Into your End of the World 13/16
title: Into your End of the World
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Park Chanyeol works for the quasi-governmental System in the post-apocalyptic Seoul, leading a simple, dull life without close friends or keeping contact to his family. When he is given the job to trail a university student called Byun Baekhyun, everything seems to go smoothly - until Chanyeol gets an unexpected visit and a warning and finds the case he's involved in is much more cruel than he has expected.
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story.
Chanyeol stared into the distance somewhere in the direction of the laptop in utter silence. The data they had put together appeared to be something like an official report written by someone, probably a higher-ranked official at the System. It was formal to a point of some of it being hard to understand. According to it, a truck delivering the mysterious substance from outside the borders of areas kept safe by the Pipe for scientific research had collided, and the accident had caused mayhem on the difficult strip of highway running under the wide Pipe. At the time, the part of the Pipe had been out of use, another spawn assumedly enough to protect the people in the area, and thus, when the truck had crashed and the liquid contents of the tank had splashed around there had been nothing to nullify it like the vapour running in the Pipe normally would. People had been running from their cars to flee the scene. And when the mess had cleared up the security officials had found two people in the midst of the slowly evaporating, messy, silvery liquid Stuff: Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol, fresh middle school graduates, bodily functions fine, no visible injuries.
He had no memory of this. As hard as he tried to remember, Chanyeol couldn't recall ever having been involved in a single accident besides falling off the stairs or the bike, or a tree, the normal things. He couldn't even remember ever cutting a finger while cooking. Maybe that explained the familiarity of Baekhyun, though. Maybe he'd forgotten, maybe he'd gotten a concussion and suffered from difficult memory loss. But Baekhyun had somehow remembered having been there, yet the brunette hadn't known about Chanyeol. Had they known before that, or had they just happened to be there at the same time, a major coincidence, perhaps? He frowned as he thought and finally closed his eyes, hoping it'd help him remember if he'd try to imagine the scene in front of his eyes. Nothing came to him.
"Do you remember me being there?" he asked at last, opened his eyes and looked at Baekhyun. The brown haired boy slowly shook his head.
"I don't. I don't remember much about it to begin with." Something about his demeanour suggested he was just as surprised and devastated as Chanyeol. It was understandable, Chanyeol thought: the accident sounded severe enough. Whatever it was beyond the safe borders - Stuff that made imaginary things real, according to Baekhyun, and strange silvery liquid that would eventually turn to vapour in a way or another according to the data - it wasn't something to be taken lightly, and according to the report, they'd been soaked in it, drenched like a heavy downpour had come upon them in the middle of nowhere that very day they hadn't brought umbrellas.
His mind was blank for a moment. Then, Chanyeol voiced his question: "Is this why I was asked to follow you? And why they're after me now?"
"It sure sounds logical", Baekhyun nodded a little. "I've no idea though..."
This was beyond strange, more so than the events of the world since Wednesday. Chanyeol had possibly received answers to some of his questions - but these answers only generated even further questions.
Baekhyun stood up. "I need to see some people."
"Who?" asked Luhan and offered Chanyeol a cup of coffee. Chanyeol thanked and took a sip immediately, ignoring the fact that it burnt his tongue. He then moved to sit at the desk.
"Jongin, Kris..." Baekhyun shrugged a shoulder. "And my mother. I want to know what's this all about."
"I'll come with you", Chanyeol offered. But to his slight surprise the brunette shook his head.
"No, you stay here. I'll call Luhan when I'm on my way home and I'll pick you up on the way." He offered Chanyeol a smile, but his eyes were serious and firm. "It's not good for you to run about, right?"
"If the System is after you", Luhan said, "then he's right, you know. They won't come looking here, I’m nobody to them."
Chanyeol felt slightly defeated, but not as much by the shorter boy than by life in general. "All right."
He felt overwhelmed to the point where it was a little tiresome. Chanyeol watched Luhan walk Baekhyun to the hall and chat with him for the time it took from Baekhyun to put on his shoes. Once the brunette had left the apartment fell quiet, Luhan wandering about doing things Chanyeol didn't pay attention to. Finally, finishing his coffee, he asked if the other minded him sleeping for a while, and with a small smile, Luhan told him to make himself comfortable; thanking him Chanyeol curled into the corner of the sofa, feeling lonely and cold.
***
He woke up into the unfamiliar ringtone going off, sitting up and stretching as he saw Luhan pick up. The call was short.
"It was Baekhyun", the cream haired boy said as he found Chanyeol awake. "He said he’d be here soon so you should probably go downstairs."
Chanyeol nodded. "Thank you for helping out."
"It's nothing." Luhan brought the empty coffee cup to the kitchen counter and stood at the doorway, watching Chanyeol get ready to leave. He made sure he had the tape and his wallet, thanking the other one more time and leaving. The corridor was quiet, the elevator making small sounds on the way down. He hummed a tune.
Baekhyun was waiting for him in the lobby, looking a little bit gloomy, but still mustered a smile upon seeing the taller. They didn't talk on the way, but the silence wasn't exactly awkward, both of them digesting the events of the day so far. It was late afternoon, the sky having grown darker. Chanyeol felt the day had passed like it was only a few hours short, like time was slipping him. The world looked so distant and strange. The people they passed on the streets and who boarded the subway with them didn't know any of this. Nothing had changed for them. There were no strange accidents, no secrets of this scale, nothing like that. They went about their everyday lives as before, working, studying, buying things, worrying about mortgage or college fees, food or family, they travelled near or far and met people. Quasi-governmental institutions didn’t look for them nor did they have to worry about information thieves wanting what was inside their heads. The biggest crimes they were ever statistically likely to face were hit-and-runs or getting mugged on the street.
