Memorandum for tyreling 2/3
“You’re late,” Kris comments as Baekhyun materialises in his apartment, just as Kris is finishing up on washing the dishes.
He doesn’t get a reply, as he watches Baekhyun take a couple of steps towards him, wincing a little with every move.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Baekhyun says, his voice clearly laced with frustration. “Kai suddenly turned up at the hospital where D.O is today and he managed to break through our security system.”
Kris frowns a little, as he takes a seat on the sofa. “How?”
“I already said, I don’t know,” Baekhyun grits out, his eyes burning and his shoulders tensed. “He managed to block our basic combat moves. It’s like he knew what moves we were going to pull on him and knew the exact way to counter every move. He only left when Chanyeol brought out the big guns.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Baekhyun sighs, and Kris catches a glimpse of red on his sleeve as he moves closer. “Something tells me he’ll be back.”
“How many were injured?” Kris asks, his eyes fixed on the crimson staining Baekhyun’s white shirt.
Baekhyun’s eyes follow Kris’s, and he shrugs, rubbing the fabric of his shirt hastily. “Nothing to worry about. There was just a little bloodshed, nothing Yixing can’t heal.”
Kris nods, although Baekhyun’s words do little to ease out the creases in his forehead.
“Stop worrying,” Baekhyun manages, a small smile playing the corners of his lips. “I won’t fall and leave you to handle everything by yourself.”
“Be careful.”
All he receives in return is a gentle smile, the same one that Baekhyun had given him when he had asked Kris out for a drink after Yixing’s engagement party. His heart clenches slightly as he remembers the Baekhyun back then, eyes bright and a bounce in every step he took, a stark contrast to the exhaustion radiating off his skin in the present.
“Anyway, where more important matters are concerned,” Baekhyun hums, breaking his steady train of self-guilt thoughts. “We found a note in D.O’s jacket pocket. It seems that he carries it around quite a lot, so I’m getting Jongdae to verify that it’s safe before he sends it to you in a couple of days as evidence or something.”
Kris sits upright at that, the first clue that has brought them any closer to solving this entire tragedy. He nods and smiles, “Thanks.”
Baekhyun waves a hand casually at him, before his watch beeps shrilly and he glances down, grimacing when he catches sight of the screen. “I hope Code Blue doesn’t mean that Kai is back,” he grumbles, as he summons the blue portal and approaches it.
“Baekhyun!” Kris calls out, causing Baekhyun to pause in his step, turning back questioningly to look at Kris. “Stay safe.”
Baekhyun smiles and answers, “You too, partner.”
And he disappears into the portal, the small drops of crimson on Kris’s carpet the only evidence Baekhyun was ever there.
-
“Seonsaengnim!” Jongin exclaims happily, as he bounces into the house, tugging Kyungsoo’s hand excitedly.
Kris tuts softly and drags Jongin back to the entrance, before pulling off his shoes and placing them neatly next to his, musing quietly at the huge difference in shoe size. Next to him, Jongin passes Kris his backpack and runs to the kitchen happily, dragging a whining Kyungsoo behind him.
“What are we doing today, seonsaengnim?” Kyungsoo asks, poking at the numerous bags on Lu Han’s dining table with large eyes.
Lu Han exits the kitchen, with three aprons in hand, and says, “We’re going to make rice balls! How does that sound?”
“Like the ones they sold at that carnival the other time?” Jongin squeals, his eyes bright with mirth.
Lu Han nods, his eyes crinkling easily into their usual half-moons, as he passes each of them an apron. “Why do I get the pink one?” Kris grumbles, as Lu Han holds it out in front of him.
“Because only really manly men can pull it off,” Lu Han answers, although Kris doesn’t miss the glint in his eyes or the slight playfulness lacing his voice when he lays a well-aimed punch in Kris’s right arm.
Kris makes a face, but accepts the apron nonetheless and watches Jongin and Kyungsoo bounce about excitedly as Lu Han passes them bowls for them to fill with whatever they wanted.
“What do you need me to do?” Kris asks, after standing around uselessly for three minutes.
Lu Han contemplates this slightly, before he digs around a couple of bags and emerges with a huge packet of seaweed and a pair of scissors. “You can cut this into small rectangular squares,” Lu Han beams at him, ignoring the death glare Kris sends him. “I’ll go cook the rice.”
Kris stares at the seaweed, before cutting them up haphazardly, earning him giggles from both Jongin and Kyungsoo. “What,” Kris grumbles, his cheeks tinted a light pink. “You’ll eat it anyway, so there’s no point making it so pretty.”
“You’re really bad at this,” Jongin teases, as he steals a bite of tuna out of the bowl that Kyungsoo’s stirring with a wooden spoon.
This earns him both a whack in the shoulder from Kyungsoo and a light knock on the head from Kris. Jongin pouts at both of them and continues trying to get a dollop of mayonnaise out of the bottle.
