Archive of Our Own

Chapter 1

“What do we have here, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks when he arrives at the scene. It’s a regular gloomy day and it looks like it’s going to rain soon.

“Byun.” The detective replies curtly. “It’s your job to tell me that.”

Baekhyun fights back the urge to roll his eyes at the detective and instead gives him the sweetest smile, “As you wish, dear.” Baekhyun fancies the detective, but the object of his infatuation is playing hard to get.

“A woman in her mid-twenties. No visible trauma other than chafing on her face, probably caused by the rocking of the body against the riverside rocks, post-mortem.” Baekhyun says as he looks at the deceased. He lifts her clothes up slightly, looking for the tag, “clothes are ordinary, no expensive brands but not from the cheapest store either, good quality. Shoes are missing. For a more detailed view I need to look at her over the table. No ID?”

Chanyeol looks at the other, “no ID or anything we could identify her with.”

“Well, get her on Kyungsoo’s table and he’ll check if she has something to tell, darling .” Baekhyun smirks as he lets go of the clothes and stands up. “I’m sure he can find something, these young ladies always have a secret to tell.”

“Can you stop with that?” Chanyeol sighs and turns to look at the scene where several investigators are looking for items or anything of interest at the edge of the water.

Baekhyun stops mid-move at the words, letting the rubber glove dingle from his fingers for a moment before continuing with the motion. “Stop what, dear?”

“The inappropriate behavior at a scene.” Chanyeol says, “You’re here to work, not to flirt.”

“Oh, you do notice some details after all,” Baekhyun grins and swiftly pulls off the gloves and disposes them in a trash bag nearby. “But I can’t help it when the handsome and tall detective is at the scene with me. You know you’re exactly my type but your character is slightly difficult.”

Baekhyun enjoys how the curt detective seems to be stunned for a second before regaining his composure.

“I am suspecting this isn’t a mere suicide but work of a serial killer. We already have two other cases with similar backgrounds.” Chanyeol remarks, “please make sure to check every little detail, if this woman has puncture marks on her, any dirt under fingernails and so on. Any little mark that could prove her death as something else than suicide.”

“Have I ever failed you, Detective Park?” Baekhyun replies swiftly and winks, “just get her on Kyungsoo’s table and maybe, join me afterwards?”

“I will visit in a few days to see how everything is turning out, thank you. You can leave the scene now, Byun.”

Oh, that’s disappointing. Baekhyun shrugs and nods. There’s no use to keep on flirting tonight, Chanyeol seems to be less receptive to it today as he has been before, “Alright. I guess I’ll be seeing you later then.” He glances up as he feels the first raindrop fall on his face, “It’s going to rain so make sure to cover the body well, we won’t want any of the possible traces washed away now, do we?”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

The mortuary is a scary place for most people. There’s steel everywhere, sterile to the touch and morbid smell from organic and chemical compositions permeating the air. Chanyeol scrunches his nose at the unpleasant smell as he steps into the cold room where the coroner is examining the body of a young woman. He doesn’t like this place, but the coroner has become a friend of his after all the years they have worked together. It makes the place seem almost welcome to the detective.

The detective feels a sudden shiver down his spine when Kyungsoo looks up from the still body upon the sound of the door opening. “Oh! Detective Park, welcome to my lair.”

“Have you found anything?” Chanyeol scrunches his nose as the pungent smell intensifies in the room as he steps closer to the examination table.

“You’re no fun,” Kyungsoo complains and straightens up. “Well, there is nothing much out of the ordinary. No bruising or other signs of violence. Intestines look fairly clean, no bile in her throat so I don’t suspect food poisoning of any kind. But there is something that you might find interesting.” He lifts the right arm and twists it a bit to show a small butterfly tattoo. “This. Though, it could be a coincidence as tattoos are popular these days, but your last lady had a fresh tattoo as well. This is at most a week old, the skin is still healing from the tattooing.”

“A tattoo?” Detective Park asks as he looks at the black image inked on the victim’s skin. “Yes, yes I think the last deceased lady had one too. I have to check the files again. Do you suspect it has something to do with the death?”

“It could be.” Kyungsoo says and covers the body fully again. “The ink might have some poison in it, high amounts of lead or other heavy metals. I took a sample of her blood and it’s in the lab now. Minseok said it’ll take a couple of days to run the tests for drugs and other substances. I did however check the liver and it is damaged. The cause of her death is most likely a stroke.”

Chanyeol hums and shrugs, seemingly deep in thought,“That could be from anything though. She was in her twenties, hard parties are happening every week these days. Party drugs are involved in many and they can cause a variety of liver and heart problems, right?”

“That is true.” Kyungsoo smiles and leans against the working table. “I guess we’ll have to wait for the lab results.”

“Call me when you have them. I’ll get back to the office and find that annoying forensic expert to talk about the new findings. Thank you for your hard work Kyungsoo.”

“Oh, tell Baekhyun hello from me!” Kyungsoo grins, amused by the scowl that shows up on Chanyeol’s face at the mere mention of the name. “Just accept his date invitation once and he’ll leave you alone.”

“Never.”

Kyungsoo’s grin widens even more at the hatred in Chanyeol’s voice. “I’m starting to suspect you like him back.”

“Goodbye, Kyungsoo. Call me when you have the results.”

“Bye detective~” Kyungsoo cackles and waves at the detective’s back. It’s always fun to tease the stern man.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

Baekhyun looks up when the door to his team’s office opens. “Detective Park, what a pleasure to see you. Is the flower for me?”