He found himself a little headachy, feeling detached, and despite the nap, exhausted like a machine running on spare batteries. It must've been all this stress. Chanyeol hadn't been physically hurt (excluding the assault in the library, but that was minor and hadn't left him injured), but the mental tear-and-wear was most likely to be blamed. He didn't feel good, but not unbearable, either. A good night's sleep, something else to think for a while, and he'd be fine. He trusted this assumption. It was the only reasonable one he had, anyway. What else could it be? No question about it.
As they stood in the subway Chanyeol kept studying Baekhyun's face. He found himself feeling safe and warm with the shorter male close by, like Baekhyun had worked as a fixed point in this new world he'd stumbled into. It was difficult to determine whether it was because all the new things he'd learned somehow related to Baekhyun, or whether it was the familiarity he kept feeling when looking at the boy. He couldn't quite explain the sensation. It wasn't the like one felt about a person they'd met once in their life. That sort of familiarity was fleeting, changing, and easily affected by other factors like locations or actions. The sense of familiarity he felt was that born from memories created on a longer term. Expressions, voices, laughter, small gestures that came naturally and without thinking, like the way Baekhyun would fiddle with a strand of hair or rub his fingertips together at times, even the way he'd tapped his pen against the book pages. It was like a constant déjà vu, his brain trying to place all these details to the wider concept, like a part of him had known where it all belonged but the rest of him didn’t comprehend the orders. It was like the moment he'd seen Baekhyun from a closer distance he'd known everything about the brunette, everything from his favourite snack to how he'd spent Saturday evenings as a kid. It could've been imagination, it could've been something the boy did that made him assume such things, but it simply wasn't. No, it was knowing those things by heart, like he'd been there, witnessed it all. And yet, he had no memory of the boy. Chanyeol had been an active kid, but not exactly an extrovert; he'd liked reading, he'd had only few close friends. He remembered spending a lot of time with his sister in middle school. Before that, during elementary school, he could faintly recall having hung out with a boy his age from his class, but there wasn't really anything about it that stood out screaming Byun Baekhyun. There was no way he could just forget about someone like the brown haired boy, was there? He considered having forgotten in the accident, again. That was always possible.
As they got off the subway the sky had broken into hard rain, the raindrops sounding like tin soldiers marching up and down on the asphalt. Taking a slightly different route back to the dorm they ran despite it being useless, they got wet anyway; at the dorm instead of waiting for the elevator they took the stairs. It was a long climb, but Chanyeol didn't really mind it. Baekhyun fiddled with the keys for a while, and they entered the apartment, leaving their soaked shoes to the tiny entrance hall and moving to the single room where they both undressed and changed into dry clothes. Baekhyun's skinny jeans didn't want to come off that easy and he spent a few minutes fighting with them. He began fixing a cupful of tea in silence. With the shutters still down the room was dim as neither turned the lights on.
"So did you find out anything?" Chanyeol asked as he'd slipped his wallet and the tape back into the bags by the wall and slumped into the chair by the desk.
"Kris remembers there having been articles and stuff", the brunette nodded. "Whatever the reason he came to Korea, he said he knows some things related to the Pipe and what comes with it, and that's why he's heard things. Also, he's come by reports about scientific experiments done with Stuff."
"Uhhuh?"
Baekhyun turned to the kettle as the water was coming to a boil, and poured it into two cups, dropping bags of black tea into both and bringing them to the desk, placing the other one on the corner for Chanyeol, who thanked him with a nod of his head. The brunette sat onto the bed, examining his face, and Chanyeol couldn't really name the expressions. Then, he leaned back a bit and shook his head. "Well, what happened was purely an accident, that's for sure."
Chanyeol nodded a bit. "And… What about your mother?"
"Oh", Baekhyun chuckled. "I wanted to ask if she remembered it, but she didn't. She was hospitalized for a while afterward because our car crashed and stuff, so I didn't really expect she would know anything. Just... wanted to see her, you know."
"I understand." Chanyeol nodded a bit. "You're close with her, after all."
They fell silent. Chanyeol identified the mixture of surprise and light shock in the dark eyes.
"How do you know? I haven't seen her for ages, how long have you followed me around?" the other exhaled finally.
Chanyeol shook his head a bit. "I don't know, I just thought that would suit you."
"Thought that would suit me", Baekhyun repeated bluntly. "I don't get you, now."
"You know, ever since I saw you when I'd accepted the job, I thought you were familiar." Chanyeol bit his lip lightly. "And when I saw you at the bookstore and then at the library, I couldn't shake it anymore."
"Are you suggesting we've met before?" Baekhyun asked, sitting up on the bed and tossing the tea bags into the bin under the desk.
"I'm saying I feel as if we'd known for years. Like we'd been really close."
Baekhyun nodded a little, slowly and deep and brushed a hand through his damp hair. Once the tea had cooled enough Chanyeol began drinking it slowly in long sips; the flavour was all right, not too strong with a dash of lemon to it.
"How's Jongin?" Chanyeol asked after a while.
