The SC office of Ecto Wood was small, bare and decrepit.

“Where’re the officers?” Woohyun asked, looking around the deserted office.

“Not many people can make it out here as you can imagine.” Seungchul snorted, heading for the coffee maker at the counter. After making his coffee he took his mug to his desk and whipped out his laptop—a huge, ancient contraption that sounded like an airplane taking flight when he turned it on.

“So apparently Mi Seon says the little Ilhoon is here…” He scanned the screen.

“How does she know that?” Sunggyu frowned.

The old man shrugged.

Sunggyu was finding this whole thing sort of suspicious and was rethinking his tracking device theory.

“Probably put a tracking device on him.” Seungchul grunted, causing Sunggyu to look up with wide eyes.

“Wait for real?”

“Well, Mi Seon noona’s been known to do that…” Woohyun rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly.

Sunggyu turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “What? How would you…wait.” He paused, amusement filling his eyes. “Don’t tell me she put one on you—.”

“A-Anyways.” Woohyun coughed.

“Wait she did?” Sunggyu laughed. He looked Woohyun’s body over, finding the whole thing more amusing than he should. “Where’d she put it?”

“Hyung!” Woohyun whined.

“Ok, ok.” Sunggyu calmed himself down. “But if that’s the case, then shouldn’t we be getting an exact location?”

“The tracking device can only release a strong signal the closer the target is. As he gets further away the signal gets weaker.” Seungchul explained.

“Oh…well where is it saying he is now?” Sunggyu questioned.

“Yeah. We’ll go there right now!” Woohyun announced, cracking his knuckles.

“Not so fast you idiots.” Seungchul sighed. “What’re you going to do when you find him? There are procedures that must be taken.”

“Procedures? What kind of procedures?” Sunggyu asked.

“Like what gun we’re going to use to blow his head off.” Seungchul remarked rather calmly, still with the smile that hadn’t left his face.

Woohyun grinned, already liking where the old man was coming from. Sunggyu however, was not as enthused. “We can’t kill him.”

“Why not?” Woohyun and Seungchul asked in unison.

“We’re supposed to be police officers!” Sunggyu groaned. “We can’t go around shooting people’s heads off!”

Seungchul snorted. “The boring- punk has a point.”

“I guess…” Woohyun sighed. “But what should we do then hyung? I mean we can’t really arrest him unless we get some solid proof of his involvement with the supernatural.”

“We should get some regular police officers to come with us as backup.” Sunggyu suggested. “And also…I want to talk to him.”

“Talk to him? Yeah let’s see how that’ll work out.” Seungchul scoffed. “I’ll call the police station.” He walked over to the ancient looking telephone on the desk and began to make the call.

Sunggyu watched him for a moment before turning to Woohyun and gripping onto his wrist. “Listen…I need to talk to him Woohyun. I know I can…well I don’t know what I can do. But I have to try. I think it’s the only way and plus…” He averted his eyes. “Actually a part of me wants you to stay behind.”

“What?” Woohyun frowned. “Hyung! I can’t—.”

“I know! I just…” Sunggyu stared into Woohyun’s eyes worriedly. “I…I’m just worried about you. I don’t think you’re emotionally stable enough to—.”

“I’m fine!” Woohyun choked. “I-I’m fine hyung. I told you I’m—.”

“Ok.” Sunggyu put on a small smile, squeezing Woohyun’s wrist a little. “Ok Woohyun-ah…”

“Why don’t you believe me?” Woohyun murmured, lowering his head, his bangs shading his eyes. “Why don’t you believe—?”

“Because I know.” Sunggyu cut him off, sternly. Woohyun met his gaze and Sunggyu was deathly serious, a heap of conflicting emotions clouding his eyes. “I know you’re not ok. I know you’ve never been ok. And I don’t even need you to be ok anymore. I just need you to be alive. I just need you to be safe.”

Woohyun bit his lower lip to stop it from trembling. “I’ll be ok…for this I’ll be ok.”

Sunggyu let out a sharp sigh. “Fine…but if the slightest thing goes wrong. If you…if something happens, I’m taking you out of there and we’ll leave.”

“Leave?” Woohyun blinked. “But how can we leave when Ilhoon—?”

“Yah.” Sunggyu gripped onto his shoulders. “I don’t ing care about Ilhoon you idiot. He can ruin the whole damn world for all I care. You’re my first priority.”

Woohyun’s cheeks flushed and he looked down suddenly feeling embarrassed. “Hyung…”

“What, you don’t know that already?” Sunggyu actually sounded annoyed. “Wouldn’t you do the same for me?”

Woohyun instantly looked up, nodding fervently. “I’d do anything for you, hyung.”

Sunggyu smiled a little at that and patted his head.

“Eh, looks like we’ll only get the back up this evening.” Seungchul hung up the phone. “But we can still do some surveillance. You know, check what he’s up to now and make our plan of attack or some like that.”

“Well…” Sunggyu nodded, thoughtfully. “I guess that would be—.”

His phone vibrating in his pocket, stopped him mid-sentence. “Excuse me.” He told Seungchul and took the noisy device out of his pocket. He didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyways.

