. He was just trying to help, but it made me angry anyway, and when he didn’t stop I kind of blew up on him. He was asking if I wanted to talk about my problems, so I guess I just kind of blurted it out. I told him that I didn’t see how telling him I was in love with my taken best friend who lives on the other side of the country would help anything, and to leave me the hell alone. Or something along those lines… it wasn’t very nice.”

“I see… then you felt bad and apologized the next day, and now you two are friends? That’s kind of fast.” Suho pointed out. He wasn’t actually complaining, but he wanted to make sure Baekhyun was actually thinking about this and wasn’t going to go back to hating Chanyeol in a few days.

“Don’t give me that, you’re happy about it.” Baekhyun said, rolling his eyes. “We both know that my issues with Chanyeol had nothing to do with him, I just needed a push to stop being so stubborn about it. He’s really not that bad, talking to him the past few days has been kind of nice. It’s still weird being partnered with someone other than Tao, but… I don’t know, I feel like maybe I could get used to it.”

“See, I knew this would be good for you!” Suho grinned. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.

“We’ll see about that.” Baekhyun glared at him again. “Don’t think this means that I’m not still mad at you. You like to meddle far too much, Kyungsoo and Kai would agree.”

“Whatever you say, Baekhyun.” Suho said, happily going back to eating his food now that he had that conversation out of the way. Baekhyun just shook his head at their leader, going back to his own food. The man would never learn.

The next night, once everyone was finished working for the day, the whole group met up at the office. Kyungsoo had wanted to give them all the details on the next case he had lined up for them. He had rescheduled the theater from before for three days from now, since they had nothing else that took priority. It was an older building, about three hours south of them, with a lot of great claims of paranormal activity. The place was pretty big, so between the driving and set up it would be a long night and even longer few days of evidence review, but it sounded like a good case and they were all looking forward to it.

As they were leaving, Suho pulled Baekhyun aside and asked him to drive Chanyeol home. They two had come together, since they had been working together at the bookstore before, but apparently it was too far out of Suho’s way to drive him home so he wanted Baekhyun to do it. Baekhyun knew that was just an excuse, considering it was actually more out of the way for Baekhyun, but he decided to just go along with it rather than have Suho make a scene trying to convince him. Chanyeol didn’t seem to mind either way, and Suho winked at them as they left the building and headed for Baekhyun’s car. Baekhyun flipped him off when Chanyeol wasn’t looking.

They were mostly silent on the drive to Chanyeol’s apartment, though it wasn’t a bad silence. Baekhyun did think it was kind of odd that the younger man wasn’t talking much; every so often he would open his mouth as if to say something, but then seemed to think better of it and stayed quiet. He didn’t dwell on it too much, figuring that if Chanyeol had something important to say it would come out eventually. He was right, of course. They had just pulled up to the apartment building when Chanyeol spoke.

“Doyouwannacomein?” He asked suddenly, words too fast for Baekhyun to understand. Realizing this, he took a deep breath and tried again. “Do you um… want to come in?”

“Why?” Baekhyun asked, then immediately regretted it. He could see in Chanyeol’s face that it had not come out right – it sounded like he was asking why he would ever want to do such a thing. Really he was just curious about the sudden request.

“Oh, I… uh, it’s okay, you don’t have to.” Chanyeol  said, looking down slightly. “I just thought… you know, we said we would get to know each other. I thought we could watch a movie together or something. But it’s fine, if you would rather not, I understand.”

“Chanyeol, that’s not what I meant at all.” Baekhyun sighed, hating how nothing he said ever sounded the way he wanted it to. He thought about the invitation for a minute. He didn’t really have a reason to say no, though movie night with Chanyeol hadn’t exactly been in his plans. Still, it could be fun, he used to spend the night watching movies all the time with… with Tao. Baekhyun almost declined when he thought of that, but then he thought of something Suho had said. He wasn’t interested in Chanyeol romantically, but maybe Suho had been right on some level… maybe spending time like this with someone else would help him move on. With that in mind, he smiled. “I think a movie sounds great.”

Chanyeol’s whole expression brightened at that, and soon the two were walking into his apartment. He darted in ahead of Baekhyun, turning on lights and checking around to make sure nothing was too messy.

“Sorry it’s not much to look at,” he said as Baekhyun stood in the living room, glancing around. “I don’t often have company, so I didn’t think to clean up more.”