“W-what flower?!” Chanyeol jolts and looks at his empty hands before realizing that the forensic technician is pulling his leg. Baekhyun breaks into laughter at the flabbergasted expression on the Detective’s face before it settles into a growl.

“Can’t you take the hint?” Baekhyun mumbles as he stands up and corrects his posture to match Chanyeol’s. “What brings you here, did you find new evidence?”

“I’d appreciate it if you'd stop with all the flirting, I’m not interested in you.” Chanyeol says as he walks towards Baekhyun’s desk. He’s awfully aware of the gazes from the other forensic team members and the bit-back smiles due to the previous exchanges they had. He clears his throat and continues to talk. “Kyungsoo found that both this woman and the last one had a fresh tattoo on them. The newest victim has a small butterfly tattoo on her arm. I’ll need to check through the old cases for any reports of tattoos, but I remember that the woman before this had a tattoo as well, behind her ear, I believe. We need to find out where they got the tattoos done if something is found from the blood test.”

“Tattoos? Is Kyungsoo suspecting that something was infused in the ink?” Baekhyun asks. He hopes that his tone is neutral and not conveying the turmoil that started in his mind at the moment the words were spoken out loud.

“It could be.” Chanyeol shrugs, “It wouldn’t be the first time. Remember a couple of years back when ‘Kim tattoo’ had their license revoked due to too much lead and mercury in their inks? It’s quite common to have illegal substances in the inks.”

“Is that so?” Baekhyun hums, “I remember it. It felt a bit odd, because you could have just shut down the tattoo shop and fined the man for running it illegally, but you used the lead as the main evidence.” Baekhyun turns his gaze to Chanyeol’s arm and nods slightly towards it, “How do you make sure your tattoo artist uses the correct substances in their inks? Test them out in a lab before getting tattooed?”

“If I did that, so what?” Chanyeol challenges him, “How do you even know I have tattoos? And you’re right, I could have fined the tattoo artist for tattooing without an official permit, but I’m not the asshole police.”

“I’ve seen you at the gym,” Baekhyun says quickly before answering the first question, “and that would be an abuse of government funds.”

“You’re abusing government funds for just oogling at the gym instead of working out,“ Jongin quips and makes everyone laugh.

“We had to check all the places!” Chanyeol starts, but gets interrupted by Baekhyun.

“Jongin, remember who is your boss.” Baekhyun says, glaring at the man’s direction but soon starts to chuckle. Jongin isn’t wrong with his words, he does stare more at the gym than actually working out.

“-and if this is somehow linked to the tattoos, we have to find the artist and shop soon. Only three cases happened within half a year, which means it’s either not a popular shop or the substance is not included in every ink bottle they use on their customers.”

This time Chanyeol gets interrupted by another member of Baekhyun’s team, “Chief, we’re going out for lunch. Will you be joining us?”

Baekhyun looks at his team and shakes his head, “Go ahead without me. I’ll finish talking with Detective Park and join you later. This shouldn’t take too long.”

“Alright. We’re going to the usual chicken place to order a big portion for everyone to share.”

“Sounds great. See you guys there.” Baekhyun smiles and waits until everyone has left before continuing, “And why are you here telling me all this in person?” Baekhyun asks, “Missed my face?”

“I was hoping that you remember if any of the recent victims had tattoos or were linked to any tattoo artists?”

“It is not my job to find that out, mister Detective.” Baekhyun says, “I’m a mere forensic expert, I sniff around at the scene, not outside of it. It’s your job to look into the details, love.”

“Right, well…” Chanyeol rubs his neck awkwardly. Baekhyun is right, it isn’t his job at all, so why is he here, in person, asking all these things from the man? It must be Kyungsoo’s words causing him to act strangely.

“This lady was found by the riverside, floating ashore. Might as well be a suicide by jumping from the bridge, you know it happens a lot. The previous one, if I recall correctly, was found near the train tracks, also a possible suicide. The preceding case’s victim jumped off a tall building. I am failing to see any pattern here.”

“I know, I know.” Chanyeol sighs, getting more frustrated by each minute. “But something feels off. I looked into the dates of when the bodies were found and compared it against their expected death time, they were sequential. 14th of June, 16th of July and 17th of August. Again, a weird coincidence.”

“If you say so.” Baekhyun says nonchalantly, “I don’t think there is anything that links these cases together. You know, we face suicidal cases daily in this country. It was just a matter of luck that we got these ones. Ask the other stations, I’m sure they have plenty of similar cases to tell you about.” He reaches for his suit jacket and puts it on, “I’m going to join the rest for lunch now, will you join us?”

“No, thank you.” Chanyeol says, clearing his throat. “I’ll get back to you when I have reviewed the files from the previous cases. If you recall any useful information, please tell me and I will check them as well.”

“Will do, sweet cheeks. Enjoy your lunch.” Baekhyun smiles and steps out of the office, leaving the detective standing awkwardly in the middle of it.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

A few days later…

“Kyungsoo?” Detective Park answers the phone. “Wait a sec, I’m at a scene.”

Chanyeol walks towards the wrecked car. It’s a tragic sight and he recites a mental prayer for the victims. “Lee? I have to take this call. It seems to me that this is a pure accident case so we will be moving the case over to your station. If something shows up during the investigation proving otherwise, let us know and we’ll take over this case.”

“Thank you for coming here, Detective Park. I will personally call you if something is found during the investigation.”

Chanyeol nods in gratitude and puts the phone back on his ear as he walks towards his car. “Kyungsoo, please continue.”