"Tired, sleep-deprived..." Baekhyun chuckled. "He's fine. Asked if I'd seen you, I lied. I think he hasn't read the file completely."
Chanyeol nodded. "So he had something for you?"
Baekhyun let an affirmative hum as he reached for his bag and took out his phone and wallet and finally a thick paper file he got up to lay open on the table on top of the other things. It was mostly reports, not processed data, and Chanyeol felt rather relieved. The room sported a damp scent.
He leafed through the first few pages without really putting much thought into reading it all properly. "So what's it about?" he asked and looked over to Baekhyun.
"Read it", the brunette said simply.
Returning his eyes to the first page Chanyeol propped an elbow on the edge of the table, leaning closer to have a better look, his hair hanging over his eyes, getting stuck on the lenses of the glasses. He frowned as he began reading. The beginning described the accident briefly much in a similar manner as the data they had worked on, and then went on to talk about the aftermath, how the issue was dealt with and how it hadn't been spread to media. There was a brief note on how possible leaks wouldn't be tolerated, which Chanyeol assumed referred to the fact Baekhyun had pointed out to him about the papers publishing news on the accident having been shut down. He turned the page to find medical reports with half the important details blacked out. The third page seemed to have survived the censor: it was written regarding Baekhyun (Chanyeol peered over at the boy who'd moved to look through the fridge and was talking to himself in a low voice), describing how the System officials had decided to put him through the Calcutec training afterward, but for what reason exactly, the report didn't say. The next few pages were also mostly blacked out, followed by another censored hospital record, and then, similar reports on Chanyeol. He bit his lip. The text was as vague as Baekhyun's, but what struck him was how it described Chanyeol's parents hadn't been located at the scene. They'd both just finished middle school, so it didn't make sense. Why would he have been at a place like that by himself? Chanyeol leaned back in the chair for a while and continued leafing through the file, finding it hard to concentrate.
The rain was so hard it sounded almost threatening. It was difficult to say whether it was early morning or late afternoon.
"You know, there was something else Kris said", Baekhyun said then, and Chanyeol turned to sit sideways in the chair, his other arm on the back of the chair. The brunette was leaning against the kitchen counter again, turning a single chopstick in his hands. Chanyeol's eyes were fixed on his fingers for a while: they were slender, beautiful and nimble by the looks of it. Baekhyun stopped, looked down at the floor for a while longer and then lifted his dark eyes to look at Chanyeol. "He thinks, since you were familiar with the data today, that you've probably processed most of the information regarding the case. They usually have one person take responsibility over related data, right?"
Chanyeol nodded slowly. "Well, mostly, I guess. At least when it comes to clients, they send the same Calcutec to see the same clients. Of course there's always new data, too, but assuming there'd be a single thing that gets updated over time..."
"Mm, that's what I mean." The brunette nodded his head a few times. "And this concerns you, too, and neither of us remembers much about it, you even less than I do. It'd make sense they'd have you process and shuffle it so you wouldn't remember."
"What about you?" Chanyeol asked with a small frown. "Since you've received the training, too..."
Baekhyun shrugged. "I didn't work as a Calcutec for long enough for them to have really invested in me, you know?"
"Mm." He chewed his lowed lip for a moment until it stung a little. "This says my parents weren't at the scene."
"Maybe you were on a class trip or something", Baekhyun suggested.
"I don't know, we'd graduated", the taller mumbled. It simply didn't make sense to him. Sure, it was possible he'd be the one who had dealt with the information, Kris might've very well been right at that. And if that were the case, it would make sense why he was the one to be asked to follow Baekhyun. But Chanyeol couldn't help feeling doubt toward it all, an underlying sensation of something being off about the whole deal. It was as if the situation was just too complicated, yet everything had happened so fast. Didn't things like this usually take time to develop, the caramel haired male asked himself. He jumped lightly as he felt the warm hands press onto his shoulders.
"Take it easy, relax", Baekhyun said softly. "We'll figure it out."
"I feel like you were reading my mind", Chanyeol chuckled lightly.
"Really?" The pretty fingers began massaging his shoulders and Chanyeol let his eyes fall shut.
"Yeah... Ever since the other day when I got here, it's like you knew exactly what was going on in my head from time to time."
Baekhyun laughed gently, and this time, it sounded happier, too. That relaxed Chanyeol more than his words did. "I'm good with people."
The rain danced on the window and the room remained dim. His tortoiseshell glasses were slipping down his nose, but he didn't bother pushing them up quite yet as Baekhyun kept rubbing his achy shoulder muscles. Only now Chanyeol began comprehending how tense he'd grown during the past few days. Maybe it was only natural considering his situation. That could be the reason for his head being achy, too.
"Do you think it's possible we did know each other", Baekhyun asked after a while, "but that with all the training and so on, they managed to make us forget?"
Chanyeol let a low, long hum, partly out of the pleasant feeling cruising through his body. "I guess that'd be possible."
"It's really the only logical explanation I can come up with", Baekhyun said a little sadly. Chanyeol reached to place his hands on top of the other's, stopping Baekhyun from massaging him, but he didn't open his eyes. Slowly, he crossed their fingers.
"It does sound sensible, really", he said, hoping to sound encouraging.