“It looks fine to me,” Baekhyun shrugged. Not like he could complain, his own apartment wasn’t exactly the neatest place around. After a minute he decided he rather liked Chanyeol’s place. It was pretty typical – couch and TV in the living room area, a table and chairs off to one side near the kitchen area, two doors that most likely led to the bedroom and bathroom – and very much on the small side, but it was cozy, lived in. It didn’t feel lonely like his apartment did.

“Go ahead and sit down,” Chanyeol called as he headed towards the kitchen to rummage around the fridge. “I think I’ve got some leftover pizza in here if you’re hungry… somewhere.”

“Somewhere?” Baekhyun chuckled, sitting down on the couch. “If you’ve misplaced it that’s alright, I’m not that hungry.”

“No, no, it’s here… aha!” Chanyeol’s head was still in the fridge as he spoke, finally emerging after a few seconds with a box in hand. Baekhyun was not sure how he could have had difficulty finding a pizza box in that small refrigerator, but he chalked it up to another one of Chanyeol’s quirks. The younger man looked back at him, grinning. “Want something to drink?”

“Just water is fine,” Baekhyun replied, unable to keep the smile off his face either. No, maybe this wouldn’t be bad at all. He watched as Chanyeol heated the pizza up in the microwave, then nearly burned himself getting it out, and wondered what exactly he was getting himself into.

Once they had the food sorted out, they put on a cheesy horror film that neither of them found particularly scary but enjoyed anyway. They laughed at the fake looking effects and watched in disbelief as the characters dropped off one by one, walking straight into the most obvious of traps laid by the monster they were running from. Finally, in a predictable ending, the dumb-as-rocks main character miraculously figures out the monster’s weakness and kills it –winning the girl in the process of course. It was the exact kind of movie Baekhyun normally hated, but when it ended an hour and a half later, he found that wasn’t the case. It had been fun, mocking the actors with Chanyeol as they correctly predicted each scene before it happened. Baekhyun hadn’t enjoyed a movie like that in a long time, since… well, since before Tao left. He wasn’t sure what to make of that, and decided to just not think about it for now.

After the movie was over, they just talked for awhile, about anything and everything. Glancing over at the bookshelf in the corner, which was filled with books on the paranormal along with a few random novels and some textbooks, Baekhyun was reminded of something he had meant to ask Chanyeol days ago.

“Chanyeol… the other day, you said you had a degree in psychology?” He had been wondering about this since that night, after he got over his anger anyway.  If that were really true, why was Chanyeol working in a bookstore?

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that by the way, I wasn’t trying to psychoanalyze you or anything. I’m not really sure why I even brought it up.” Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, still feeling bad about what had happened a week ago.

“I told you it was fine, stop apologizing.” Baekhyun said, pushing Chanyeol’s shoulder lightly. The younger man was determined to place the blame on himself for that initial animosity between them, even though it had nothing to do with him. After a moment, he remembered why he had initially asked the question, and tried to think of a way to phrase his next question so it didn’t sound offensive. “If you have that degree though, then why do you…um…”

“Work at a bookstore?” Chanyeol supplied, smiling when Baekhyun nodded meekly. “Don’t worry, I get asked that a lot. I was never that interested in going to college, but my parents wanted me to, so I picked something I was somewhat interested in and went along with it to make them happy. I don’t really want to work in the field though. For now I’m just doing my own thing I guess, which seems to have led me to paranormal investigating. I don’t make a lot of money, but it’s enough to live on and I’m happy.”

“Ah… well, that’s the important thing, being happy. And it’s always good to have a degree to fall back on anyway.” Baekhyun suddenly looked sad, though he quickly covered it up with a smile. “I couldn’t really afford to go to college, I’ve been working since I was eighteen pretty much.”

“What do you do then? I mean, you mentioned you worked at an electronics store, have you been there the whole time?” Chanyeol had noticed the brief change in Baekhyun’s expression, but he didn’t think bringing it up would really help.

Baekhyun nodded. “I started out as a cashier, that’s how I met Kris and Suho. Now I’m kind of the in-store tech support, I fix computers and other things that people bring in.”

“Oh, cool! I’m not very good with computers. Is that why you’re the tech manager for EXO too?” Chanyeol asked, remember how protective Baekhyun was over the equipment.

