Chanyeol had been pacing around his living room for the past forty-five minutes. It was Sunday, their movie night, and Baekhyun was supposed to have been here an hour ago. He hadn’t thought anything of it at first, it was normal for Baekhyun to be a little late, but now he was on the verge of freaking out. He had thought that telling Baekhyun about his feelings would be fine, that it wouldn’t change anything, but apparently he had been wrong. The older man hadn’t talked to him all week, and now he was ditching their movie night. Chanyeol had screwed up and ruined their friendship, and now he didn’t know what to do. He was so caught up in his worrying that he didn’t hear the knock on the door, and jumped when someone yelled his name.

“Chanyeol! I know you’re in there, please hurry and open the door. This box is really hot,” Baekhyun called through the door, trying to find a way to hold the pizza box he had brought so that it didn’t burn his bare arm.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s face immediately lit up, and he rushed to open the door. “You came!”

“Of course I did,” Baekhyun said, shoving the pizza box at Chanyeol. “Take this, please. I’m sorry I’m late, I had something to take care of last minute.”

“It’s fine, totally fine!” Chanyeol grinned, beyond happy that his worries had been for nothing. He took the box into the kitchen and got out two plates to serve it on. “Go ahead and sit down, I’ll get us some drinks and then we can pick the movie.”

“Let’s try to pick something halfway decent this time,” Baekhyun said as he went to make himself comfortable on the couch. Chanyeol joined him after a minute, sitting their plates and drinks on the coffee table in front of the couch. He was about to suggest something to watch when something caught his eye.

“Baekhyun… have you been crying?” Chanyeol asked, frowning. “Your eyes are red.”

“No,” Baekhyun lied, cursing inwardly. It had taken him awhile to compose himself, and he had hoped that by the time he got over here it wouldn’t be obvious what he had been doing. He should have expected Chanyeol to notice, he was always paying that extra bit of attention when it came to him.

“Is something wrong? Please talk to me,” Chanyeol said, not buying it for a second.

“Nothing is wrong, really,” Baekhyun insisted. “I was crying, but its fine now. I’ll be fine.”

“If that’s true, then why did you try to lie about it? Why were you crying Baekhyun?” Chanyeol pressed, and Baekhyun sighed, knowing he wouldn’t give it up.

“I just didn’t want you to worry, that’s all,” Baekhyun replied, taking a deep breath. “I told Tao about my feelings earlier.”

“Oh, Baekhyun…” Chanyeol didn’t need Baekhyun to tell him that it hadn’t gone well, it was obvious.

“It’s not like I didn’t already know, it just hurt to hear,” Baekhyun admitted. “I promise that I’ll be fine though, so don’t get all sad on me okay? I just decided that it was time for me to move on.”

“Why… why now though?” Chanyeol didn’t dare to assume, but he couldn’t help the tiny spark of hope that popped up in the back of his mind.

Baekhyun smiled, looking right into Chanyeol’s eyes as he spoke. “Because, I found someone who was worth moving on for. I can’t be with him if I insist on being hung up on Tao forever.”

“Someone… worth moving on for?” Chanyeol said, disbelieving. He had been so certain that he didn’t have a chance, Baekhyun couldn’t actually mean him, could he? Baekhyun nodded, though his smile dimmed slightly.

“Chanyeol, I can’t… I’m not ready for a relationship yet. I’m still hurting, still raw. It’s selfish to ask, but please give me time,” Baekhyun said, eyes pleading.

“Baekhyun, I’ll give you all the time in the world if that’s what you need.” Chanyeol didn’t even have to think about that; he would do anything to make Baekhyun happy, and if the older man needed time to sort out his feelings then Chanyeol would give him that.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun said softly. Then he smiled again, much wider this time. “Now, I think it’s time for a movie, don’t you?”

The rest of the night went just as the others had, with lots of laughter and playful banter. They were both able to enjoy the time together without worrying about anything else for once, without anymore tears, and they found that they much preferred it this way. By the time Baekhyun got home, he was much happier than he had been all week, and he knew who to thank for that. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, not even worried about his other more ghostly problem for the night.

Another week passed without incident. Baekhyun and Chanyeol found themselves spending more and more time together – hanging out at Chanyeol’s apartment a few nights, visiting each other at work, bothering Kyungsoo for food – and were enjoying getting to know each other better. They weren’t dating exactly, and there was nothing physical going on, but they were content with how things were for now. Kyungsoo had continued with his research, but so far he still hadn’t come up with anything. He had hoped to be able to put off taking another case until they knew more, but he had finally gotten a request that he didn’t think they should turn down, so he called a meeting at the office.

