Baekhyun and Chanyeol just stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where she had disappeared. In his five years of investigating, Baekhyun had heard many claims of full body apparitions, but he had never actually seen one. Jongdae and Minseok had claimed to see one very briefly years ago, but had been unable to catch it on camera, and no one else on the team ever had. He couldn’t believe that he had not only seen one, but had managed to point the camera at her. And it hadn’t just been a brief glimpse or a residual image; she had stood there for minutes and even interacted with them. It was probably the most amazing paranormal experience he had ever had. Chanyeol was thinking along the same lines, unable to believe his luck on these two cases. When he joined EXO, he had hoped for some decent experiences and evidence, but had never expected anything like this – especially not on his first couple of investigations.

“I think we should head back to central command,” Baekhyun said shakily, coming out of his shock. “I want to see if that showed up on the mini DV.”

Chanyeol just nodded in agreement, and the two of them exited the dressing room, heading back out onto the stage. As they were walking, Baekhyun stumbled slightly, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy. Chanyeol grabbed his arm to steady him, looking at him in concern, but Baekhyun assured him he was fine and they went toward the edge of the stage to climb down. Once they reached the edge though, Baekhyun stumbled again, and would have fallen off if Chanyeol wasn’t still holding onto his arm. Worried, Chanyeol helped Baekhyun down off the stage and into one of the seats in the front row. Baekhyun tried to brush him off, saying it was nothing and moving to stand up, but he was hit by another wave of dizziness and was forced to sit back down.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol frowned, watching as Baekhyun put a hand over his eyes, trembling slightly. “And don’t tell me nothing again, you are obviously not okay.”

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun said, covering his eyes and hoping the world would stop spinning. “I just started feeling weak and dizzy as we were leaving the room. I’ll be fine in a minute, don’t worry.”

“How could I not worry? You look terrible.” Chanyeol said, unsure of what to do. Baekhyun was pale and shaky, looking almost ready to pass out. They sat there for a few minutes, waiting for the dizziness at least to subside. Eventually it did, and the pair was able to make their way back towards central command, though Baekhyun still had to lean on Chanyeol the whole way.

When they got back to the room, Suho and Kyungsoo were there, having switched out with Kai and Sehun ten minutes prior. Suho immediately noticed that something was wrong with Baekhyun and rushed to his side, Kyungsoo hovering worriedly a few feet away. Chanyeol helped Baekhyun sit down again, and explained how he had suddenly started feeling weak in the theater. He was starting to feel a little better now, not so dizzy at least, but he still felt very tired. Baekhyun of course kept insisting he was fine, and that he just needed to sit for awhile. The other three weren’t convinced though, and after a bit of discussion they decided to wrap the investigation early. Suho called Kai and Sehun back from wherever they were, telling them that Baekhyun wasn’t feeling well, and the three of them along with Kyungsoo started packing up equipment as quickly as they could. Chanyeol stayed with Baekhyun, watching to make sure that he wasn’t getting worse.

They took everything down in record time, and it didn’t take long before they were on their way home. Suho had quickly explained to the owner about what happened, and assured him that he and Kyungsoo would still be out in a few days to show him any evidence they caught. Baekhyun was obviously in no state to drive, so he and Chanyeol rode in the back seat of the van while Kyungsoo and Kai drove Baekhyun’s car. Within minutes of being on the road Baekhyun was asleep, head leaning slightly onto Chanyeol’s shoulder. Fortunately it seemed like he was okay now, aside from being tired, and would hopefully be fine with some sleep. Chanyeol kept this in mind, and tried not to think too hard about how close the older man was. He had probably been too tired to even pay attention to what he was leaning on. From the front seat, Suho glanced at the rearview mirror and smiled.

 Baekhyun was indeed perfectly fine after a good night’s sleep, much to everyone’s relief. The next day he and Chanyeol were once again on evidence review duty, this time joined by Kai and Sehun since there was a lot more to go through. Suho had almost told Baekhyun to stay home, but their tech manager insisted on coming, and he did seem to be fine so Suho didn’t argue too much. With everything going on the previous night, Chanyeol and Baekhyun hadn’t gotten to tell the others about their experience, so they made sure to tell the other two to look out for it before they started.

They had been sitting there for several hours when Sehun gasped, staring in disbelief at his screen. Quickly he paused the recording and tapped Kai on the shoulder, the movement also getting Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s attention.

“What is it?” Kai asked, but Sehun said nothing. He waited until they were all looking, rewound the recording a bit, then hit play. The four of them watched as the camera suddenly pointed towards the ground – when Baekhyun had nearly dropped it – then up towards something. Floating in the doorway, where the woman had been, was a white, misty figure. It stayed there for several minutes, then disappeared, just as the woman had done.  Baekhyun and Chanyeol could only stare in amazement; it seemed the camera hadn’t been able to interpret the spirit’s manifestation the same way their eyes had, but it was still proof of what they had seen.