“Yeah… I guess you could say I’m a self-taught expert.” Baekhyun blushed a little at referring to himself as an expert, but it was true. He had been studying about computers and technology on his own since he was very young. “Suho and Kris were hopeless when I met them, so I’ve been handling that aspect of our investigations for the most part since I joined. Speaking of… something else I’ve been wondering, how exactly did you end up in our group? I know you said you asked Suho to join, but why the interest in the first place?”

“You mean, why am I interested in paranormal investigating?” Chanyeol asked, thinking about how to answer that. “I guess I just wanted to find some answers, don’t you? The helping people part is pretty nice too.”

“Of course I do.” Baekhyun blinked; that was obvious, why else would they do it? “We all do. But I mean, did something happen to make you want to find answers?”

“Not one event in particular, but when I was a kid I lived in a haunted house. I never exactly saw any ghosts, but I talked to them,” Chanyeol explained. “My parents never really believed it, I think they just assumed I had an imaginary friend, but I know it was real. We lived there for about two years, and when we moved it didn’t happen anymore. I always wondered about it though, and when I got older I started doing lots of research on the subject. I went to Suho’s store looking for more books, and ended up with a job. I heard from a few local amateurs that there was a pretty well known group of investigators here, who had access to more high-tech equipment and a wider variety of locations – imagine my surprise when I found out my boss was the leader. I basically begged him to let me join every chance I got after that. Never thought he would actually say yes though, I’m still a little shocked about that.”

“Oh… he probably wanted to say yes, you know. When… a year ago, I made him promise he wouldn’t let anyone else into the team.” Baekhyun said, feeling a little guilty after hearing how much Chanyeol had wanted to join. Then he remembered why Chanyeol was there in the first place. “It was also because of me that he said yes though, so I guess we’re even.”

“It was? Suho never actually told me why, just came into work one day and told me I was in.” Chanyeol was a bit surprised to hear that, wondering how it could have been because of Baekhyun when the older man had been so against him joining at first.

“I started getting into the habit of wandering off by myself during investigations, even though we’re supposed to be with a partner at all times. I got myself into a bit of trouble on our last investigation before you joined, and Suho decided it wasn’t safe for us to have an odd number anymore. He basically brought you in to babysit me,” Baekhyun explained, pouting a little. He hadn’t actually thought of it like that before, but it really did seem like Suho had just brought Chanyeol in to keep him out of trouble, which was rather annoying. He was twenty-four years old, he was smart enough to know not to go off by himself after what happened.

“What happened?” Chanyeol was curious what exactly would have been bad enough to make Suho suddenly change his mind after a year.

“I went to check out a room by myself after I heard some strange noises coming from it, and whatever was there decided to lock me in. It was a pretty big place, so it took a few minutes for Suho and Kyungsoo to get to me when they realized something was wrong. Sehun and Kai were outside at the time, so they had no idea anything had happened.” Baekhyun surprised himself with how easily he told Chanyeol this. He was mostly over it, as an investigator he couldn’t let anything that happened on the job affect him too much, but he still didn’t exactly like talking about it. He was feeling a little better about it now though, their last case having reminded him that most spirits weren’t like that. “I’m okay now, but it was kind of frightening, to be honest.”

“Sounds like it would be, I can see why Suho was worried,” Chanyeol said sympathetically. He hoped nothing like that would happen again, to anyone on the team, though it especially twisted at his heart to imagine Baekhyun scared, alone, and trapped in some dark room.

The two of them continued talking for awhile longer, until finally Baekhyun realized how late it had gotten and rushed home. He had work the next morning, and at this rate he wasn’t going to get very much sleep. He couldn’t bring himself to regret the time spent with Chanyeol though, even if he would be tired at work tomorrow. 

The next two days seemed to fly by, and soon the team were on their way to the theater. Everyone was itching to get started once they got there, after sitting in the cars for three hours – Baekhyun had driven with Chanyeol again. It was going to be a long night; they had debated on staying at a hotel and driving home in the morning, but eventually decided against it since they weren’t that far and couldn’t really spare the money. At least no one had to work in the morning, so they could sleep in when they got back.

As usual, Suho, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were taken on a tour of the building and shown the hotspots for activity. It was an old place, built over a hundred years ago. There had supposedly been several deaths on the property, including an actress who hung herself in the dressing room, and the owner believed these deaths were the source of the strange things that went on there. There were all kinds of claims, most of them revolving around this woman. Some people had seen her roaming the building, while others had only heard her speaking or singing. There were also reports of the typical things: odd shadow figures, footsteps, and loud noises without a cause. It was a large building as well, so set up took longer than it had at the small house from last time. It would also take a lot longer to review the evidence, since they had to run a lot more equipment.