They work in companionable silence, Kris’s thoughts drifting between Drone’s current location and what ‘evidence’ Baekhyun could possibly have been talking about the previous night. He snaps out of his thoughts, blinking rapidly, when he hears a loud gasp from the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?” Kris asks, wiping his hands on his apron hastily, as he dashes into the kitchen, Kyungsoo and Jongin following closely behind him.
Before him, Lu Han is shaking his left hand rapidly, frowning slightly. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just scalded myself a little.”
Kris frowns and dashes forward, his hand clasping around Lu Han’s as he carefully inspects the back of his hand. “Yifan, what are you---”
Lu Han pauses mid-sentence, as Kris brings Lu Han’s hand up to his lips, pausing a short distance away, before blowing gently on the red patch of skin. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”
He doesn’t receive a reply, all he gets in return is Lu Han staring at him with wide eyes, his expression unreadable. Kris lets go of his hand abruptly, as he tries to will away the blush creeping up on his cheeks. “Just run it under cold running water and you’ll be fine,” he mumbles hastily as he turns and walks back to the dining table.
They don’t talk for the rest of the day, not even when they’re enjoying the rice balls. So Kris pretends.
He pretends not to notice the little looks Kyungsoo shoots him.
He pretends to be confused at the way Jongin pokes him and makes little gestures towards Lu Han.
He pretends, that the speed of his heartbeat is anxiety over Baekhyun’s words rather than the memory of the heat of Lu Han’s skin on his.
-
Kris dreams that night.
He dreams over and over again, of the maze he had run through with Baekhyun hot on his heels, their weapons useless against Drone.
He dreams, of Kai, smiling at them from the other side of the maze, you will never win falling repeatedly from his lips.
And he dreams, of the bullet piercing through D.O’s shield, hitting him square in the chest, as his eyes widen in shock.
“This isn’t the end. We’ll meet in another world, one where your useless ruler wouldn’t have his lackeys’ protection.”
When he wakes up, body drenched in cold sweat, he sees a little blue parcel sitting on his dining table. Kris counts silently to three, trying to rid his mind of the scene that had plagued his dreams for weeks, before he pushes himself off the bed and picks up the parcel.
He presses his thumb against the translucent thumbpad and watches the blue wrapping paper dissipate before his eyes to reveal a little piece of paper, worn yellow at the edges by time. Kris picks it up gently and frowns, as he tries to decipher D.O’s loopy handwriting.
Maybe, if I loved you more and stayed by your side, you could have put down the hatred and the insecurity in your heart.
Maybe, I could have been the warmth, the strength, the love left in your frozen world.
Maybe, someday you will stop hating me for breaking my promise and running away from you in fear.
God, please help me.
He's changing.
And my heart is breaking.
Kris finally goes back to bed at the crack of dawn, his mind filled with images of the type of person D.O could have fallen in love with.
-
“We should do something fun tonight,” Sehun announces abruptly, when Kris has sighed more than five times in the same hour, both from the lack of sleep and the meaning behind D.O’s note. “Yifan-ge seems stressed lately.”
Joonmyeon frowns a little and lectures, “Didn’t you want something to do? Now you have a whole line of cases for you to choose from ever since you pulled that stunt at School 2013.”
“I’m not stressed!” Kris insists, faking a smile and failing miserably, if the raised eyebrow and head shake that he receives from Sehun is anything to go by.
He spends the next few minutes watching Sehun and Joonmyeon exchanging looks, before he smiles a little at Kris. “You haven’t been anywhere fun since you arrived, have you? I see you down at the police post every day and when you’re not here, you’re busy training Jongin and Kyungsoo to be our replacements.”
Before Kris can even think up of a good way to rebut Joonmyeon, Sehun claps his hands together happily, exclaiming, “Alright, I’ll bring you out for fun tonight! It’s settled.”
Kris just gapes blankly at them and watches Sehun reach for his mobile phone, typing a message quickly to Lu Han, waves it hastily in Kris’s face and presses ‘Send’ without waiting for Kris’s approval. Sehun hums happily and continues, “Go find some trendy clothes to wear tonight, alright? I’ve already warned you, so you can’t blame me if you stick out like a sore thumb if you decide to do otherwise, ho hum.”
He clenches his jaw shut and flings some paper clips at Sehun, who whines as they get caught in his blonde locks. Stupid little brat who shouldn’t even be working to protect the citizens.
Hopefully, the night wouldn’t go too badly.
-
Clubbing - as Sehun had called it - is possibly one of the biggest time wasters in this century, Kris decides, as he's met with the thrumming bass blasting from the speakers and the overwhelming stench of vomit, mixed with alcohol. He winces slightly and tries to push through the crowd, ignoring the girls who are - as Minseok happily puts it - throwing themselves at his junk.
"Having fun?" Lu Han chirps happily, as he hands Kris a brightly colored drink, met by Kris's dubious stare.
Lu Han has a weird definition of ‘fun’, Kris decides. Or maybe he really does need to lighten up, let loose a little from time to time, like how Baekhyun always laments when Kris politely declines his invitation to celebrate after cracking a tough case.