“What have you got for us Kyungsoo?” Suho asked once everyone had arrived and was seated. He was pleased to note that Baekhyun and Chanyeol were back to sitting together; he didn’t know if Baekhyun had done as he advised, but judging by how much he had been at the bookstore over the past week, he had clearly managed to figure something out.

“An old penitentiary about three hours north of here,” Kyungsoo said, sliding the file he had on the place across the table to Suho. “It was built in 1871, and ceased function as a prison in 1989. It’s currently in use as a historic building, open to the public for tours. There have been many, many claims over the years from staff, inmates, and visitors, and some of the current staff members are pretty frightened to work there. They would at least like to make sure whatever may be there isn’t harmful. I didn’t want to accept it until I talked to everyone, but I really think we should take this.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea though?” Sehun asked, glancing over at Baekhyun. Kai and Chanyeol looked like they agreed, while Baekhyun just glared at all three of them.

“Well, none of these reports sound particularly dangerous or violent,” Suho said, still reading through the file. “I think if we’re careful, it should be fine. I have to agree with Kyungsoo on this one; our job is to help people, and they sound like they definitely need help over there.”

“Alright, I’ll tell them yes then. When do we want to do this?” Kyungsoo asked, not sure what everyone’s work schedule was. “I have Thursday night and Friday morning off, so I was thinking maybe then.”

“Thursday night works for me, that’s in… three days? I can close the store a bit early that night, and Jinki works morning shift Friday. I can trust him to open for me and hold things down long enough for me to get a bit of sleep,” Suho said, looking around at the others. “Is that okay with the rest of you?”

No one else had any problems with Thursday either, so three days later the team was on its way to yet another investigation. The place promised to be interesting, with a gruesome history and hundreds of deaths on the property over more than one hundred years. It was also huge, so getting all the equipment set up would be a little tricky. Fortunately they had a great tech manager and a whole lot of extension cord. Kai, Sehun and Chanyeol got right to work setting up central command while Suho, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun were toured around. By nightfall they had managed to get everything set up, all of their DVR cameras running along with several mini DVs placed in key areas. Then it was lights out, and the investigation began.

Much to Baekhyun’s annoyance, he and Chanyeol were the first pair posted in central command. Suho had warned them once again to be very careful, then gone off with Kyungsoo to investigate one of the upper level cell blocks. Kai and Sehun had also run off to check out the death row cells, though they promised they would be back to relieve Baekhyun and Chanyeol soon.

“You know, we could just stay here the whole time,” Chanyeol suggested once the others were gone. Baekhyun didn’t even bother with a response to that, giving Chanyeol a look that said exactly what he thought of that idea. “Alright, fine, we’ll go out and investigate. I’m sorry, you know I’m just worried about you.”

“I appreciate that, but I swear I’ll be fine,” Baekhyun said, offering what he hoped was a reassuring smile. If he was being honest he was worried too, about himself and Chanyeol, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from doing what he loved. “Don’t worry so much, I don’t want you to spend the whole night worrying about me Chanyeol. We have free reign over a big creepy building for the night, let’s enjoy it!”

“Oh yes, big creepy buildings, my favorite,” Chanyeol said, chuckling. “I’ll try not to fret so much, but it’s kind of hard not to. You just seem to attract trouble.”

“I guess I must, if I got you to like me,” Baekhyun joked, laughing at the look on Chanyeol’s face at his words.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Chanyeol asked, pouting slightly and poking Baekhyun in the shoulder until the older man stopped laughing long enough to answer.

“It means you’re troublesome,” Baekhyun replied, laughing again when Chanyeol puffed out his cheeks, looking distressed. “I’m just kidding, Chanyeol. If I really thought you were troublesome, I wouldn’t be sitting here joking with you. I wouldn’t have bothered trying to be your friend, or anything else.”

“You have a mean sense of humor,” Chanyeol said, but he was smiling now. “You’re much happier than you were before, I’m glad.”

“Yeah, well, I have someone to thank for that,” Baekhyun said shyly, cheeks tinged red.

“Oh, who?” Chanyeol didn’t actually get it at first, until he saw the way Baekhyun was looking at him.

“This guy I met at a bookstore,” Baekhyun said, rolling his eyes. “He’s a bit of an idiot and makes some of the goofiest facial expressions I’ve ever seen, but he’s sweet. He cares about me a lot.”

“He does,” Chanyeol agreed, grinning. Baekhyun smiled back, and the pair sat in companionable silence for awhile, until Sehun and Kai did eventually come back to take their place.

Elsewhere in the building, Suho and Kyungsoo were walking along one of the cell blocks, talking quietly and listening for any strange noises. Kyungsoo was panning around with the thermal, looking for anything out of the ordinary, while Suho checked out the EMF readings.

“Nothing too odd here,” Suho said once he was finished, getting fairly normal readings for the place.