Once they had everything set up, the team split up and started the investigation. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were given first shift at central command this time, which they had set up in a small room off the lobby on the main floor. Suho claimed that the pair had gotten all the luck last time, so the rest of them should get to investigate first. Neither complained too much, talking quietly while watching the monitors to pass the time. So far things were going pretty well; Suho and Kyungsoo had gone into the main theater area, and more than once had called over the radio to verify no one was making the strange noises they kept hearing. Kai and Sehun hadn’t had any personal experiences yet, but they had been able to debunk claims of shadows in the basement after playing around with flashlights and the windows - it was obvious that headlights outside could cause people to see things down there. They found a high EMF down there as well, explaining the feeling of uneasiness that some people had.

Finished with their debunking, Kai and Sehun came back after an hour or so to relieve Chanyeol and Baekhyun. The pair checked with Suho and found that he and Kyungsoo had gone up to poke around on the second floor, so they decided to go ahead and check out the theater area. They headed straight for the stage, since there were a lot of claims around it. The dressing room where the actress committed suicide was also just backstage. They walked around on the stage for awhile, talking and trying to get something to interact with them. There were a few knocks and odd noises, and soon they started to hear what sounded like footsteps behind them, coming from backstage. Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked at each other for a moment, seeming to make a silent decision, and headed back into the dressing room.

“Wow, look at all of this,” Chanyeol said quietly, pointing his flashlight around at the costume racks. There were dresses and suits all from different time periods, along with matching shoes, accessories, and even wigs. Baekhyun wasn’t paying attention though, having already started doing an EMF sweep of the room, so Chanyeol went to look at the stuff more closely. Something on the counter next to the racks caught his eye and he grinned, picking it up. “Hey, Baekhyun.”

“Hmm?” Baekhyun turned to look at him, and immediately had to cover his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter. Chanyeol had found a long, gray fake beard and mustache combination and put it on, smiling creepily and waggling his eyebrows. Eventually Baekhyun gave up and started giggling loudly, leaning slightly against the wall to hold himself up. Chanyeol had also started laughing at this point, happy that he had once again made Baekhyun smile.

Suddenly, there was a laugh that belonged to neither of the two men. They both stopped, immediately looking around to see where it had come from, but there was no one else in the room that they could see. Chanyeol pulled the beard off, getting straight back into investigator mode. Baekhyun motioned for Chanyeol to get the audio recorder they had brought with them, since he was already holding a mini DV camera.

“Is there someone in here with us?” Chanyeol asked after turning the recorder on, setting it down on the counter beside him. “We’d really like to talk to you, if you’re here.”

“Are you the actress people say they see here?” Baekhyun continued. The laugh had sounded distinctly female. “They say you killed yourself, is that true?”

“I’m sorry for whatever you may have gone through. I know you must have been hurting, to make that choice.” Chanyeol tried to empathize with her, imagining how sad one would have to be to resort to ending their own life, and then on top of that being unable to move on. “We just want to talk to you. Or, if you want to talk, we would be happy to listen. We might not be able to hear everything you say right now, but our recorder should pick it up.”

“If you can’t communicate with us verbally, could you do something else to let us know you’re here? Make a noise, turn one of our flashlights off, something like that? We would really appreciate it.” Baekhyun paused for a moment to listen, but there was nothing. He was about to say something else when he felt Chanyeol tap him on the shoulder. Chanyeol was staring off towards the door, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, and when Baekhyun saw what he was looking at he nearly dropped the camera he was holding.

Standing in the doorway was a woman, a little taller than Baekhyun. She was gorgeous, with dark wavy hair that was pulled to one side and stunning features. She wore a simple but beautiful black dress, which went down to her ankles, and a matching pair of black heels. The woman looked like she had stepped straight out of the 1940s. Her most striking feature, though, was the fact that she was entirely transparent.

Baekhyun could hardly believe what he was seeing, and it took a minute before he had enough sense to point the mini DV towards her. The woman just stood there and watched, smiling kindly at them. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes though, as if she knew exactly how much she had shocked them by appearing so suddenly, and had done so entirely on purpose. They had asked for a sign that someone was there, and she had obliged. Finally she winked at them, blew a kiss, and disappeared right before their eyes.