Somewhere in between Sehun and Minseok slipping him different colored concoctions, Kris finds himself being dragged out to the dance floor, against his better judgement, by a giggly Sehun. He’s never been much of a dancer - Yixing’s made sure he’s blatantly aware of that - but Kris finds himself moving naturally to the beat, Sehun pressed against his back, yelling over the music, “Told you this is fun!”
Kris nods and twirls a little, colliding into Lu Han, who simply laughs and tugs at Kris’s hand, his eyes bright and unfocused. “Dance with me, Yifan.”
Against his better judgement, Kris agrees, reveling in the way Lu Han presses up close against him, the way his little hands cling on to the leather fabric of Kris’s overpriced jacket, the way his perfume infuses Kris’s senses.
“You’re a good dancer,” Lu Han giggles, breath warm and ticklish against Kris’s ear.
Kris laughs and mutters, “And you’re a bad liar. I’ve -”
Except he doesn’t really get to finish scolding Lu Han for being a teacher without integrity, because Lu Han presses his body flush against Kris’s and tiptoes a little, just enough to close the distance between them.
Lu Han’s lips are soft, warm and a little sweet-tasting, just like in all the dreams that Kris has tried to forget in vain, as they move slowly against Kris’s. Kris finds his eyes fluttering shut, his motor senses shutting down abruptly, despite every brain cell of his screaming at how wrong this is, at how much it’ll hurt Lu Han once he leaves, as his hands thread through Lu Han’s hair, pulling Lu Han impossibly closer.
It feels good, Kris decides, to be loved for once, instead of the one loving.
It’s only when his wrist watch beeps does Kris pull away hastily, his heart pounding hard at what he’s just done, at the way Lu Han’s hands tighten on his jacket trying to pull him back in, his lips swollen and pink.
Don’t do this to him. Don’t promise him something that you can’t give him.
So Kris does the one thing that he’s been trained to do since Day One of his birth - he runs, without so much of a backward glance, ignoring Sehun’s call of ‘what’s wrong’ and the confusion in Lu Han’s eyes as he bursts out of the door of the club and hails a cab home.
-
"I thought you're busy cleaning up after Kai. Why the hell would you call me and -"
"Kris."
He pauses mid-sentence, his heart leaping slightly at the melodious voice which he hasn't heard for months, so soft yet still etched perfectly in his memory. This can't be happening, Kris panics a little, wondering how everything can go wrong in just one day. He isn’t made to deal with this shit.
When he finally forces himself to look up from his shoes to the flickering figure before him, clad in whites and grays, Kris curses himself for assuming it had been Baekhyun without looking. Baekhyun would never wear anything that dull looking.
"Yixing," Kris manages, and he utters an internal thanks that at least he can still do something right today.
Yixing's figure remains unmoving, as he slides a black gun onto the table soundlessly.
Kris moves towards the table quietly, his fingers grasping the hilt of the gun, weighing it lightly in his palm while he waits for Yixing to speak.
"Use it wisely," Yixing says, after several moments of silence. "There's only one bullet inside, but it will definitely be able to pass through the many layers of insulation Kai installed on Drone and take him out if you aim for the heart."
"Got it," Kris replies, as he tucks the gun neatly in the inner pocket of his blazer, before he finally meets Yixing's eyes.
Yixing's eyes are just like they are in all his dreams, kind yet filled with a certain amount of emptiness, a certain kind of sadness - and Kris realises belatedly, that he has put that sadness there. He spares Kris one glance, before he turns, his white jacket flapping slightly as he summons the portal.
"No!" Kris exclaims, his hand instinctively reaching out to grasp the silky white fabric, and slipping right through.
Yixing turns slightly, pauses in his steps and asks, "What is it, Kris?"
Kris huffs lightly. He's dreamt of this scene too many times. Too many things he's wanted to say to Yixing - too many things for Baekhyun to pass on as a messenger - yet his mind draws a blissful blank upon sight of Yixing's face, carefully carved into an epitome of indifference.
"I'm sorry," is all he manages to muster up enough courage to say, instead of the countless different explanations that he had carefully formulated in his brain on sleepless nights.
Yixing's face softens a little, and Kris's heart clenches at the familiarity of the expression - just like when Yixing had announced his engagement to a dumbfounded Kris - laced with a mixture of sympathy and understanding. "Promise me you'll be safe," he says, after a slight sigh.
Kris laughs a little. "Safe is a relative term."
"Promise me," Yixing says, the small smile dropping from his face, his voice dangerously low and sturdy. "Promise me you'll come back to our world and we'll still be best friends, or I'll haunt you down in every lifetime and torment you."
"It would be a pleasure to meet you in every lifetime."
"I'm serious."
Kris huffs loudly and closes the proximity between him and Yixing, their faces inches apart, his voice dropping to a whisper, "Isn't your life better without me?"
"You don't get to dictate my life," Yixing grits out, his fingers sliding through Kris's jacket.
Kris takes three steps back and turns his back on Yixing. "And you don't get to play my feelings."