“Same here. There was one weird hit, but then I realized it was just a reflection,” Kyungsoo replied, still looking at the display on the camera just in case anything did show up.

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

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

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

The pair went over towards the cell and started asking questions, trying to get a response. They tried to be sensitive, to sympathize with the spirit if it indeed was the man who committed suicide there, but after that initial bang they got nothing. Either he had left or he wasn’t looking to communicate, and they decided not to push it for now. They didn’t want to risk make anything in this place angry, not with Baekhyun’s situation anyway. Eventually they decided to just move on to another area, hoping to run into some activity somewhere else in the building. They didn’t notice the shadow that watched them as they left, then disappeared down at the other end of the block.

Having been relieved from monitor-watching duty, Baekhyun and Chanyeol wandered off into the prison, looking around for somewhere interesting to start. After awhile they went down into one of the lower cell blocks, just walking along to see if anything would happen. Baekhyun recalled the reports in this area were of voices, shadow figures, and cell doors slamming for the most part.

“Hey, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said as they were walking. “If something happens, and it looks like it might turn bad, can you promise me that we’ll leave?”

“Chanyeol, I told you not to worry so much.” Baekhyun wanted to be annoyed, but he couldn’t be when he heard the concern laced in Chanyeol’s voice. “I promise. If you ask me to leave, we’ll leave.”

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said, feeling a little bit better about the whole thing now. “So, want to just sit in one of the cells for awhile or something, see what happens?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Baekhyun replied. “Despite what you may think, I do have some sense of self preservation, and I’m not sure I really want to try drawing anything out with an EVP session. We try not to provoke, but all it takes is one wrong question to upset an entity, especially in a place like this.”

“Agreed, that is the last thing we want to do. How about one of the ones at the end there? I think there were supposed to be shadow figures seen in that doorway too, so if we hang out there we’ll have a good view of that area as well.” Chanyeol was glad to hear that Baekhyun was at least thinking of his safety a little bit; hopefully that would keep him from doing anything to endanger himself. He saw Baekhyun nod to his question, so he kept walking down towards the end of the block.

Baekhyun was about to follow when something in one of the cells next to them caught his eye, a shadow or some other kind of movement. He knew he should tell Chanyeol first before he went to investigate, but without even realizing it he felt himself walking towards the cell. Somehow he felt drawn to it, which should have sent off warning bells in his head, but it didn’t. Maybe he didn’t have a sense of self preservation after all. It was only when he passed through the entrance to the cell that he realized this was a very, very bad idea. The feeling inside the cell was completely different than it had been outside. It felt oppressive and uninviting, and physically it had to have been at least ten degrees colder. He immediately wanted to turn around and leave, but was stopped in his tracks when he felt a presence behind him. He didn’t have to look to know that someone was standing there, literally pressed up against his back. In fact, he really didn’t want to see, so he closed his eyes and hoped that whatever it was would just go away. He could feel their breath on the back of his neck as a pair of cold hands grasped his shoulders, and a voice whispered in his left ear. “Going somewhere?”

It took a few seconds for Chanyeol to notice that Baekhyun was not still walking next to him, and he cursed himself for not noticing sooner. He turned and started walking back in the direction he had come from, calling out Baekhyun’s name and looking frantically in each cell that he passed. Finally he saw Baekhyun, standing in one of the cells with his eyes closed and looking absolutely terrified. He was over there in a second, calling out to the older man again.

“Baekhyun! What are you doing, are you okay?”

As soon as Baekhyun heard Chanyeol’s voice, the presence was gone along with all the weird feelings he had gotten in the cell. He opened his eyes and was relieved to see only Chanyeol, staring at him worriedly. There was no sign of whoever had been with him in the cell, and he was very glad for that.

“I’m fine, just thought I saw something in here,” Baekhyun replied, smiling shakily. “It was nothing though. Come on, let’s go.”

Before Chanyeol could say anything, Baekhyun reached for his hand, comforted by the contact. He led Chanyeol back down towards the far end of the cell block, and Chanyeol was too stunned by the hand holding to protest or question what had happened any further. He just followed along, blushing slightly, as Baekhyun walked down and into the last cell on the block. They sat down inside and simply listened for awhile, watching for any shadows or anything else out of the ordinary as well. To Chanyeol’s complete surprise, Baekhyun never let go of his hand. 

Throughout the rest of the night, Baekhyun found himself sticking closer to Chanyeol. Holding onto his hand or arm, or walking with their shoulders brushing. Nothing had really happened after the incident in that cell, but he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that the experience had given him. Chanyeol made him feel safe, and being near him was reassuring, so he was as clingy as he could be without pushing his own boundaries. He also found himself reaching for his pendant more often than usual, and eventually Chanyeol noticed.