“That’s not even all,” Sehun finally spoke, unplugging his headphones. He replayed the clip, this time with sound. Just before the figure disappeared, there was a very clear female voice.

“Thank you.”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol turned to look at each other, mirror grins on their faces. There was no way to be sure what she was thanking them for – trying to talk to her, making her laugh, something else entirely – but that didn’t matter. They had done something worth her thanks, and that was a great feeling. They weren’t just aiming to help living people in what they did – helping the dead in any way they could was also part of their objective.

Suho and Kyungsoo were just as impressed with the footage when they stopped by to check on things later, especially after hearing Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s story. None of them could believe that they had caught such undeniably solid evidence, some of the best they had ever caught, on two cases in a row.

“Maybe Chanyeol is just lucky,” Suho joked. “His first two cases have been absolutely fantastic.”

“The real luck is that the cameras even stayed on to catch this stuff,” Kyungsoo pointed out. “Usually to do things like this they need a lot of energy and end up draining camera batteries, it’s one of the major reasons there isn’t much evidence like this out there.”

That was a very good point, Chanyeol realized, and something about it bothered him. He had read many books on theories about how spirits manifested, and Kyungsoo was exactly right. To appear the way the woman had, or move objects the way the little boy had, took a lot of energy that human spirits didn’t naturally have. So how had they managed to do it without draining power from their equipment? They would have had to have gotten energy from somewhere else, but where? Unless… that was very rare though, and there was no way Chanyeol could be sure, so for the time being he kept his theory to himself. He would have to see what happened on their next case, though the thought worried him greatly.

The next few days passed without much event. The group had finished evidence review the next day, the whole thing going much faster with four people. It could sometimes take them three or four days when they investigated larger buildings, since usually only Kai, Sehun and sometimes Baekhyun were available during the day. And that was only during the summer, when Kai and Sehun weren’t in school. Having another person around to go over things was definitely a huge help, Chanyeol’s schedule being especially flexible because Suho was his boss. Kyungsoo and Suho would be heading back to the theater on the weekend to meet with the owner and show him the evidence, and they were expecting the reveal to go well. They had considered just doing a video call, three hours being a bit far to drive just for a short meeting, but they felt the least they could do was meet him in person after having to cut the investigation short. Before they went Kyungsoo did some research on the place and found a picture of the actress who had supposedly killed herself, Jessica Jung. Sure enough, the woman smiling back at them in the picture was the woman Baekhyun and Chanyeol had seen.

On the day that Suho and Kyungsoo went back, five days after the investigation, Chanyeol invited Baekhyun over for another movie night. During that initial conversation, he had offered to spend time at Baekhyun’s apartment, but after inviting him over the last time he realized that it was probably better to just get the older man out of his half empty apartment entirely so that he wouldn’t think about it. This time Baekhyun stopped and got takeout for dinner, rather than relying on whatever may or may not be hidden in Chanyeol’s fridge. They watched another terrible horror flick, joking and laughing the whole time, and spent the rest of the night talking and goofing off.

When Baekhyun got home it was a bit past midnight, and he was still smiling. He was starting to really enjoy Chanyeol’s company, he wasn’t even bothered to admit it anymore. Chanyeol was constantly finding some way to make him laugh, and he was very easy to talk to. Baekhyun had opened up to him more than he ever thought he would already, and they had only known each other for two weeks.

As he walked in the door and the lights, Baekhyun immediately noticed his cell phone lit up on the coffee table. He hadn’t even realized he had forgotten to bring it with him. Picking it up, he saw two text messages and a missed call from Tao – the messages of course asking why he wasn’t answering the phone. Frowning, Baekhyun checked the time: 12:37. It was three hours earlier over there though, so it shouldn’t be too late to call him back. As far as he knew the other group didn’t have an investigation tonight, and he highly doubted that Tao and Kris would be in bed before ten on the weekend. He dialed the number he knew by heart, and by the second ring a familiar voice was greeting him.

“Baekhyunnie! Why weren’t you answering me?”

“Sorry, Taozi. I was out somewhere and forgot my phone at home.” Baekhyun explained, smiling softly. He could just picture Tao pouting on the other end.

“Typical Baekhyun. Where were you?”

“I was at a… a friend’s place.” It was weird to say considering how things had been between them not even two weeks ago, but Baekhyun did feel like he could call Chanyeol a friend.

“Ahhh, that new teammate of yours? Kris told me that Suho said you two were getting along rather well.”