There's a soft swish and Kris's words are greeted by silence, and the soft flickering of his hall light, as he slams his fist into the wall. Of the countless scenarios his mind has ever painted out, this was definitely not how he imagined their first meeting in months to turn out.
Kris doesn’t sleep a wink that night, his thoughts in a mess, a mixture of memories of the anger burning behind Yixing’s kind eyes and the betrayal in Lu Han’s voice.
-
It takes two more days, days which Kris spends staring at the blank white walls of the police station, avoiding Sehun’s stoic face and accusatory glares, before Baekhyun shows up in Kris’s apartment.
“War’s over?” Kris asks, filled with relief that he’s greeted with the back view of a pale blue jacket when he steps into his apartment.
Baekhyun looks exhausted, more than Kris has ever seen, as he spares Kris a smile and opens his palm. A thin piece of paper, worn a little at the edges and a little yellow under Kris’s table lamp, floats out of Baekhyun’s palm towards Kris, before pausing a short distance in front of Kris’s eyes.
“Kai left this on D.O’s bedside table in the hospital before fleeing. Apparently his mad fighting skills can’t help him hold his ground against the new weapons Chanyeol’s invented,” Baekhyun comments, while he runs fingers through his bangs and tug at them lightly.
Kris raises an eyebrow, squinting a little at Kai’s neat scrawl. “Was D.O harmed?”
“Surprisingly no,” Baekhyun muses, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “It seems that Kai snuck into the hospital under our noses simply to leave this for D.O, but I can’t make any sense of its contents. But it seems that Kai and D.O knew each other prior to Kai’s attack..”
Kris’s eyes widen as he spares Baekhyun a glance, before looking down at the note hovering in front of him.
I wonder, if you still remember the promises you made to me, with the stars as our witness.
Maybe it was naive of me to have believed you because no one ever stays.
Not for me.
But it’s okay, because no matter how hard you try to run, I will get you back - win or lose.
Kris shrugs a little, the words playing repeatedly in his mind, as the letter dissipates before him with a wave of Baekhyun’s hand. Baekhyun clicks his tongue impatiently and snaps, “Figure it out, Kris. This, along with the note in D.O’s pocket, could be the most crucial piece of information to understand the whole situation.”
“Right,” Kris mutters, only to be greeted by the echo of his own voice in his apartment.
-
“You have seaweed on your lower lip,” Kris laughs, as he reaches across the table and wipes the green smudge off Jongin’s lip, while Jongin blinks at him cutely.
Jongin shrugs and steals more solgogi off Kris’s bento, before Kris shoves the entire plastic container in front of him, settling his chopsticks down on the table. Jongin stares up at him and chews on the end of his chopsticks, pausing a little and asking, “Bad mood?”
“No appetite,” Kris corrects gently, pressing the pads of his fingers to his temples and rolling them clockwise.
It’s hard to muster up an appetite when he’s so fucking tired from not sleeping at night; his thoughts filled with the possibilities behind Kai’s note, the weight of Baekhyun’s stare, before he dissipates into the blue portal every night when Kris gives him a solemn shake of his head.
“Is this about your fight with seonsaengnim?”
Kris blinks and stares at Jongin, who simply shrugs and continues rolling his rice grains into little balls before popping them into his mouth. “Seonsaengnim’s been in a really bad mood too, so I asked Sehunnie about it and he told me you were being a dick.”
“Language!” Kris warns, knocking Jongin’s head lightly, receiving a face strongly resembling a baby pufferfish in return. “It’s all adult stuff, don’t worry your little head over it, Jongin-ah.”
Awkward silence ensues, where Jongin continues picking at small lumps of rice and stuffing them into his mouth, while Kris desperately tries to think up of a topic, before his eyes fall on Jongin’s notebook. “Can I take a look at that?”
Jongin follows his gaze and nods, passing the notebook over to Kris and turning his attention back to his meal. “It’s all really sketchy and random though.”
Kris hums in response, his fingers flipping through the pages gently, eyes falling upon sketches of buildings and robots that he grew up learning about. His eyes fall to the bottom of the page, and he smiles a little at the illegible scrawl at the bottom. He hasn’t changed his signature all these years, Kris muses in slight amusement.
“I’m curious about something,” Kris begins, as Jongin glances up, eyes bright and filled with questions. “Why do you sign off as D.O? Is this a childhood nickname or something?”
Jongin frowns a little in response and shakes his head, his wispy bangs flying into his eyes as a result. “That isn’t my signature, that’s Kyungsoo’s. His full name’s Do Kyungsoo, and he thinks it would be cooler signing off as D.O, I guess. Says it makes him seem more adult-ish or something.”
The notebook nearly slips from Kris’s grasp, as he tries to find the will to move his tongue while swallowing saliva vehemently.
His full name’s Do Kyungsoo.
“I don’t understand,” Kris finally manages, his eyes not daring to meet Jongin’s. “Isn’t this book yours?”