“I heard what happened.”

“Who…?” Sunggyu paused. “Hyunsik? Is that you?”

“I…I heard what happened to your friend. An officer from your division called…I think his name was Lee Sungjong? He…he told me what Ilhoon did.”

Sunggyu spared Woohyun a glance before averting his eyes. “And?”

“I…I want to help!” Hyunsik stammered. “I…I don’t know what I can do but if I can stop him somehow.”

Sunggyu immediately brightened. “Hyunsik-ah.”

“I really didn’t want to be involved with the old gang anymore…but Ilhoon, he’s hurting people. That’s not like him. Something’s wrong.”

Sunggyu snorted. “You know he only became like that after you left right?”

There was a pause.

“…Anyways how can I help?”

“Well we’re at a place called Ecto Wood. Is it possible to meet us here?”

Hyunsik agreed to meet them, however that would take another few hours for him to arrive.

In the mean time Seungchul drove them to the place they would be staying for the night—a seedy motel ten minutes away from the office across the street from a gas station.

“Wow how glamorous.” Sunggyu looked out the car window at the shady building.

“Don’t complain you little punk.” Seungchul hissed. “This is the best motel in town.”

“Seriously?” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow.

“No, it’s the tiest.” Seungchul snorted. “But you’re not pansy- princesses you’ll be fine.”

“What if we were? Would you show us to a nicer hotel then?” Woohyun joked, but Seungchul ignored him and waved them off.

“I’ll come back in an hour so we can scope out the cabin Ilhoon’s staying at.” And at that Sunggyu and Woohyun were left standing outside the creepy, dirty motel, as Seungchul drove off.

Sunggyu sighed as he hauled his duffel bag over his shoulder and turned towards the motel. The paint on the white walls had faded, leaving the building a murky grey yellow, and the only light at the rather small entrance flickered on and off repeatedly.

“Wait.” Woohyun gripped onto his arm as they reached the entrance.

“What’s wrong?” Sunggyu blinked, the flickering light disturbing his vision.

“I just…” Woohyun clutched onto Sunggyu’s sleeve. “Um…m-maybe we can find another place?”

Sunggyu smiled a little. “Is the big, scary, badass monster scared of a little motel?”

Woohyun frowned. “Don’t call me that.”

“Ok, ok.” Sunggyu slung an arm around Woohyun’s shoulder. “Its ok, hyung will protect you.” He was mostly joking and he half-expected Woohyun to protest and say something like, “I’ll be the one doing the protecting.” But Woohyun didn’t say anything and just leaned into Sunggyu, clutching onto the flap of his jacket as they walked in. Sunggyu felt a warmth envelop him at Woohyun’s actions. It was almost as if he…was depending on him.

Sunggyu wondered if he was finally legitimately gaining Woohyun’s trust. For the first time in a while, he felt hopeful again.

♦♦♦

The hotel room was a small, dingy mess with low ceilings and stained brown carpeting.

“Wow I don’t think they could’ve sent us to a worse hotel if they tried.” Sunggyu snorted, staring skeptically at the bed. “I bet if you put a black light on this room you’d see some disgusting things.”

He noticed Woohyun was quietly picking at the bandage around his wrist. Sunggyu frowned and walked up to him.

“What’s wrong?”

Woohyun fiddled with the gauze a bit more and shrugged. “I don’t know…its just a little itchy.” He stared at the two single beds lined up beside each other and cleared his throat. “Uh…we’re not going to sleep here, are we?”

“Well we kind of don’t have a choice.” Sunggyu sighed. “After Hyunsik comes, we’ll try and sort everything out with Ilhoon quickly, so we don’t have to stay long, ok?” He smiled reassuringly and rubbed Woohyun’s shoulder.

“But…” Woohyun stared at the beds then back at Sunggyu. “There’s two beds.”

“So?”

“So…” Woohyun looked around the room nervously. “I…I don’t want hyung to sleep alone in this creepy room! Who knows what’ll happen?”

Sunggyu snorted. “You can just say that its you that doesn’t want to sleep alone—.”

“I don’t mind! I-I don’t even want to sleep with you…” Woohyun brushed past Sunggyu towards one of the beds and sat down. “Hyung has been doing weird things lately anyways…” He added under his breath.

“Weird?” Sunggyu sat down on the other bed, facing Woohyun. He tilted his head, mysteriously. “Weird, how?”

Woohyun rubbed his arm awkwardly, and stared at the cheap digital clock on the nightstand. “Y-You know…like weird.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “I still don’t know what that means. Explain.”

“Y-You know what you did!” Woohyun stammered. He bit his lip, heart beat suddenly increasing. He realized they were alone and there was no Mrs. Kim to barge in and his stomach twisted into a knot. It wasn’t helping that Sunggyu was so intently staring at him and not even giving him a chance to breathe.

“Woohyun-ah…” Sunggyu suddenly reached out and took his hand. He ran his fingers along the bandage wrapped around Woohyun’s wrist with a thoughtful expression. Woohyun bit his lip, steadily watching Sunggyu’s perfect lips graze the back of his hand. “Do you want me to…” He moved his somewhat overwhelming gaze to meet Woohyun’s eyes.  “…Take it off?”