The other didn't speak for a while. Then, he squeezed Chanyeol's hands lightly before pulling his fingers away. The taller turned to look at him, finding Baekhyun look down at the floor, his eyes hidden by the dark brown locks of hair. He got up, moving the chair a little bit to put his hands on the shorter boy's arms, crouching a little as he tried to find eye contact. As it proved a little difficult, he moved to wrap his arms around the smaller frame instead. It was a little strange. When was the last time he'd ever hugged someone, Chanyeol couldn't even remember. In high school, probably, but even that was a while ago, and it definitely hadn't been similar to this - no, it had probably been some light, less emotionally loaded thing. He'd gotten used to being by himself, and feeling Baekhyun hug him back felt so comforting it made him wonder why had he taken the easy way out and separated himself from people because of his job. Maybe if he'd tried hard enough it would've been possible to maintain both the risky line of work and have friends and keep in touch with his family properly.
They stood like this until he heard Baekhyun chuckle and wiggle his way out of the embrace. He smiled to the taller, went over to the fridge and took a bottle of water, gulping down some.
"Can I take a shower?" Chanyeol asked, the smile playing on his lips. "I need to borrow a towel..."
"Sure." The brunette set down the bottle and came to pull a clean towel from one of the plastic containers under the bed. Chanyeol thanked, picked up a clean shirt and underwear from the bag, finding that Kris hadn't included the Nirvana T-shirt amongst the various clothes. As he was about to go Baekhyun added, "There's shampoo and soap in the bathroom."
"Thanks", the taller nodded, and went off to shower, taking his time, enjoying the feel of warm water on his skin. It was beyond relaxing, like the water had washed away his troubles for a small while.
When he came back, Baekhyun had curled into the corner of the bed, legs tucked under the sheets, a book against his knees. He was lost in it, concentrated, sporting a tiny frown. Chanyeol towelled off his hair. Finished, he looked around for a while. "Where can I put this...?"
"You can hang it on the chair", Baekhyun said, looking up at him with a small smile that appeared somewhat weary. Chanyeol noted the aura in the room was quite different from the previous night in any case: despite doing hard-core studying last night as well, tonight, Baekhyun wasn't as smiley and bright. It had all begun from the data. He was clearly taken aback and just as confused as Chanyeol, and the tall male had gotten a head start to shock, already.
He did as told, neatly hanging the towel onto the back of the chair, and then stood by the bed until Baekhyun raised his eyes from the book again. The brown haired boy chuckled. "You were really fast asleep last night when I got to bed", he commented, and it took a moment from Chanyeol to realize he'd been spacing out probably looking like he'd suddenly been overly conscious about sharing a bed.
"Oh, no, it's okay", he said. Baekhyun chuckled. "I was really tired from everything. I did wonder if you'd slept at all though."
"I did, for a couple of hours", Baekhyun hummed. "I don't get people staying over that often, you'd know."
Chanyeol laughed and crawled to bed, sitting against the wall next to the boy, combing his damp hair with his fingers peering at the book on the other's lap. It was one on sociology, with some small grey scale pie charts on one page. He tried to read bits here and there while Baekhyun returned his attention to the text. They sat like this for a good while. Chanyeol didn't bother checking the time. He wondered if anyone at the office was currently asking where was he, why hadn't he showed up for his shift; maybe there were people at his condo waiting for him to get back. Thinking about this, the caramel haired male felt quite homely in his current position. He wasn't sure if anyone at the System knew where Baekhyun lived. As long as no one would show up looking for him, everything was quite fine.
His hair was already almost dry when Baekhyun closed the book and reached past Chanyeol to set it on top of a slightly wobbly pile of things. "You know", he said, "it's kind of nice to have you here."
"You don't mind a stalker in your bed?" Chanyeol said lightly. Baekhyun snorted.
"No, I don't, actually."
He lied down, and Chanyeol did the same, lying on his back while Baekhyun rolled about on spot looking for a comfortable position. The bed was wide enough for them to share with ease, but it had clearly been in use for a long time by only one person as the mattress had caved in a bit in the middle. Finally, the brunette settled onto his side, dark eyes on Chanyeol. The taller turned his head to look at the other.
"Thanks for letting me stay", he said with a small smile.
Baekhyun shook his head a bit, saying with a grin, "Stop saying that or I'll have to throw you out." He closed his eyes. "Night."
"Good night."
It was much darker when he opened his eyes the next time, finding Baekhyun snuggling against his side, breathing past parted lips. Chanyeol looked at him in the shadows of the night, half-asleep himself. The brunette looked so relaxed and peaceful opposed to the afternoon. Turning a little bit, careful not to disturb his sleep, Chanyeol tugged the covers better over them, yawned, and pressed his nose into the thick brown hair.
He woke up again into Baekhyun making odd sounds in his sleep. It sounded like a dog barking. Eyes fixed on the wall he listened to the sounds muffling against him, unable to decide whether it was amusing or annoying. Last night he had been too deeply asleep to notice, perhaps. The room grew quiet after a while save for the rain, and Baekhyun adjusted his position again, creeping an arm around Chanyeol. He didn't really feel trapped as much as he felt comfortable, feeling the warm spot where the other was breathing against his shirt. Chanyeol closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn't come as fast this time, so he stared at the black nothing. His mind was working too hard to process all the events of the past few days for him to fall properly asleep for hours to come. Baekhyun on the other hand didn't seem to have any problem sleeping, pressing close to his body under the covers, mumbling unclear words at times, his voice resounding against Chanyeol's chest sending tingly vibrations into his core.