“It is,” Jongin insists, his hands balled up into little fists as he stares at Kris in slight annoyance. “Like I said, these are just random doodles, why do they matter to you who they belong to?”
“Just answer me!” Kris yells, as he bolts to his feet and stares down at a watery-eyed Jongin, who shrinks back slightly into his chair and tightens his jaw, arms crossed tightly over his chest. “It’s just really important to me, alright?”
Jongin turns his head to the side, the corners of his lips turned down as Kris sighs in frustration, threading fingers through his jet-black hair, before he tries again, “Jongin, that signature, is it Kyungsoo’s or yours?”
“If I say it’s mine, will you stay by my side?”
The vulnerability laced behind the words that leave Jongin’s mouth catches Kris off-guard and he panics momentarily. He’s never been good at dealing with emotions - that had always been more of Baekhyun’s forte than his. He’s always been the one who forces answers out of people, the one who causes emotions, rather than resolve them.
A beep from his phone cuts off his train of thoughts, as Kris reaches across the table for it, his eyes still carefully trained on the way Jongin’s lower lip quivers as he stares up at him.
“Yifan,” Sehun’s voice sounds strange, it sounds distant and Kris strains to hear him over the static. “You need to come down to the police station now.”
“What’s this about? I’m with Jongin.”
There’s a strangled cry from the other side and Kris’s grip around his phone tightens. “This is about me killing your friends down here unless you show yourself.”
“Don’t do anything, you -”
All that greets Kris in response is the dull beep and Kris snaps his phone shut. He sighs, grabs his hand gun and leans across the table, pulling Jongin to him, fingers running comfortingly down Jongin’s back. “I’ll be back, promise.”
And he’s out of the door, shades propped on his nose, before Jongin manages to give him a reply.
-
“You sure took your time,” Drone hums, his legs propped on Joonmyeon’s table as Kris bursts into the office.
“Where’s Joonmyeon and Sehun?” Kris grits out, his fingers clenched tightly around the hilt of his normal gun; the one from Yixing still safely tucked in his blazer.
There’s a gentle creaking as Drone whirls the chair around and Kris falters a little in his step, his hand loosening around his gun slightly. “They’re safely tied up and gagged. Knocked them out, so they won’t remember a thing, don’t worry. We wouldn’t want to blow either of our covers, would we?”
When Kris doesn’t answer for more than two seconds, Drone laughs, his fingers running along an expanse of steel which had previously been porcelain skin on their first meeting. He pounds a tightly-clenched fist on his chest and the loud ‘pang’ which echoes through the office leaves a shiver running up Kris’s spine. “What’s wrong? Too used to pretty things from your beloved ruler’s future? You should get used to this, because once I’m done here, your future will cease to exist.”
“There is no point in getting used to something which won’t happen,” Kris replies simply, pulling his gun out and aiming it at a spot inches away from Drone’s hand - a warning.
Drone laughs, the sound dry and sarcastic, as he remains unmoving on his seat, fingers tapping an irregular pattern on the table. “Where is child D.O? Spare me the trouble of finding him and just hand him over.”
“Over my dead body.”
“That,” Drone pauses, his palms flat on the surface of Joonmyeon’s table, before he darts forward, his fingers suddenly tightening around Kris’s neck. “Can be arranged.”
Kris tries to breathe and presses his gun against what he imagines would have been a ribcage under all the metal, before pulling the trigger. All he hears in return, is the sound of metal slamming against metal, and Kris finds himself pressed up against a wall, his gun lying abandoned on the floor several feet away.
“You’re really testing my patience, Kris. Or should I say, Wu Yifan?”
Kris struggles against the grip, fingers tugging uselessly at those wrapped around his neck, burning - what he’s sure will be - red marks into them. Before him, Drone winces, clenching his stomach with his right hand, which to Kris’s surprise, is painted in streaks of crimson.
“You have two minutes to give me what I want,” Drone warns, his hand tightening around Kris’s throat, as Kris’s fingers tighten around his, tugging weakly as his eyes start fluttering shut.
This is it. It’s going to end before anything even starts.
He opens his mouth, his fingers slowly losing strength and slipping from Drone’s hands, to his side, as his mind slowly turns blank.
“Goodbye, Future Cop.”
Bang.
Kris falls to the ground, his palms sprawled before him as he gasps desperately for breath and reaches for his gun. Next to him, he can hear a panicky Lu Han shrieking, slapping his face repeatedly, small hands clutching his face. He watches Drone lean back in pain, watches him lift his arm and aim for the ceiling just as Kris releases a bullet from his gun, hitting him square in the chest.
There’s a bright flash, before all that surrounds them are small dust particles, the crimson blood on the ground the only evidence that a fight had just occurred.
Kris exhales and falls to the ground in exhaustion, his eyelids fluttering slowly as he stares at a blurry Lu Han, who’s shaking him so violently he can hear his eyeballs rattling.
“Stop it,” Kris manages, his chest rising and falling steadily. “You’re going to finish what Drone didn’t manage to do.”