“Minseok ran a test on a hundred different substances and all came out negative. He said that it is not a fully coherent method as the blood test doesn’t show everything post mortem. He might be able to find out more if you can provide him with an urine or wet saliva sample . Either way, this woman did not have anything else in her blood other than an excessive amount of vitamins. And her bladder had drained itself probably sometime after entering the water. From an autopsy point of view, all I can do is file it to suicide.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Chanyeol sighs as he settles behind the wheel. “I asked around the forensic team-”

“You mean Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo interrupts cheerily.

Chanyeol ignores him and continues, “-and they think there’s a possibility that the tattoos are related to her death, but it’s difficult to tell. Remember the raid on a tattoo parlor a few years back? They had excess lead and mercury in the inks that caused health problems for the customers. Would such substances still be detectable after death?

I checked a third body from before, they had a flower, this one has a butterfly and the one before her had a heart tattoo. These tattoo designs are all very generic without much of an artistic output, and it would be impossible to find the artist without knowing the victim’s friends or close relatives to whom they might have shared the place with.”

Kyungsoo hums at the other end of the line, “Yes, heavy metals or any drugs would still be possible to detect after 48 hours of the death, most can be detected in the blood even longer than that. Minseok said that if there is another death, just call him immediately. There might be saliva residue or even urine to take a slip test on.”

“Right, thank you Kyungsoo. I will keep that in mind. I know these are linked somehow, but I can’t seem to figure out the connection and it’s driving me insane.”

“Some cases are not meant to be solved, unfortunately.” Kyungsoo says reassuringly. “However, if you haven’t already checked the tattoo shops in our district, you should do that. They might know something about a new artist or if there is something fishy going on underground.”

Chanyeol breathes out heavily and nods to himself as he presses the start-button to start his car. “I asked them, but they didn’t tell me anything. I’ll have to get back to it while checking the places out myself. They’re discreet, knowing it's an illegal operation to even tattoo without a proper license. They’re not gonna expose their friends.”

“Well, it was just a suggestion.” Kyungsoo says, “Good luck and maybe you can have a talk with the forensic team. Doesn’t one of them have a lot of tattoos, maybe he has connections to the underground scene?”

“You mean Jongin? How do you even know he has tattoos, you’re never on the scene.” Chanyeol locks the phone in its holder and speeds into the traffic.

Kyungsoo laughs, “Let’s just say, I’ve seen him around very frequently.”

“Oh god! ” Chanyeol groans and laughs, “Don’t tell me more. I’m gonna go and catch a late lunch before filling in the paperwork for handling this case to the police.”

“Say hi to Baekhyun and Jongin from me when you see them.”

“I won’t. Thank you Kyungsoo. Bye.” Chanyeol chuckles and waits for Kyungsoo’s chuckled reply before closing the line.

So, the autopsy shows only minor liver problems and a stroke. Chanyeol sighs. There’s nothing in her blood to indicate murder or overdose of any substance. Something doesn’t add up. The circumstances of the victim’s death are weird.

Who leaves the house without a phone or wallet these days? Why is there nothing to identify her with, no suicide note or anything else? No family members or friends calling to enquire or report her disappearance is even more shocking.

It’s been a week since her body was found. Are there no classmates or teachers from her university to ask after her? No boss from a company to ask about her absence from work? Chanyeol furrows his brows as he thinks about the case. What kind of boss doesn’t ring up their employee after they haven’t shown up to work for a week. He would call after half a day if his employee didn’t show up and hasn’t called in for a sick leave.

There have been three cases now, none of them have friends or family asking after them. One lonely youth is acceptable, but to make it three? There is something going on and Chanyeol feels frustrated with the lack of evidence. These cannot be regular suicides, there is just no way they are.

And Baekhyun? The forensic expert is doing a great job in finding evidence. He is a true professional and even Chanyeol cannot deny that, only his excessive flirting is pissing him off. From what Chanyeol has figured out, Baekhyun only behaves like that towards him, the rest of the team don’t receive the innuendos and flirts.

The detective sighs as he breaks for a red light. Damn Kyungsoo for putting ideas into his mind, can he really like Baekhyun back? Is the forensic expert just toying with him or truly interested? “Aish stop it!” Chanyeol says out loud and shakes his head before driving on when the light turns green.

Chanyeol’s mind is still preoccupied as he parks in the underground garage of their office building. He doesn’t even notice the forensic workers when they pass each other at the entrance.

“Detective Park!” Baekhyun grins, coming to a halt in front of the revolving door. “Did you have lunch already? Jongin and I are going to a barbeque place. The rest of the team is away today.”

“Huh?” Chanyeol stops, looking like a deer in headlights in a moment of confusion. Talk about the devil. “Oh, Mr Byun and Mr Kim, have a good day.”

Baekhyun cocks his head to one side as he looks at Chanyeol with a raised eyebrow. “I see you didn’t hear me, mister Detective. Did you already eat, if not, why don't you join us?”

Chanyeol looks at the duo. Jongin is smiling at him. He’s always polite and proper, the total opposite of his boss. Baekhyun instead is grinning at him, already taking his silence as an agreement, it seems, as the man is reaching for Chanyeol to guide him back outside. “Kyungsoo said hello.” Chanyeol blurts out abruptly as he lets himself be turned and pushed back to the revolving door and out into the sunshine.

“Did he find something new?” Baekhyun asks, leading the way down the pavement.

“He said hello to Jongin as well.” Chanyeol continues, making Baekhyun look between the two with a confused expression.

“Why do you sound so surprised that they know each other?” He inquires, sharing a laugh with Jongin. “They’ve been dating for how long now?” Baekhyun glances at Jongin, “almost a year?”