Finally, he drifted into unconsciousness.
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Park Chanyeol works for the quasi-governmental System in the post-apocalyptic Seoul, leading a simple, dull life without close friends or keeping contact to his family. When he is given the job to trail a university student called Byun Baekhyun, everything seems to go smoothly - until Chanyeol gets an unexpected visit and a warning and finds the case he's involved in is much more cruel than he has expected.
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story.
Chanyeol stared into the distance somewhere in the direction of the laptop in utter silence. The data they had put together appeared to be something like an official report written by someone, probably a higher-ranked official at the System. It was formal to a point of some of it being hard to understand. According to it, a truck delivering the mysterious substance from outside the borders of areas kept safe by the Pipe for scientific research had collided, and the accident had caused mayhem on the difficult strip of highway running under the wide Pipe. At the time, the part of the Pipe had been out of use, another spawn assumedly enough to protect the people in the area, and thus, when the truck had crashed and the liquid contents of the tank had splashed around there had been nothing to nullify it like the vapour running in the Pipe normally would. People had been running from their cars to flee the scene. And when the mess had cleared up the security officials had found two people in the midst of the slowly evaporating, messy, silvery liquid Stuff: Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol, fresh middle school graduates, bodily functions fine, no visible injuries.
He had no memory of this. As hard as he tried to remember, Chanyeol couldn't recall ever having been involved in a single accident besides falling off the stairs or the bike, or a tree, the normal things. He couldn't even remember ever cutting a finger while cooking. Maybe that explained the familiarity of Baekhyun, though. Maybe he'd forgotten, maybe he'd gotten a concussion and suffered from difficult memory loss. But Baekhyun had somehow remembered having been there, yet the brunette hadn't known about Chanyeol. Had they known before that, or had they just happened to be there at the same time, a major coincidence, perhaps? He frowned as he thought and finally closed his eyes, hoping it'd help him remember if he'd try to imagine the scene in front of his eyes. Nothing came to him.
"Do you remember me being there?" he asked at last, opened his eyes and looked at Baekhyun. The brown haired boy slowly shook his head.
"I don't. I don't remember much about it to begin with." Something about his demeanour suggested he was just as surprised and devastated as Chanyeol. It was understandable, Chanyeol thought: the accident sounded severe enough. Whatever it was beyond the safe borders - Stuff that made imaginary things real, according to Baekhyun, and strange silvery liquid that would eventually turn to vapour in a way or another according to the data - it wasn't something to be taken lightly, and according to the report, they'd been soaked in it, drenched like a heavy downpour had come upon them in the middle of nowhere that very day they hadn't brought umbrellas.
His mind was blank for a moment. Then, Chanyeol voiced his question: "Is this why I was asked to follow you? And why they're after me now?"
"It sure sounds logical", Baekhyun nodded a little. "I've no idea though..."
This was beyond strange, more so than the events of the world since Wednesday. Chanyeol had possibly received answers to some of his questions - but these answers only generated even further questions.
Baekhyun stood up. "I need to see some people."
"Who?" asked Luhan and offered Chanyeol a cup of coffee. Chanyeol thanked and took a sip immediately, ignoring the fact that it burnt his tongue. He then moved to sit at the desk.
"Jongin, Kris..." Baekhyun shrugged a shoulder. "And my mother. I want to know what's this all about."
"I'll come with you", Chanyeol offered. But to his slight surprise the brunette shook his head.
"No, you stay here. I'll call Luhan when I'm on my way home and I'll pick you up on the way." He offered Chanyeol a smile, but his eyes were serious and firm. "It's not good for you to run about, right?"
"If the System is after you", Luhan said, "then he's right, you know. They won't come looking here, I’m nobody to them."
Chanyeol felt slightly defeated, but not as much by the shorter boy than by life in general. "All right."
He felt overwhelmed to the point where it was a little tiresome. Chanyeol watched Luhan walk Baekhyun to the hall and chat with him for the time it took from Baekhyun to put on his shoes. Once the brunette had left the apartment fell quiet, Luhan wandering about doing things Chanyeol didn't pay attention to. Finally, finishing his coffee, he asked if the other minded him sleeping for a while, and with a small smile, Luhan told him to make himself comfortable; thanking him Chanyeol curled into the corner of the sofa, feeling lonely and cold.
***
He woke up into the unfamiliar ringtone going off, sitting up and stretching as he saw Luhan pick up. The call was short.
"It was Baekhyun", the cream haired boy said as he found Chanyeol awake. "He said he’d be here soon so you should probably go downstairs."
Chanyeol nodded. "Thank you for helping out."
"It's nothing." Luhan brought the empty coffee cup to the kitchen counter and stood at the doorway, watching Chanyeol get ready to leave. He made sure he had the tape and his wallet, thanking the other one more time and leaving. The corridor was quiet, the elevator making small sounds on the way down. He hummed a tune.
Baekhyun was waiting for him in the lobby, looking a little bit gloomy, but still mustered a smile upon seeing the taller. They didn't talk on the way, but the silence wasn't exactly awkward, both of them digesting the events of the day so far. It was late afternoon, the sky having grown darker. Chanyeol felt the day had passed like it was only a few hours short, like time was slipping him. The world looked so distant and strange. The people they passed on the streets and who boarded the subway with them didn't know any of this. Nothing had changed for them. There were no strange accidents, no secrets of this scale, nothing like that. They went about their everyday lives as before, working, studying, buying things, worrying about mortgage or college fees, food or family, they travelled near or far and met people. Quasi-governmental institutions didn’t look for them nor did they have to worry about information thieves wanting what was inside their heads. The biggest crimes they were ever statistically likely to face were hit-and-runs or getting mugged on the street.