Next to Lu Han, Kyungsoo bursts into tears and clings on to Kris’s hand, his tears soaking Kris’s blazer. Lu Han blinks furiously and whacks Kris gently, lamenting, “It’s not funny. Why are you such an asshole even in situations like this?”
Kris smiles in return as he slowly sits upright and pulls Kyungsoo close. “Thank god you’re okay. Thank god.”
Kyungsoo mumbles something in response, his words muffled by the fabric of Kris’s blazer, small hands clinging to Kris’s back tightly, as though Kris would dissipate into air before him. Kris smiles and pulls away, before his eyes catch side on the wooden plank hanging from what used to be the ceiling, a split second from falling.
“Lu Han!” Kris exclaims, and shoves Lu Han out of the way, just as the world turns black.
-
Kris wakes up to a cold compress pressed against his forehead and he coughs, throat still rough from sleep. “Water.”
A glass is placed at his lips and his head is pushed forward softly. “Slowly.”
It takes him another ten seconds before he opens his eyes, blinking slowly at the light that floods his vision. Before him, Lu Han removes the cold compress and trades it for a hand towel instead, pressing it lightly against his face, as Kris catches his hand. “Are you alright?”
Lu Han stares at him for a moment, before dropping his hand to the side and hissing, “I wasn’t the one who took a hit on the head from a wooden plank. Just what the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking,” Kris begins, his mind still throbbing, the world still tilting on the edges. “Of saving you from the mess I’ve created.”
A moment passes, before Lu Han’s hand finds Kris and yanks, pulling Kris upright, so that they’re just inches apart. “What the fuck is wrong with you? First, you go out of your way to try to befriend me, to make me believe that I mean something to you. And once you’ve achieved that, you go and single-handedly destroy everything between us within five minutes. And now, this. Can you just be honest, for once in your life, Yifan?”
“Can you please just be honest, for once, Kris? At least it would ease some of the guilt in my heart. I don’t know how to get married with you standing along the aisle as my best man, secretly wishing that you were the one next to me instead.”
Kris thinks, he’s done lying in this lifetime, he’s done pretending to be what everyone expects him to be.
“I’m from the future,” he answers slowly, cringing slightly at how his voice still quavers. “The man, robot, whatever you want to call him, back in the police station is the whole reason I came back in time. He’s been sent to your world to kill our founder, when he’s a child, because he failed in the future, and I’m here to stop him. I’m not supposed to fall in love with anyone because that would change the course of history. It’s the only rule I have to live by.”
Lu Han blinks at him slowly and leans back in the chair, his eyes downcast. Kris chews on his bottom lip and exhales. “I swear I’m not crazy -”
“That’s the worst excuse on Earth for rejecting someone.”
Lu Han stands and settles down on the bed, his hand reaching for Kris’s. “One day,” Lu Han starts. “Can we just be in love for one day?”
No, is probably what he should have said, but Kris is so tired, so tired of building up fences and shielding his heart from the inevitable, that when Lu Han leans in towards him, he doesn’t even fight it.
Lu Han’s lips are soft and unhurried, as they move against his, and Kris presses forward, flush against Lu Han, his eyes squeezed shut. Lu Han tastes sweet, just like in Kris’s memory, and he makes a soft sound, which Kris promptly swallows, fingers pressing against Lu Han’s jawline, tilting his face in an angle to deepen the kiss.
When Lu Han finally pulls away, pupils blown, cheeks flushed, Kris leans forward and brushes his bangs out of his eyes.
“One day,” Kris promises.
-
“You’re finally back!” Sehun exclaims, jumping off the sofa and clinging to Kris happily.
Kris blinks slowly and exchanges looks with Lu Han. “Am I missing something?”
“Asking him to babysit is like getting a baby to look after two more babies,” Joonmyeon muses, as he steps out of the kitchen, dishes in hand and a wide-eyed Kyungsoo trailing behind him.
Kris slaps a hand to his forehead in response. “Crap, I forgot that I left Jongin home alone when Sehun called about the robbery case.”
Lu Han gives him a quizzical look, and opens his mouth to probably protest that there was no robbery, when Kris gives his hand a quick squeeze, a tight smile playing his lips. Lu Han’s eyes light up in understanding, before he taps his left cheek teasingly and Kris groans. Little fucker’s going to get all he can from one day. He hesitates and leans towards Lu Han, lips brushing against his cheek softly, before he pulls away, a hand in front of his reddening cheeks.
In front of them, Kyungsoo squeals excitedly just as Sehun leaps and attempts to shield his eyes with his right hand. Joonmyeon makes a soft tutting sound at them teasingly, before his smile drops. “Jongin’s locked himself up in your room though. Not even Kyungsoo can get him out.”
If I say it’s mine, will you stay by my side?
“I’ll go talk to him,” Kris answers, detaching his arm carefully from Lu Han with a smile.
Good luck, Lu Han mouths, as Kris digs around his wallet for the spare key to unlock his bedroom door. He inhales deeply, it’ll be fine, and sticks the key into the lock, satisfied at the little ‘click’ sound it makes when Kris turns it.