“I guess you could say that, though I really wish Suho would mind his own business.” Baekhyun knew that would never happen, but he would keep complaining about it anyway.

“He wouldn’t be Suho if he did. I’m glad to hear you’re making a new friend though, I’ve been worried about you being lonely since I left.”

“Why would I be lonely? I’m just fine. You’re so arrogant, thinking I can’t survive without you or something,” Baekhyun teased, just like he did every time they talked and Tao worried. It had always been his way of trying to hide just how lonely he was, though he didn’t know why he bothered because Tao always saw through it anyway.

Tao laughed. “Sure Baekhyun, whatever you say. But really, how are you? It’s been awhile since we talked.”

“I’m doing alright, I promise.” Again, Baekhyun always said this, not wanting his friend to worry. For the first time in the past year though, it was honest. He had felt better lately, happier. He still missed Tao a great deal, and it still hurt sometimes, but it wasn’t as all-consuming as it had been. He wondered if it was in part because of Chanyeol, though he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that.

“Good. I have to go now, we’re meeting the others for drinks soon, but I’m really glad you called. Tell everyone hello for me, okay? Chanyeol too.”

“Alright, I will. Have fun, and tell the others hi for me as well.”

“Talk to you later Baekhyun!”

“Bye, Tao.”

Baekhyun felt the familiar ache building up at the loss of Tao’s voice, but was surprised when it was duller than usual. When he went to bed twenty minutes later, he found himself thinking of a certain blindingly bright smile, and he didn’t feel so empty. That night, Baekhyun dreamed.

He was once again surrounded in darkness. The comforting presence was still there though, along with the feeling that it was trying to tell him something. What was it he had figured out last time? Oh yes, a warning. But a warning for what? He felt far too safe here for there to be any need for that. He could tell the presence was trying hard to form words again, and was mildly surprised when it eventually managed to do so.

“Baekhyun…”

That voice… it sounded so familiar. He knew it was one he should recognize, but he just couldn’t place it. In fact, something about this whole thing seemed familiar, but why? It was like some distant memory that was temporarily forgotten – he knew the answer was there, he just couldn’t reach it. He heard his name being called again, in that terribly familiar voice, and then everything went white.

Baekhyun’s eyes flew open. He laid there, looking around his room in confusion for a moment before realizing it had just been a dream. It had felt so real though, and again he puzzled over why it was so familiar. Unconsciously he reached a hand up towards his neck, grasping at the pendant he always wore under his shirt, even in sleep. It was an odd star shaped thing, small and made of silver, and the cool metal felt comforting in his hand. He soon drifted back off to sleep, this time pleasantly dreamless.

It was another two weeks before team EXO had another case. This one had taken a bit of planning, hence the longer wait. Kyungsoo had gotten a request from a hotel with some rather interesting claims, and it looked like it would be another exciting case. The only bad part was that it was six hours away, and they would have to stay the night. The hotel had been kind enough to offer them three double rooms for free, so money wasn’t an issue, but it did mean they all had to take off of work for two days. Suho would have to close the bookstore as well – he trusted Jinki, but he couldn’t leave the poor kid to do everything by himself for two whole days. For that reason, it took some time for everyone to arrange their schedules, but eventually they had it worked out and a date was set for them to go.

The night before the trip, Baekhyun and Chanyeol held their now weekly movie night. When Baekhyun found himself at Chanyeol’s apartment for the third week in a row the previous week, they decided to just make it a regular thing. They followed the same pattern – one of them would get some kind of takeout for dinner, they would watch some ridiculously cliché horror movie, make fun of it the whole time, and then talk after until one of them realized how late it had gotten.

Excited for the case the next day, the pair had gotten to talking about past paranormal experiences, Baekhyun telling Chanyeol various stories about previous investigations. He also had some pretty hilarious non-paranormal stories, including one involving Kyungsoo and an angry bat.

“Baekhyun, there’s something I’ve been curious about,” Chanyeol said once they had finished laughing.

“You’re always curious about something.” Baekhyun said, amused. He felt like he had answered a million questions about himself over the last few weeks, but he didn’t really mind it. “What is it?”

“Well, I was just wondering… the first time you came here, I told you why I got into paranormal investigating, but I never got to hear your story. Did you have some kind of experience too?” Chanyeol asked, a little nervously. He had been debating asking about this, wondering if the question was too personal.

“I did.” Baekhyun’s expression immediately changed at the question, eyes turning sad. Chanyeol almost didn’t expect him to elaborate, but after a few seconds he spoke again. “My father passed away from illness when I was very young, around three or four. His closest friend happened to be my uncle, my mother’s brother – it’s how my parents met – so when he died, my uncle kind of took it upon himself to look after me. He pretty much helped my mother raise me, and we were very close. He was always very protective; I think my father must have asked him to keep me safe or something like that, once he realized that he wasn’t going to be around. Anyway, when I was eight I… I had this… this dream.”