He found himself a little headachy, feeling detached, and despite the nap, exhausted like a machine running on spare batteries. It must've been all this stress. Chanyeol hadn't been physically hurt (excluding the assault in the library, but that was minor and hadn't left him injured), but the mental tear-and-wear was most likely to be blamed. He didn't feel good, but not unbearable, either. A good night's sleep, something else to think for a while, and he'd be fine. He trusted this assumption. It was the only reasonable one he had, anyway. What else could it be? No question about it.
As they stood in the subway Chanyeol kept studying Baekhyun's face. He found himself feeling safe and warm with the shorter male close by, like Baekhyun had worked as a fixed point in this new world he'd stumbled into. It was difficult to determine whether it was because all the new things he'd learned somehow related to Baekhyun, or whether it was the familiarity he kept feeling when looking at the boy. He couldn't quite explain the sensation. It wasn't the like one felt about a person they'd met once in their life. That sort of familiarity was fleeting, changing, and easily affected by other factors like locations or actions. The sense of familiarity he felt was that born from memories created on a longer term. Expressions, voices, laughter, small gestures that came naturally and without thinking, like the way Baekhyun would fiddle with a strand of hair or rub his fingertips together at times, even the way he'd tapped his pen against the book pages. It was like a constant déjà vu, his brain trying to place all these details to the wider concept, like a part of him had known where it all belonged but the rest of him didn’t comprehend the orders. It was like the moment he'd seen Baekhyun from a closer distance he'd known everything about the brunette, everything from his favourite snack to how he'd spent Saturday evenings as a kid. It could've been imagination, it could've been something the boy did that made him assume such things, but it simply wasn't. No, it was knowing those things by heart, like he'd been there, witnessed it all. And yet, he had no memory of the boy. Chanyeol had been an active kid, but not exactly an extrovert; he'd liked reading, he'd had only few close friends. He remembered spending a lot of time with his sister in middle school. Before that, during elementary school, he could faintly recall having hung out with a boy his age from his class, but there wasn't really anything about it that stood out screaming Byun Baekhyun. There was no way he could just forget about someone like the brown haired boy, was there? He considered having forgotten in the accident, again. That was always possible.
As they got off the subway the sky had broken into hard rain, the raindrops sounding like tin soldiers marching up and down on the asphalt. Taking a slightly different route back to the dorm they ran despite it being useless, they got wet anyway; at the dorm instead of waiting for the elevator they took the stairs. It was a long climb, but Chanyeol didn't really mind it. Baekhyun fiddled with the keys for a while, and they entered the apartment, leaving their soaked shoes to the tiny entrance hall and moving to the single room where they both undressed and changed into dry clothes. Baekhyun's skinny jeans didn't want to come off that easy and he spent a few minutes fighting with them. He began fixing a cupful of tea in silence. With the shutters still down the room was dim as neither turned the lights on.
"So did you find out anything?" Chanyeol asked as he'd slipped his wallet and the tape back into the bags by the wall and slumped into the chair by the desk.
"Kris remembers there having been articles and stuff", the brunette nodded. "Whatever the reason he came to Korea, he said he knows some things related to the Pipe and what comes with it, and that's why he's heard things. Also, he's come by reports about scientific experiments done with Stuff."
"Uhhuh?"
Baekhyun turned to the kettle as the water was coming to a boil, and poured it into two cups, dropping bags of black tea into both and bringing them to the desk, placing the other one on the corner for Chanyeol, who thanked him with a nod of his head. The brunette sat onto the bed, examining his face, and Chanyeol couldn't really name the expressions. Then, he leaned back a bit and shook his head. "Well, what happened was purely an accident, that's for sure."
Chanyeol nodded a bit. "And… What about your mother?"
"Oh", Baekhyun chuckled. "I wanted to ask if she remembered it, but she didn't. She was hospitalized for a while afterward because our car crashed and stuff, so I didn't really expect she would know anything. Just... wanted to see her, you know."
"I understand." Chanyeol nodded a bit. "You're close with her, after all."
They fell silent. Chanyeol identified the mixture of surprise and light shock in the dark eyes.
"How do you know? I haven't seen her for ages, how long have you followed me around?" the other exhaled finally.
Chanyeol shook his head a bit. "I don't know, I just thought that would suit you."
"Thought that would suit me", Baekhyun repeated bluntly. "I don't get you, now."
"You know, ever since I saw you when I'd accepted the job, I thought you were familiar." Chanyeol bit his lip lightly. "And when I saw you at the bookstore and then at the library, I couldn't shake it anymore."
"Are you suggesting we've met before?" Baekhyun asked, sitting up on the bed and tossing the tea bags into the bin under the desk.
"I'm saying I feel as if we'd known for years. Like we'd been really close."
Baekhyun nodded a little, slowly and deep and brushed a hand through his damp hair. Once the tea had cooled enough Chanyeol began drinking it slowly in long sips; the flavour was all right, not too strong with a dash of lemon to it.
"How's Jongin?" Chanyeol asked after a while.