“Eight months.” Jongin answers with a smile.

“... eight months.” Baekhyun echoes.

“I had no idea.” Chanyeol admits quietly as he follows the duo down the street towards the small alley with many restaurants to choose from.

“Well, maybe you should be interested in something other than your work. There is a lot that you’re missing out in the workplace.” Baekhyun jabs at Chanyeol, feeling awfully proud of himself for knowing the gossip.

“I have an important job to do, Mr Byun.” Chanyeol says, “I might even turn down your impromptu lunch invitation and file a workplace harassment case against you.”

“You wouldn’t. We have some information that you might be interested in.” Baekhyun says, “The Jade has private rooms to book, let’s hope they have one available for us.”

“We absolutely shouldn’t discuss work matters in public!”

“It’s not regarding work, it’s about tattoos.” Baekhyun grins, “Jongin here has asked around a bit while you pretended to work on the case.”

“I was waiting for the autopsy results, Byun.” Chanyeol grunts, but he can’t deny that the work has been on hold. He hasn’t done much. It seems like his head is stuck on someone else rather than working on the case. Damn Kyungsoo and his way with words.

“So did he find anything?” Jongin asks, “Morphine? Mercury? Lead?”

“Nothing.” Chanyeol sighs, “I’ll tell you over lunch if we get the private booth.”

Baekhyun seats himself opposite of Chanyeol after they have been led to a private dining room at the end of the restaurant. His legs stretch forward and are touching the Detective’s under the table. It’s not his fault the other is tall and his legs take up so much space when seated on the traditional floor table. It’s nice and quiet here even during a bustling lunch hour. The waiter comes in and out several times, serving the first side dishes right after they’ve ordered.

Soon there are plenty of dishes on the table, broiled beef, pork chops, kimchi, beans, eggs and other side dishes, purple rice, a soup to be shared together and some dumplings.

“So, I asked around while getting my new piercing.” Jongin starts, “I showed the photos to the staff at different shops, but no one seems to know who did the tattooing. The designs of the tattoos are too general.”

Baekhyun cuts in with a grin, “I bet Kyungsoo loves that piercing.”

“He hasn't had his fun with it yet.” Jongin laughs and eats a piece of meat. Chanyeol looks at them mortified.

“Is this the kind of conversation you guys normally talk about at the office?” The detective asks, flabbergasted. They’re really gossiping about explicit piercings during work, what the hell?!

“Anyways,” Jongin continues, “Doyun said he’ll ask around if anyone in the area knows any artist that could make decent tattoos like that. He said that judging by the photo, the artist is not a total beginner. The outline is smooth and the filling has an even color without splotches or clear lines. The skin around the tattoo looks nice as well, which means that they have good control of the ink pistol.”

Baekhyun shrugs and instead of commenting on what Jongin said, he answers Chanyeol's question. “It fills the void, makes the team closer and you know, it helps gain new knowledge. Like, did you know you can actually get STDs through a tattoo or piercing? I didn’t! Not before Jongin told me about the safety measures each tattoo artist has to take before any tattoo or piercing is performed.”

“Chanyeol has tattoos, I’m sure he knows.” Jongin quips with a smile. “Which place are you visiting again? I know that we don’t go to the same one.”

“I don’t think we do.” Chanyeol says, “I got tattooed by Luna at Tempo.”

“Luna?” Baekhyun wonders aloud. It’s his first time hearing that the intricate space-themed tattoos on the Detective’s arms (and back, from what he’s seen under the tank top at the gym) are done by a woman.

“Yes, Luna. I love her style, simple but with precious little details. I don’t have a thing for big tattoos like Jongin here does. I could never have anything like the big peach flower tattoo on his shoulder.”

“I was ready to bet your tattoos were made by a man.” Baekhyun says around a piece of meat.

“I don’t look at genders when I see something I like.”

Baekhyun grins wolfishly. “So you’re not explicitly looking for a woman either. Good to know.”

Chanyeol ignores him, but Baekhyun can’t ignore the redness that grows on Chanyeol’s ears in a split of a moment.

There is something that Baekhyun is anxious to ask the Detective. He hopes that his tone comes out neutral and hides his actual inner turmoil. “So, if nothing is found through the lab test, why are you so fixated on the tattoos?”

“It’s the only thing that links these cases. I tried to ask around, no one is telling me anything, because they’re afraid that I will turn them in for illegal tattooing. It’s probably better for the questioning to be done by someone who isn’t well-known as a Detective or part of the police system. That’s why Kyungsoo probably told me to ask Jongin if he could help to look around for more clues, but it seems like they have already talked about this behind my back.”

“Kyungsoo told me about it after he…checked out this victim.” Jongin admits quietly, mindful of his words. “I don’t know the details, but after you said something about the tattoos, he turned to me. But like I said, my contacts didn’t know anything and it'll take a while for the word to travel. I told Doyun that I’d be willing to get a new tattoo from a fresh artist so he should get back to me as soon as he learns about them.”

Baekhyun follows the conversation quietly as he eats his lunch. The meat is tasty and he can’t help but wriggle his toes against Chanyeol’s leg under the table. He looks at Chanyeol as the detective talks happily about tattoos and new possible designs with Jongin. He looks different like this. Eyes bright and crinkles framing them as he smiles widely. Chanyeol’s hands are animated as he explains something in detail and Baekhyun gets lost in it, forgetting the possible serial murder case onhand.

“Celestial tattoo designs are Luna’s specialty. You should consult her if you are planning to get one.”