“Jongin?” He calls out, hands skimming the wall for the little light switch. “Jongin.”
“You’re back,” Jongin answers, his voice barely above a whisper, from where he’s curled up on the ground, legs pulled closed to his chest.
Kris closes the door behind him, before he kneels down on the ground next to Jongin, his hand hovering inches away from the top of Jongin’s head. “I promised you, didn’t I?”
Jongin stares at him for a couple of seconds, before he rolls out of his fetal position and buries himself in Kris’s embrace, small frame shaking tremendously. “Please don’t leave me,” he mumbles, again and again into Kris’s blouse.
“What would possibly make you think that?” Kris sighs, his arms encircling Jongin, pulling him impossibly close.
When Jongin pulls back, his eyes are shining, his trembling lower lip jutting out cutely. “Appa left me for another woman. Umma left me because dying seemed like the easier path out. You’re the only person I have left who cares about me, please don’t leave me for Kyungsoo.”
“You silly kid,” Kris breathes in relief, pulling Jongin towards him.
He knows he’s being a fucking hypocrite all over again, that nothing will be able to keep him by Jongin’s side once he destroys Drone. But even if it’s just for a little while more, Kris hopes that he can be the reason for Jongin to be a little more confident, to feel a little less alone, to feel a little more loved.
-
Against his better judgement, Kris lets Lu Han drag him to go clubbing at a club near Lu Han’s house, despite his bad experiences.
“You said one day,” Lu Han whispers, while bouncing in the back seat of Joonmyeon’s car, thigh uncomfortably warm against Kris’s. “So play the role well, at least.”
Somewhere in between Minseok slipping Kris surprisingly strong neon colored concoctions and Lu Han’s hips swaying provocatively against his, Kris finds himself dry humping Lu Han on Lu Han’s sofa, Lu Han breathless and flushed beneath him.
“We shouldn’t,” Kris breathes, voice hushed and low, as his lips brush against a spot on Lu Han’s neck.
But Lu Han insistently pushes off his blazer and tosses it on the floor, hands pulling Kris’s face up to his as he melds their lips together and mutters, “The day’s not over yet, you have to keep your promise. Now, bed.”
They somehow make it to Lu Han’s bed, although Kris thinks Lu Han should take credit in that, since all he does is utter some incoherent noises and trudge along, ignoring the nagging little Baekhyun voice at the back of his head. Once there, all thoughts of why this is wrong dissipate from Kris’s head, as Lu Han presses his little palm against the front of Kris’s pants eagerly, before popping open the button to his jeans and slipping his hand inside.
“Fuck you,” Kris hisses, as Lu Han palms him through his underwear; it’s been too long since he’s felt so tight under the collar.
Lu Han laughs, the sound breathless and beautiful to Kris’s ears, above all the lust. “You want to, don’t you?”
Kris blinks, his cheeks heating up at the thought of Lu Han, sweaty and whimpering beneath him, handcuffed to the bed and begging. And holy fuck, since when was he so kinky?
“Beg me,” Kris blurts out, licking his lips furiously to stop himself from blushing.
Lu Han’s eyes widen a little and he laughs aloud. Great, you’re sexy as fuck, Kris. Kris rolls his eyes and presses his palm insistently against Lu Han’s dick, lips pressing against Lu Han’s earlobe, as he hisses, “I said to fucking beg.”
He receives a satisfactory mewl from Lu Han in return, who swats his hand away, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “No.”
Kris smirks and sits upright, deliberately pressing down on Lu Han’s hard-on and earning a satisfactory hiss from Lu Han, as he does up the top two buttons of his dress shirt casually. “Then I’ll just get back to that sofa of yours. And jerk off. Alone.”
“You wouldn’t,” Lu Han threatens, a dangerous glint in his eyes, while he sits up, hair mussed adorably.
Kris raises an eyebrow in return and leans towards Lu Han, watching the way Lu Han’s eyes drop to his lips. “Watch me.”
He presses his palms flat against Lu Han’s bed and is about to push himself off when Lu Han yanks on the collar of his blouse and smashes their lips together again. Kris stifles a laugh, knowing that the battle’s won even before Lu Han mouths against his lips, “Please.”
“Please what?” Kris teases, although he’s already leaning in, pressing Lu Han down on the bed, his fingers slipping under Lu Han’s shirt and pulling it up.
Lu Han yanks at the buttons on his dress shirt, popping each one open while hissing, “Fuck. Me. Please just fuck me, jesus fuck, Yifan.”
“Good boy,” Kris mouths against Lu Han’s pulse point, as Lu Han shoves his shirt down his shoulders and throws it unceremoniously on the ground.
It takes a couple more minutes of fidgeting, and a hell lot of teasing on Kris’s part, Lu Han completely at his mercy, before they’re both finally naked. Kris glances down at Lu Han, flushed and tangled in midnight blue sheets, a stark contrast to his pale skin, and thinks he’s never actually seen anything more fucking beautiful in his whole life, so fuck regret.