"Tired, sleep-deprived..." Baekhyun chuckled. "He's fine. Asked if I'd seen you, I lied. I think he hasn't read the file completely."
Chanyeol nodded. "So he had something for you?"
Baekhyun let an affirmative hum as he reached for his bag and took out his phone and wallet and finally a thick paper file he got up to lay open on the table on top of the other things. It was mostly reports, not processed data, and Chanyeol felt rather relieved. The room sported a damp scent.
He leafed through the first few pages without really putting much thought into reading it all properly. "So what's it about?" he asked and looked over to Baekhyun.
"Read it", the brunette said simply.
Returning his eyes to the first page Chanyeol propped an elbow on the edge of the table, leaning closer to have a better look, his hair hanging over his eyes, getting stuck on the lenses of the glasses. He frowned as he began reading. The beginning described the accident briefly much in a similar manner as the data they had worked on, and then went on to talk about the aftermath, how the issue was dealt with and how it hadn't been spread to media. There was a brief note on how possible leaks wouldn't be tolerated, which Chanyeol assumed referred to the fact Baekhyun had pointed out to him about the papers publishing news on the accident having been shut down. He turned the page to find medical reports with half the important details blacked out. The third page seemed to have survived the censor: it was written regarding Baekhyun (Chanyeol peered over at the boy who'd moved to look through the fridge and was talking to himself in a low voice), describing how the System officials had decided to put him through the Calcutec training afterward, but for what reason exactly, the report didn't say. The next few pages were also mostly blacked out, followed by another censored hospital record, and then, similar reports on Chanyeol. He bit his lip. The text was as vague as Baekhyun's, but what struck him was how it described Chanyeol's parents hadn't been located at the scene. They'd both just finished middle school, so it didn't make sense. Why would he have been at a place like that by himself? Chanyeol leaned back in the chair for a while and continued leafing through the file, finding it hard to concentrate.
The rain was so hard it sounded almost threatening. It was difficult to say whether it was early morning or late afternoon.
"You know, there was something else Kris said", Baekhyun said then, and Chanyeol turned to sit sideways in the chair, his other arm on the back of the chair. The brunette was leaning against the kitchen counter again, turning a single chopstick in his hands. Chanyeol's eyes were fixed on his fingers for a while: they were slender, beautiful and nimble by the looks of it. Baekhyun stopped, looked down at the floor for a while longer and then lifted his dark eyes to look at Chanyeol. "He thinks, since you were familiar with the data today, that you've probably processed most of the information regarding the case. They usually have one person take responsibility over related data, right?"
Chanyeol nodded slowly. "Well, mostly, I guess. At least when it comes to clients, they send the same Calcutec to see the same clients. Of course there's always new data, too, but assuming there'd be a single thing that gets updated over time..."
"Mm, that's what I mean." The brunette nodded his head a few times. "And this concerns you, too, and neither of us remembers much about it, you even less than I do. It'd make sense they'd have you process and shuffle it so you wouldn't remember."
"What about you?" Chanyeol asked with a small frown. "Since you've received the training, too..."
Baekhyun shrugged. "I didn't work as a Calcutec for long enough for them to have really invested in me, you know?"
"Mm." He chewed his lowed lip for a moment until it stung a little. "This says my parents weren't at the scene."
"Maybe you were on a class trip or something", Baekhyun suggested.
"I don't know, we'd graduated", the taller mumbled. It simply didn't make sense to him. Sure, it was possible he'd be the one who had dealt with the information, Kris might've very well been right at that. And if that were the case, it would make sense why he was the one to be asked to follow Baekhyun. But Chanyeol couldn't help feeling doubt toward it all, an underlying sensation of something being off about the whole deal. It was as if the situation was just too complicated, yet everything had happened so fast. Didn't things like this usually take time to develop, the caramel haired male asked himself. He jumped lightly as he felt the warm hands press onto his shoulders.
"Take it easy, relax", Baekhyun said softly. "We'll figure it out."
"I feel like you were reading my mind", Chanyeol chuckled lightly.
"Really?" The pretty fingers began massaging his shoulders and Chanyeol let his eyes fall shut.
"Yeah... Ever since the other day when I got here, it's like you knew exactly what was going on in my head from time to time."
Baekhyun laughed gently, and this time, it sounded happier, too. That relaxed Chanyeol more than his words did. "I'm good with people."
The rain danced on the window and the room remained dim. His tortoiseshell glasses were slipping down his nose, but he didn't bother pushing them up quite yet as Baekhyun kept rubbing his achy shoulder muscles. Only now Chanyeol began comprehending how tense he'd grown during the past few days. Maybe it was only natural considering his situation. That could be the reason for his head being achy, too.
"Do you think it's possible we did know each other", Baekhyun asked after a while, "but that with all the training and so on, they managed to make us forget?"
Chanyeol let a low, long hum, partly out of the pleasant feeling cruising through his body. "I guess that'd be possible."
"It's really the only logical explanation I can come up with", Baekhyun said a little sadly. Chanyeol reached to place his hands on top of the other's, stopping Baekhyun from massaging him, but he didn't open his eyes. Slowly, he crossed their fingers.
"It does sound sensible, really", he said, hoping to sound encouraging.