“I was thinking of getting the moon, like how it was when I was born.” Jongin explains, “Probably on my thigh. I thought it could have some stars around it or something and like, part of the moon is visible and the other part is a very gentle shade?”

“Oh, you mean like the one I have? With the hidden tattoo under the other. Yes, Luna is amazing with those. Definitely go to see her!”

“Which tattoo?” Baekhyun perks up and accidentally nudges Chanyeol’s leg hard under the table.

“The one on my arm, you’ve seen it plenty at the gym.” Chanyeol says and rolls up his sleeve enough to show a tattoo of a monkey with a saturn behind it. To be fair, Baekhyun had always just seen the monkey with some stars around it, he never realized there was another wholeass planet behind the primate.

“I might have concentrated on something else at the gym.” Baekhyun mumbles by himself before shrugging and tearing his eyes off from the design to look at its owner. “Well, you know, I never looked at it close enough.”

“Well, now you know.” Chanyeol says and rolls the sleeve back down, covering the tattoo from curious eyes.

This whole tattoo talk is making Baekhyun feel awfully awkward and like an outsider as he doesn’t have any on his own skin. And this all makes him worried. He hopes it doesn’t show on his face. The forensic expert knows for certain that no one in the office knows about his side job, but with both Jongin and the Detective inquiring about tattooists, he’ll be found out soon. Tattooing is something he does when he has time for it. It serves as a creative outlet for him when his job and life get stressful in general. If he has to stop doing it because they suspect him as the serial killer, he’s not sure what to do. It’s something that he has wanted to do since he was a teenager.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

On a Friday evening Baekhyun steps into the small tattoo parlor. It’s situated in a basement, close to the university district. The room is just big enough for a counter, a cupboard filled with the instruments and inks and the customer’s chair.

He found this place a year ago when looking for a spot to practice and actually tattoo someone. Joining a bigger place with a steady flow of customers doesn’t work for him, not when he’s working for the forensic team on daily bases. So, when he found this space rented by a group of individual artists, he was ecstatic. Securing a day every month was easy and if he books a Friday or Monday, no one at work is saying anything. Long weekends to meet his old parents are always welcomed as a little white lie.

Baekhyun is sketching a bird when a customer comes in. He looks up and smiles at the young man. “Hello, welcome.”

“Hi… um... I was thinking of getting a tattoo.”

Baekhyun hums and turns to look at him. He has a pretty face. Very cute if he’d like them young. “Alright, you’re in the right place. Do you have any ideas for the design?”

“I was thinking of something small, a cactus or houseplant here on my wrist.” He explains, pointing at a spot.

“Which type of plant would you like it to be? I don’t have any ready made designs, but I can sketch you a few to choose from if you’d like?”

“That would be great! I was thinking of a potted plant, something leafy like a snake plant or a dumbcane.”

“Give me a few minutes. You can sit down there and relax. It won’t take long.” Baekhyun smiles and points towards the chair. He erases the beginning of the bird and starts making different shapes of pots. Quick googling shows him a few good examples and he draws them in black. He can fill them with color later if the customer wants to.

The man decides on a design of a Chinese evergreen. Apparently he’s studying to become a florist and loves plants over everything else. Baekhyun cleans the sketch before printing it out on a transfer paper. It’s the first plant tattoo he’s ever done on someone, but the result is pretty.

It makes Baekhyun pleased to see the customer so happy over the tattoo after it’s done. That’s the best feeling this job can give him, a satisfied customer. He doesn’t do this for the money, he has another job for that. But his customers at the other job are far from being happy and pleased so this is a nice change.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

“No new cases with fresh tattoos?” Baekhyun asks as he wipes sweat off his forehead. It’s time for a break and watching Chanyeol lift the weights in a white tank top is much more interesting than the leg machine he should use next if he follows the gym routine.

Chanyeol always looks so endearingly lost when Baekhyun catches him off guard. This time too, the man just stares at him for a moment, eyes wide and so pretty. “Actually, no. There’s none.”

“So your musing about the dates was wrong.”

“I guess so.” Chanyeol sighs and takes a seat after finishing the reps. “Or they’re keeping a break. It’s been well over a month since the last one.”

“Which serial killer with a constant history keeps a break out of nowhere?”

“Someone who knows we’re tracking them through their profession?”

“That-” Baekhyun starts and stops as his eyes catch a drop of sweat trailing down Chanyeol’s neck into his pecks. He clears his throat, “That actually makes sense.”

The look isn’t missed. “Like what you see?” Chanyeol asks with a knowing smile.

The flirt comes out of nowhere.

Baekhyun stills in place, a towel wrapped around his neck, hand clutching a water bottle like his life depends on it. Eyes blinking but not seeing anything. It’s like the world came to a stop. Detective Park Chanyeol flirts with him?

Baekhyun is glad that the gym is empty besides them so that no one else can see how stupid he must look right now.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol inquires, waving his hand in front of Baekhyun’s face.

God, he must look like an idiot if Chanyeol is doing that to get his attention. Baekhyun swallows, “Sorry. You caught me off-guard. But yes. Yes, I indeed like what I see.” A charming smile on top never fails. “Especially your tattoos.”

Chanyeol smiles at him, “Oh, you like them? Right, you said so when we went out to eat with Jongin, right? It seemed like you were into that conversation.”

“You have more than one?”

“I have three.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun says as he sits down on a bench. This seems like a plot for something and Baekhyun can’t be totally sure how to feel about this. “Can I see them? I mean, you don’t have to. We’re just working together once in a while.”