In the time he spent musing over Lu Han’s beauty, Lu Han lets out a loud whine, hands reaching up to grip Kris’s shoulders, before giving a hard tug so that Kris is eagle-sprawled on his back instead. Lu Han’s grip on his shoulders is unrelenting, almost as though he’s afraid that Kris would just shove him off, leave him high and dry, when Kris presses a hand against his abdomen. “Wait, don’t you have lube or something?”
“What?” Lu Han blinks at him, a look of surprise crossing his face and Kris shifts awkwardly under him.
“Um, I don’t know? Something for lubrication purposes or anything? Or the friction’s going to fucking hurt, isn’t it?”
Lu Han blinks at him more, and Kris clears his throat awkwardly. Is this not the way things work here, he panics a little, before a moan involuntarily escapes his throat as he’s engulfed by a hot, wet warmth.
He looks down, to meet Lu Han’s eyes, dark with lust as they lock on his, tongue sliding along the underside of his cock, head bobbing to a steady rhythm. “Fuck,” Kris groans, fingers threading through Lu Han’s locks, as he thrusts upwards, only to be pinned down harshly by boney fingers.
He’s so fucking close, and he squeezes his eyes shut, just as Lu Han slides his lips off and grins at the way Kris whines and trashes about. “Didn’t you want to fuck me?”
Kris exhales, his head throbbing insanely. Lu Han’s probably going to drive him crazy before he even manages to climax. “Ride me,” he commands, exhaustion washing over him, as Lu Han nods enthusiastically.
Lu Han shimmies back up, after placing a teasing kiss on Kris’s dick, much to Kris’s annoyance. “Finally,” Lu Han whispers, as he lowers himself onto Kris, wincing slightly as Kris’s fingers wrap around his thin waist, burning red marks into them.
Kris waits, waits for Lu Han to adjust to his size, before Lu Han presses his palms against the bed, lifting himself up with Kris’s help, and slams back down at full speed, drawing a low groan from both of them. Lu Han starts slow, before picking up the pace, Kris’s hips thrusting upwards as Lu Han grinds downwards in perfect synchronisation.
There’s so much heat that it’s hard to breathe and Kris muses that he’s still fucking alive, just as his fingers tighten involuntarily around Lu Han’s waist, before he’s coming hard. Above him, Lu Han pulls at Kris’s right hand, rubbing it up and down in a steady rhythm on his own cock, and he hisses, while Kris is still riding out his orgasm, as he spills messily over Kris’s fingers.
When Lu Han finally inches himself off Kris’s cock, his face cringing slightly, he falls in exhaustion on the empty spot beside Kris, the rise and fall of his chest slowing down. Kris turns his head slightly, drinking in the sight of Lu Han’s post-orgasm beauty, before inching closer to him, pressing a soft kiss into the crook of Lu Han’s neck.
Lu Han giggles breathlessly, as he leans back and allows Kris to wrap his arms around him.
“Tell me about him,” Lu Han begins abruptly, just as Kris’s eyelids are fluttering shut.
“Hmm?”
Lu Han wriggles a little and Kris loosens his grip around him, as Lu Han turns around to face him, eyes still bright. “Tell me about the person you were in love with.”
Kris blinks, his voice still raspy as he asks, “How did you -”
“It was written all over your face the other day. But Jongin and Kyungsoo were present, so I didn’t want to press into your personal matters too much.”
“Oh,” Kris replies, blinking dumbly at Lu Han.
Lu Han seems to misunderstand his hesitance as reluctance, as he adds hastily, “Of course you don’t have to, I mean -”
“He’s my best friend,” Kris interrupts, his eyes locked on Lu Han’s. “I’ve been in love with him for years, even though I know his heart will never be with me. Kinda dumb, isn’t it?”
“Love isn’t dumb, it’s -”
“He’s getting married.” Kris laughs, watching the way Lu Han’s face falls and he snaps his jaw shut. “And he wants me to be his best man.”
“Yifan,” Lu Han mumbles, his hand finding Kris’s under the blanket before threading their fingers together. “I’m sorry.”
Kris shrugs and tightens his hold on Lu Han. “Maybe I just wasn’t meant to fall in love in this lifetime.”
He doesn’t get a response, although he feels wetness against his chest and he feels his heart clenching in pain, when Lu Han shifts closer to him, head buried in the crook of his neck.
Everyone leaves before they are left, he remembers Baekhyun telling him, while he chugs down his third bottle of soju on the rooftop of their police academy. Because no one wants to be the one left to pick up the shattered fragments of what’s left in a relationship.
The sun’s almost rising, when Kris affirms that Lu Han has fallen asleep, cheeks still stained with tears, before he disentangles himself from Lu Han’s grasp.
Maybe in another lifetime, they could have been happy together.
But in this lifetime, Kris does up the buttons of his shirt, pulls the covers up to Lu Han’s chin, and walks out the front door without leaving behind so much as a written note.
part 3