The other didn't speak for a while. Then, he squeezed Chanyeol's hands lightly before pulling his fingers away. The taller turned to look at him, finding Baekhyun look down at the floor, his eyes hidden by the dark brown locks of hair. He got up, moving the chair a little bit to put his hands on the shorter boy's arms, crouching a little as he tried to find eye contact. As it proved a little difficult, he moved to wrap his arms around the smaller frame instead. It was a little strange. When was the last time he'd ever hugged someone, Chanyeol couldn't even remember. In high school, probably, but even that was a while ago, and it definitely hadn't been similar to this - no, it had probably been some light, less emotionally loaded thing. He'd gotten used to being by himself, and feeling Baekhyun hug him back felt so comforting it made him wonder why had he taken the easy way out and separated himself from people because of his job. Maybe if he'd tried hard enough it would've been possible to maintain both the risky line of work and have friends and keep in touch with his family properly.
They stood like this until he heard Baekhyun chuckle and wiggle his way out of the embrace. He smiled to the taller, went over to the fridge and took a bottle of water, gulping down some.
"Can I take a shower?" Chanyeol asked, the smile playing on his lips. "I need to borrow a towel..."
"Sure." The brunette set down the bottle and came to pull a clean towel from one of the plastic containers under the bed. Chanyeol thanked, picked up a clean shirt and underwear from the bag, finding that Kris hadn't included the Nirvana T-shirt amongst the various clothes. As he was about to go Baekhyun added, "There's shampoo and soap in the bathroom."
"Thanks", the taller nodded, and went off to shower, taking his time, enjoying the feel of warm water on his skin. It was beyond relaxing, like the water had washed away his troubles for a small while.
When he came back, Baekhyun had curled into the corner of the bed, legs tucked under the sheets, a book against his knees. He was lost in it, concentrated, sporting a tiny frown. Chanyeol towelled off his hair. Finished, he looked around for a while. "Where can I put this...?"
"You can hang it on the chair", Baekhyun said, looking up at him with a small smile that appeared somewhat weary. Chanyeol noted the aura in the room was quite different from the previous night in any case: despite doing hard-core studying last night as well, tonight, Baekhyun wasn't as smiley and bright. It had all begun from the data. He was clearly taken aback and just as confused as Chanyeol, and the tall male had gotten a head start to shock, already.
He did as told, neatly hanging the towel onto the back of the chair, and then stood by the bed until Baekhyun raised his eyes from the book again. The brown haired boy chuckled. "You were really fast asleep last night when I got to bed", he commented, and it took a moment from Chanyeol to realize he'd been spacing out probably looking like he'd suddenly been overly conscious about sharing a bed.
"Oh, no, it's okay", he said. Baekhyun chuckled. "I was really tired from everything. I did wonder if you'd slept at all though."
"I did, for a couple of hours", Baekhyun hummed. "I don't get people staying over that often, you'd know."
Chanyeol laughed and crawled to bed, sitting against the wall next to the boy, combing his damp hair with his fingers peering at the book on the other's lap. It was one on sociology, with some small grey scale pie charts on one page. He tried to read bits here and there while Baekhyun returned his attention to the text. They sat like this for a good while. Chanyeol didn't bother checking the time. He wondered if anyone at the office was currently asking where was he, why hadn't he showed up for his shift; maybe there were people at his condo waiting for him to get back. Thinking about this, the caramel haired male felt quite homely in his current position. He wasn't sure if anyone at the System knew where Baekhyun lived. As long as no one would show up looking for him, everything was quite fine.
His hair was already almost dry when Baekhyun closed the book and reached past Chanyeol to set it on top of a slightly wobbly pile of things. "You know", he said, "it's kind of nice to have you here."
"You don't mind a stalker in your bed?" Chanyeol said lightly. Baekhyun snorted.
"No, I don't, actually."
He lied down, and Chanyeol did the same, lying on his back while Baekhyun rolled about on spot looking for a comfortable position. The bed was wide enough for them to share with ease, but it had clearly been in use for a long time by only one person as the mattress had caved in a bit in the middle. Finally, the brunette settled onto his side, dark eyes on Chanyeol. The taller turned his head to look at the other.
"Thanks for letting me stay", he said with a small smile.
Baekhyun shook his head a bit, saying with a grin, "Stop saying that or I'll have to throw you out." He closed his eyes. "Night."
"Good night."
It was much darker when he opened his eyes the next time, finding Baekhyun snuggling against his side, breathing past parted lips. Chanyeol looked at him in the shadows of the night, half-asleep himself. The brunette looked so relaxed and peaceful opposed to the afternoon. Turning a little bit, careful not to disturb his sleep, Chanyeol tugged the covers better over them, yawned, and pressed his nose into the thick brown hair.
He woke up again into Baekhyun making odd sounds in his sleep. It sounded like a dog barking. Eyes fixed on the wall he listened to the sounds muffling against him, unable to decide whether it was amusing or annoying. Last night he had been too deeply asleep to notice, perhaps. The room grew quiet after a while save for the rain, and Baekhyun adjusted his position again, creeping an arm around Chanyeol. He didn't really feel trapped as much as he felt comfortable, feeling the warm spot where the other was breathing against his shirt. Chanyeol closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn't come as fast this time, so he stared at the black nothing. His mind was working too hard to process all the events of the past few days for him to fall properly asleep for hours to come. Baekhyun on the other hand didn't seem to have any problem sleeping, pressing close to his body under the covers, mumbling unclear words at times, his voice resounding against Chanyeol's chest sending tingly vibrations into his core.
Finally, he drifted into unconsciousness.