Chanyeol watched the emotions play out on his face as he spoke of his uncle; fond remembrance at first, then sorrow, longing. Baekhyun started to stumble over his words, obviously struggling to keep himself composed, and Chanyeol cursed himself for once again making the older man cry. He hadn’t missed the way he used the past tense in reference to his uncle, and though he knew what was coming, it still made his heart ache to hear the words. It wasn’t fair, he thought, that Baekhyun had lost so much.

Baekhyun took a few deep breaths, wiping at his eyes, before continuing. “I dreamt of my uncle, which at first wasn’t all that strange. He just talked to me for awhile, telling me how much he loved me and how proud he was, and asked me not to be too sad. I didn’t think much of it when I woke up, until I went downstairs. My mother was sitting at kitchen table, crying, still holding the phone. She told me… she said there had been an a-accident… she said her brother… her brother…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it,” Chanyeol said softly. Baekhyun let out a choked sob, unable to keep it in any longer, and the sound stabbed at Chanyeol’s heart. He instinctively reached for the older man, wanting to comfort him, and Baekhyun let himself be pulled into Chanyeol’s arms. They stayed like that for several minutes, Baekhyun crying quietly into Chanyeol’s shirt while the taller man whispered soothing words. Inwardly, Baekhyun was berating himself for breaking down like this, but it had been so long since he opened up to anyone about his loss. It had been sixteen years since his uncle passed away, but the time had not made it hurt less. It only made it easier not to think about, easier to live with. He didn’t forget about the man who had been a second father to him, but sometimes he could forget that he was gone and think about the time spent with him happily. Whenever he thought about that morning though, the complete despair in his mother’s eyes when she looked at him, all of the pain came flooding back.

Eventually Baekhyun calmed down, pulling away from Chanyeol once the tears had stopped. He laid a hand on his chest, feeling the pendant where it rested against his skin. The weight of it was reassuring, and after taking another minute to compose himself, he continued his story.

“At the time, I think I was too young to truly understand and make the connection. But when I got older, I remembered the dream and started to wonder if it had just been a simple dream, or if he had really come to me to say goodbye. I was always kind of a skeptic, never really believed in an afterlife or ghosts but… I kept going back to that and questioning it. When I met Kris and Suho and they told me they were looking for spirits, I thought ‘this is my chance to get answers’ and asked if I could join them and well, that was that I guess.”

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol wanted to say something typical, like ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I understand,’ but really he didn’t think it was something he could understand without experiencing and he doubted Baekhyun wanted his pity. “Thank you, for telling me that.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that, I didn’t mean to turn into a blubbering mess in the middle of your living room. I got your shirt all wet too.” Baekhyun frowned, a little embarrassed now that he was feeling better. He hated crying like that in front of people, and yet it was the second time it had happened in front of Chanyeol.

“Hey, it’s okay, don’t apologize,” Chanyeol said, reaching out and tilting Baekhyun’s chin up slightly, so that their eyes were locked. “I told you before, didn’t I? You can talk to me anytime, about anything, and I promise I will listen. You don’t have to be afraid to cry in front of me either, I would never think any less of you for it.”

As he looked into the other’s eyes, his own still red and puffy, Baekhyun knew it was true. Chanyeol wouldn’t judge him, he would just listen and be there, and it was comforting to know that. He smiled. “Thank you then, for listening.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Chanyeol said, grinning back. “I’m just happy to see you smiling again. I don’t like it when you cry.”

Baekhyun wasn’t really sure what to say to that, so he just nodded, and soon they fell back into normal conversation. They talked for another hour or so before Baekhyun decided it was time to leave, the clock on the wall behind the TV indicating it was already after midnight. Chanyeol insisted on seeing him all the way down to his car, so the pair exited the apartment and headed down to the street. They said their goodbyes at the building’s front door, and Chanyeol waved as Baekhyun turned to walk to his car. Before he went around to the driver’s side though, he stopped and turned to look at Chanyeol again.

“Chanyeol… I’m really glad that Suho broke his promise.”

His words were so quiet that Chanyeol almost didn’t catch them, and before he could say anything Baekhyun was already in the car. Chanyeol just watched as he drove off, wondering what that could have meant. Then he remembered something Baekhyun had told him weeks ago, the first time he came to the apartment.

“… a year ago, I made him promise he wouldn’t let anyone else into the team.”

It was at that moment, standing on the sidewalk and staring at where Baekhyun’s car had long since disappeared around a corner, that Chanyeol realized he might be just a little bit in love.