Chanyeol raises his arms to show a string of planets on his other arm. They are done in black with gray shading and with details clear on the surface of the planets. “This was the second one that Luna made for me. I think it turned out great.”

“That is pretty.” Baekhyun says and he kind of wishes he could out himself as a tattooist too, but it’s not the time for it yet, if ever. “Where did you get the idea for it?”

“I love all space related things so it was something I was thinking about for a while. Luna helped me to show what I envisioned in my mind. It was painful but totally worth it.”

“And the third one?” Baekhyun asks. If Chanyeol is so openly talking to him about something other than work related matters and is happily showing him some skin, who is he to stop himself from asking.

“That is for private view only.” Chanyeol’s ears grow red again and Baekhyun watches it with excitement.

This whole situation still feels slightly absurd for how long the Detective has ignored him and his flirting before this. Baekhyun isn’t fully sure how to proceed, should he turn on the usual flirt or should he act coy and hard to get? Maybe it’s too late for the latter though, Chanyeol has seen and heard him talk explicitly before.

Baekhyun licks his lips and makes a bold suggestion, “Want to come over for a ramen?” He takes great pleasure in the way the blush seems to cover Chanyeol’s whole face when the connotation sinks in.

“M-maybe a date first?” Chanyeol stutters out, looking half mortified and half amused by the lewd suggestion.

The forensic expert stands up with a soft smile, “Just let me know when and where. I’ll gladly take you on a date.” He leaves to the dressing room with a wink.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

“Baekhyun, you’re needed on the field.” Jongin says as he ends the call hurriedly. “We all need to go. A woman’s body was found near the university in the back alley by a club. Some students reported it to the police.”

Baekhyun bounces off a couch and slips on his jacket. “Alright team, let’s get going then. Don’t let the lady wait and remember what the lab guy told Detective Park, the body needs to be transported to the autopsy ASAP for the urine and saliva samples. We’ll check the clothes and details afterwards.”

“Apparently they called the lab and the lab technician is on the way to the scene. We can proceed normally.”

“Oh, great. Less trouble for us. Let’s go then.”

The scene is a mess when Baekhyun and his team reach the alley. People have gathered outside the police cordon tape with phones, trying to record everything. They have no respect for the dead these days or giving the police and other workers peace on examining the body. Baekhyun hears someone saying that more police are arriving soon to help with the crowd control and it definitely is needed.

“Baekhyun, Jongin.” Chanyeol greets them the moment they get to the body.

“Detective.” Baekhyun says, sharing a secret smile with the man. Their previous date had been a pleasant one, leading to another just a couple days ago. Baekhyun calls it a win when Chanyeol gave him a goodnight kiss as the man delivered him on his doorstep when the date ended.

Minseok is kneeling next to the body. There’s a little bag filled with yellowish liquid and Baekhyun guesses the urine extraction was a success. He bites his lower lip in thought as he watches the man swap around inside the person’s mouth for a saline sample.

“What’s the story?” Jongin asks, taking in the scene.

“Some students of the university noticed a woman lying here and came to help her. There’s vomit near the body but nothing else was reported by them. She was already dead when they found her. No external signs of violence from what I can see.” Chanyeol explains, “You can look closer when Minseok is finished with collecting the samples.”

Baekhyun nods at the information, “Could be overdose or a stroke or other medical situation.”

“Most likely it is.” Chanyeol says sullenly, “This doesn’t fit with the rest of the cases.”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asks, greeting Minseok when the man stands up and informs them that his job is done.

“Other cases were investigated as suicides. This seems to be more of an accident, if anything. This alleyway is an awfully bad place to suicide and mean it.”

Baekhyun doesn’t mean it, but a laugh slips past his lips. It’s not a laughing matter, but something in the way the stoic Detective says it makes it funny. Chanyeol has turned out to be quite cute behind the working image he has. He has a deep heartfelt laugh that makes anyone hearing it smile along.

The few dates they had gone on by far had been, in Baekhyun’s opinion, amazing. He has learned so much about the man behind the Detective title and now it is sometimes hard to try and act like they’re just work mates on a case. It is something that Chanyeol made him promise on the first date. Work life and private life are separate or he has to end the relationship.

“Sorry.” Baekhyun says, still chuckling. “It’s just the way you phrased that. But you are absolutely correct. This doesn’t seem similar to the other cases. Let’s see what we have here.”

Baekhyun steps closer to the body. It’s a young woman, probably in her twenties. This is similar to the cases from before and he tells that to the Detective. “She was probably in her twenties, attending the university maybe?”

“Might be. My team is interviewing the students who found her.”

“Expensive jacket.” Baekhyun grins after seeing the tag, “Either she’s from a wealthy family or it was a gift from a boyfriend. Probably the latter, this isn’t a university where the rich send their kids to study.”

“You never know.” Chanyeol shrugs as he watches Baekhyun to investigate the body. The forensic expert is good at his job, the best actually as he has won an award before. When he transferred to this district Chanyeol was excited about it but reality slapped him in his face soon after. Baekhyun flirts a lot. He didn’t flirt with everyone though, only with the Detective and it both pissed Chanyeol off and made him curious.

For a long time, Chanyeol tried to keep his distance and shut him down. This was about human lives, finding out why and how they died. It’s not a scene to be flirting at. Chanyeol doesn’t want to admit it, but he allowed himself to get lost in the work after a bad break-up six years ago. It gave him security and a sense of order in the messy situation.