“Why do you always reach for your neck?” He asked when Baekhyun did it for probably the fiftieth time that night. “I’ve noticed you do that a lot, especially if you’re nervous or anxious or something.”

“That? Oh, it’s because of this,” Baekhyun said, pulling the pendant out from inside his shirt. He wore the star on a black leather cord, and usually kept it tucked under his shirt – it was somewhat of a private thing, though he didn’t really mind showing Chanyeol. “It was my uncle’s. It’s just kind of… comforting I guess? It’s like a reminder that he’s always with me, or something like that.”

“It’s really nice. It’s good that you have something like that to remember him by,” Chanyeol said, admiring the simple but elegant piece of jewelry. “I’m sure if he’s as wonderful as you’ve told me, he’s watching over you even now.”

“I really hope so,” Baekhyun smiled, reaching up to slip the pendant back into his shirt.  Besides wanting to keep it too himself, he also preferred to feel it touching his skin. It felt closer to him, more personal that way.

The rest of the night passed by quickly, and to everyone’s relief it seemed like nothing crazy had happened. There was some of the usual stuff – shadow sightings, unexplained footsteps and noises, possible EVPs – but no full body apparitions or moving objects or most importantly, no tired, dizzy, collapsing Baekhyun. They managed to get packed up and head home without incident, and everyone was very grateful for that. They got back in the early hours of the morning, stopping at the office quickly to unload the equipment. After that they all went home to get a few hours sleep before getting up to go to work, or in Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Sehun’s case, to the office to review evidence.

When Baekhyun entered his apartment, he was a bit unnerved to find that the uneasy feeling hadn’t gone away. He hadn’t really noticed it on the way home, his attention on driving and on Chanyeol, but without the younger man here to distract him he was starting to feel very uncomfortable. He was tired from the long night though, so he attributed it to the disturbing experience in the cell and tried not to think about it, changing into pajamas quickly and getting into bed. He was out within minutes, too exhausted to really worry too much.

The darkness was so familiar now that Baekhyun welcomed it. He’d had this dream several times over the past few weeks, though he still wasn’t able to place the voice or figure out what the message was. It kept trying to talk to him but it was muffled, like there was some kind of barrier between them. He had tried to make out the words, but it was too difficult and every time he was left to wake up even more confused. This time though, he could almost understand, and he struggled to listen.

“Baekhyun… … it’s … … the … … pen…”

Before the voice could finish, the dream suddenly changed. Everything was still dark, but it was no longer safe and comforting. It was cold and menacing, and Baekhyun felt like it was suffocating him. Then he noticed that he could actually feel something on his throat, those same cold hands from the prison closing around his neck, cutting off the flow of oxygen. He couldn’t even speak to call for help, to call the protective presence back, couldn’t even breathe. He reached up to try to pull the hands off, clawing at them desperately, but they just tightened their grip. He kept struggling but it was useless, he could feel the life draining out of him, he was going to die…

It took a moment for Baekhyun to realize that he had actually woken up, still scratching at his own throat trying to pry off hands that weren’t actually there. He could almost feel the fingers digging into his skin still, and he quickly got out of bed and ran to the bathroom attached to his room. When he looked into the mirror he half expected to see hand prints on his throat, but there was nothing except for a few self-inflicted scratch marks. Letting out a shaky breath, he leaned down over the sink and tried to calm himself down, trying to convince himself that it had been a dream and nothing more. He heard a quiet clinking sound as his pendant hung down and hit the sink, having come un-tucked from inside his shirt at some point during the night. He remembered the first part of the dream and then suddenly it all clicked – the pendant.

“…He was always very protective; I think my father must have asked him to keep me safe…”

“Has anything changed with you in the past month?”

“…Oh, it’s because of this…It was my uncle’s…”

“… the … … pen…”

The thing was, Baekhyun didn’t actually know for sure where the pendant had come from. Over a month ago, the day before the case at that mansion, his mother and grandmother had asked him to come over and help move some things into the attic. When he was up there, he had come across some of his uncle’s things, and in one of the boxes he found a pendant. Assuming it belonged to his uncle like everything else in the box, Baekhyun had grabbed it and slipped it into his pocket. He doubted his mother or anyone else would notice it missing if it was just lying around in the attic, and he hadn’t seen any harm in taking it; he had thought that it would be nice to have something of his uncle’s to wear, as a reminder. On his way home, he had stopped and bought a cord to go with it, and had been wearing it ever since. That had been the only thing different on all of these recent cases – he had worn the necklace every time. He didn’t know how a necklace could be causing all of this, but he had no other explanation for it, and he was sure that was what the voice was going to say in his dream. And he knew that voice, trusted that voice; it had been so long since he last heard it that it took him awhile to place it, but now he was certain. His uncle was trying to warn him.