Woohyun immediately pulled his hand away, completely scandalized. He attempted to force a laugh to downplay his flustered heart. “W-What are you saying Gyu hyung?! W-Why would I want to take off my clothes! We only have an hour until—!

“…I meant the bandage.” Sunggyu pointed to his hand.

Woohyun stared at him, mouth agape. And then his cheeks went pink and he felt like jumping in a hole and never coming out.

“Why’re you getting so flustered?” Sunggyu laughed, wondering if Woohyun was always this adorable. But then he figured it was probably due to what he did to him that morning. He guessed Woohyun hadn’t been touched like that before. He bit his lip, remembering the way Woohyun reacted to his touch. It was making him forget his priorities for a moment and he kind of really wanted to touch Woohyun again. It made Woohyun feel good, Sunggyu thought, and he wanted the younger man to feel good. If touching him could do that…

Before he could think twice about it, his fingers wrapped around Woohyun’s forearm and he was pulling Woohyun towards him. He cupped his cheek with one hand, kissing him soft and slow.

Woohyun eagerly responded, however and pressed forward, causing Sunggyu to fall on his back as Woohyun crawled on top of him. The kisses were getting more heated, and Sunggyu rolled Woohyun over, onto his back and pressed his body between Woohyun’s legs. Woohyun moaned at the friction, as Sunggyu caressed his thighs, pressing his finger tips along the firm muscles as he nibbled on Woohyun’s lower lip.

 “W-Wait hyung…” Woohyun pressed his palms to Sunggyu’s chest. “How…how are we doing the…the thing? I don’t—.”

“The thing?” Sunggyu breathed, lips curving into a grin. “We’re just kissing.”

Woohyun stared at him with suspicious eyes, registering his words.

“Its ok.” Sunggyu chuckled. “I’ll tell you in advance when we’re going to do the thing ok?”

Woohyun frowned. He didn’t like how Sunggyu was thinking this whole thing was so amusing and making fun of him. He hastily rolled them over again so he was on top and pressed his lips roughly to Sunggyu’s. Sunggyu responded just as aggressively to the kiss, and held Woohyun’s face, tilting it, as he pushed his tongue past Woohyun’s lips.

Woohyun felt frustrated that he couldn’t keep the noisy moans from escaping his throat, especially when he felt Sunggyu’s hand sliding under the back of his shirt. Sunggyu’s soft, warm fingertips touching his skin, made him shudder.

He hastily broke off the kiss, burying his face into the crook of Sunggyu’s neck, clutching onto the front of Sunggyu’s shirt.

“You ok, Woohyunnie?” Sunggyu his lips, the back of Woohyun’s head. “Are you—?”

“Gyu hyung…” Woohyun practically moaned into his neck. “T-This morning…t-touch me like you did this morning.”

Sunggyu’s hand immediately stopped, fingers midway through strands of Woohyun’s hair. “W-What?” He croaked.

“It…” Woohyun’s face was still hidden in his chest, so Sunggyu couldn’t tell if he was really being serious. He hesitantly looked up, and met Sunggyu’s face with flushed cheeks and an almost needy gaze. “I-It felt really good.”

Sunggyu was dead silent and still as a board. Woohyun got worried he had said something wrong or wasn’t clear in his words. He stared down at Sunggyu with concern.

“I-If you don’t want to—.”

“It’s definitely not that.” Sunggyu immediately cut in, biting his lip. “You…”

Woohyun’s eyes were wide, pupils dilated with lust and need and it was really frustrating Sunggyu even more. Woohyun suddenly crawled off Sunggyu and moved towards the head of the bed, and sat down with his back pressed to the headboard, legs slightly spread out.

“W-Will it make it easier for you like this?” He held up his arms, placing his hands behind his head. “D-Do you want me to—?”

“Oh my god stop!” Sunggyu sat up, massaging his temples. He had to take a second not to give into temptation, because Woohyun was making it very, very difficult. “You need to stop…” Sunggyu breathed, scooting towards Woohyun and pulling his arms back in front of him.

Woohyun frowned. “Why? Do you…not want to—?”

“You’re doing it again.” Sunggyu sighed.

“Doing what?” Woohyun blinked.

“That thing where you try to please people and go overboard because you’re scared that they might leave you if you don’t.”

Woohyun’s expression immediately turned sullen, as he realized Sunggyu was right. He swallowed and looked down. “...S-Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry to me.” Sunggyu pulled him into a hug. “Its ok. You can’t change a behavior you’ve been doing for so long overnight. It takes time.” Woohyun clutched onto the back of Sunggyu’s shirt, anxiously.

“What if...I never change?” He murmured.

Sunggyu rubbed his back soothingly. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and hurt Woohyun. And there was also a part of him that was unsure if Woohyun really could change—if he really could get better—feel better.

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Sorry if it feels like its dragging with the angst and stuff but I think some people don't necessarily "get better" just because someone loves them ;u;