But somehow the forensic worker has found his way into Chanyeol’s heart. Half a year of relentless flirting at a scene, lewd suggestions over a dead body and a sudden interest in Chanyeol’s tattoos and muscles did the trick. And he gave in, but Sehun had guessed it all before even Chanyeol was ready to admit it to himself. Sehun and his ever watching eye and irritatingly good memory.

Baekhyun looks hot when he concentrates on his work and that’s something that turns Chanyeol on, a hard working man serious about his craft. The leather jacket that he rebelliously wears over the uniform is just a bonus.

“She has a student ID on her.” Baekhyun says, cutting Chanyeol’s musing. “Lee Hyerim. Born in 1996. Faculty of biomedicine. Faint bruising on both wrists, but doesn’t look like a struggle mark for me.”

Chanyeol accepts the card when Baekhyun hands it to him. “Bruises? What could it be if not a struggle mark on both wrists?”

Baekhyun grins at him and winks. “I can show you if you want me to, Detective .” He knows exactly how suggestive the words are with how breathy he voiced them

“I-I leave that for Kyungsoo to examine, thank you.” Chanyeol squeaks out, flustered and he hopes that no one hears him.

“Your loss.” Baekhyun says nonchalantly, “It can be a whole lot of fun and quite many people do that behind closed doors.”

Chanyeol clears his throat. “Anything else interesting on the body?”

“Nothing much. Jongin?” Baekhyun calls his teammate to get his attention. “Any suspicious bottles or items around, drug needles?”

“Nothing, boss.” Jongin says when he joins the two near the body. “General rubbish that one can find in any of these back alleys. We’re still checking the club in case she was there last night and there is some evidence left. But from my point of view, it is an accident.”

“Thank you.” Baekhyun smiles at Jongin and turns to Chanyeol. “So, how about some scene reenactment for the bruises, Detective?”

Chanyeol is so cute in Baekhyun’s eyes when he blushes all over because of some simple words. Jongin cackles next to them, attracting Sehun’s attention from all the way across the scene.

“Go do your work.” Chanyeol commands them, voice full of authority and control. It just makes Baekhyun want to ruin him even more.

The guys disperse, still laughing and leaving Baekhyun alone with Chanyeol next to the body. Baekhyun grows somber, “I meant it. I can show you if you ever want to try.”

“Concentrate on your work, Byun.”

“There’s hardly anything for me to check right now. Jongin and the rest of our teams are already on it. We wait until Minseok’s and Kyungsoo’s report to conclude if this was a suicide or accident or something else. In the meantime, I can offer you lunch. I know you didn’t have any.”

Chanyeol sighs. He knows that Baekhyun is right. At this moment, the available information has already been gathered, the interviews will be briefed for him later and if someone knows something about her, they’ll bring that person to the station.

“Alright. We’ll wrap it up here and send the body to Kyungsoo.”

“Do you want chicken or meat?” Baekhyun asks, fishing out his phone to check which of the nearby restaurants are open. “Should we wait for the guys to finish and join us?”

“Do you want them to tease us over lunch or after it?” Chanyeol shoots back, knowing for sure that Sehun and Jongin will find a way to tease them about the talk they overheard just now.

“After. I’m clocking out early today.” Baekhyun grins, “So spicy chicken on a hot pan?”

“Sounds great, but only with added rice cakes and cheese.”

“Pfthh. Alright, extra toppings.” Baekhyun laughs, “There’s a place just a couple blocks away. Jongin drove us, my car is at the station.”

“I can drive you. Sehun can return with Jongin or we’ll catch them here after lunch.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Baekhyun turns and walks away from the scene. If Minseok got the urine sample he wanted, there is a high chance something is visible in the test. The dead woman has a face that Baekhyun knows, he’s seen her around. If he remembers correctly, it was at the little tattoo shop he frequents as an artist. It would take a lot for him to actually reveal that information to the Detective.

A fresh tattoo with a lethal substance found in the body fluids would mean that the hunt for an illegal tattoo shop or a tattooist using the wrong type of ink will start at full power. The public will probably be drawn into the hunt if that happens. It would be difficult for Baekhyun to continue the hobby, but it also would be very suspicious if he’d just stop and pull away from the scene without a good reason.

He has made good friends at the communal tattoo space. It would be sad to see it gone in a raid. Baekhyun knows that most of the artists there are sustaining their livelihood with the art itself.

“What are you thinking about?” Chanyeol asks as he walks to Baekhyun, making the other man jump in surprise.

“Oh! Just the cases.” Baekhyun says, glancing at the other man. “It’s sad that these young women are dying so early in life. It’s a bit weird they’re all women though, don’t you think?”

“I guess there is a motive behind all this if they are part of the serial killer’s scheme. Incels and feminist hate groups have gained a lot of support lately.” Chanyeol sighs and continues with a happier tone, “I’ll drive us to the restaurant and to the office after that. Sehun is having a great time teasing me now, but he’ll pay for it later.”

“We should give him something more to tease you about.” Baekhyun winks and walks to the car. He will get Chanyeol bound to bed someday, he’s sure about that.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

It turns out that Baekhyun doesn’t have to wait long for that to happen. Only a few days after the investigation started, Chanyeol came to his house late on a Friday evening.

“Chanyeol? What, why are you-” Baekhyun asks surprised when he goes to open the door after buzzing the Detective in.

“Hi. You were right.” Chanyeol says as a part of greeting.

“About…?” Baekhyun asks, looking at him puzzled about the situation.

Chanyeol looks a bit flushed as he straightens up after taking off his shoes. “Kyungsoo said they are most likely rope marks from… well, adult play as a similar circular rash is found on her ankles.”

“Ah.” Baekhyun bites back a grin. This is going to be interesting. It seems that the lab results are not in yet. Baekhyun was momentarily worried that the Detective is here to arrest him for interrogations due his connection to the tattoo place.

“So you want to try it, hun?” He asks, ready to get his ropes from their box. It’s been a while for Baekhyun as well since the last time he used them. He hopes they’re still in good condition. He remembers washing them after the last use before coiling them away for storing.

“I don’t know.” Chanyeol says and he looks so endearingly lost that Baekhyun takes pity on him and leads the man to his living room.

“Sit down here and I’ll join you in a minute. It doesn’t have to be sexual if I just show you. And many wear the bondage for other things than sex.” Baekhyun says and sits Chanyeol on his plush couch before disappearing into his bedroom. It takes a moment but Baekhyun finds the box stashed away at the far end of his wardrobe. It’s really been so long since they have seen the daylight.

He takes the ropes and brings them to the couch. “I’d offer you some beverages, but it’s going to be difficult to drink with bound hands.” He says with an apologetic smile.

“It’s okay, I just ate before coming here.” Chanyeol says, looking at the black ropes with interest.

“It’s hemp.” Baekhyun says, handing one of the ropes to Chanyeol to inspect closer. “It’s softer than cotton or synthetic. I don’t remember exactly how the bruises looked on the body but-”

“I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“Well, probably not for solving the case. People use a lot of different ropes depending how much they want to invest on them or what purpose they got them for.” Baekhyun says sitting down next to Chanyeol. It’s a topic he knows quite well and he feels himself relax more as he explains the uses. “For decorative purposes, each of the materials are good. It just depends on the color scale and what types of knots you are using. But if you are hanging someone from the ropes, the rope has to be strong and it can’t slip away easily if the person tied up is moving about in their binds.”

“Why would anyone want to…” Chanyeol starts and stops as the mental images take over.

Baekhyun grins, making a loop on the end of the rope and knotting it up with simple knots as a warm up of sorts. “Well, some prefer full access when doing impact play, some like the sex swing aspect it gives. It depends how the person is bound too, legs apart or together, knees bent or open.”

Instinctively Chanyeol’s eyes move to Baekhyun’s ceiling. He tries to be sly about it but Baekhyun catches the movement and nudges the other man gently. “I haven’t really done that so no hooks in my apartment. But we can try it if that interests you the most?”

“No, I don’t– I don’t think so.” Chanyeol says, bringing his eyes back down. His eyes meet Baekhyun’s and the intense look in them makes Chanyeol’s ears turn red. “Could it be the cause of the bruises on her ankles and wrists?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “No,” He starts, pulling all the knots open on his rope before taking hold on Chanyeol’s wrist and tugs the shirt up so that it’s punched under his elbow. “That would leave markings on her midsection and thighs. I think they just had her bound in an open position either on a bed, a hard surface or up against the door or some frame.”

He slides the end of the rope around Chanyeol’s wrist, marveling at the strong look of it. Baekhyun makes the starter knot while explaining what he does. “From the bruises, it is impossible to tell exactly what they used but I’m guessing it’s one of the basic cuff designs. All the knots are done so that they’re quick to open. And anyone who is serious about this has a rope knife to cut through them in an emergency.” He looks at Chanyeol with a smile, “You don’t need to worry, you’re in good hands.”

“I haven’t even-” Chanyeol starts before rephrasing the sentence in his mind. “I have seen it, but I haven’t thought of ever doing anything like this. It doesn’t seem like something that I’d enjoy.”

“And that’s absolutely fine.” Baekhyun assures him, “I’m just showing you how I think the bruises happen, take it as forensic research if you wish. I’m not going to force you into this unless you absolutely want to try it. I understand.”

Baekhyun wraps the cord around Chanyeol’s wrist with sure movements. Each round is secured with a knot, aligning the ropes right next to each other and allowing just enough movement that Chanyeol can comfortably turn his hand when Baekhyun asks him to do it.

He leaves the end of the rope hanging loose. “Here, this end could be used to bind your arms together or your wrist to your ankle. But I think this is what they used. It’s quick, it’s simple and easy to learn, but still very restrictive and feels nicer than cuffs. At least, in my opinion.” Baekhyun laughs, raising his eyes from Chanyeol’s wrist to his eyes. “What do you think?”

Chanyeol takes a while to look at the black rope, so skillfully wrapped around his wrist. He can feel it’s there, but it’s not too tight, his fingers work and are a normal color. If anything, the veins on the top of his hand pop up a little bit more, but it could be from the excitement as well. “It’s beautiful. I mean, it doesn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought it would.”

“I’m glad.”

Chanyeol gives a smile to Baekhyun, “If it is this loose, how could it still bruise the wearer?”

“Well, usually the rope is attached to something so there is a slight or strong pull, depending how the wearer likes it. Even if it’s soft to touch now, with the pull and especially with movement when the wearer is fighting against the restraint, it will bruise.” Baekhyun explains and takes a hold on the loose end to pull on it hard, making Chanyeol lurch forward with the power behind it. “Now, try to tug your hand free.”

Chanyeol does as he’s instructed and grunts at the scratchy feeling on his skin. “Oh okay okay yes, I get it.”

Baekhyun smiles happily as he lets go of the rope. “You look good tied up like that.”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol wonders aloud, his voice breaking in the middle with an emotion he can’t pinpoint. He covers it with a small cough though and smiles at the other man.

“Mhmm,” Baekhyun grins, “I’m sad to take them off, but this was just a demonstration so…” He trails off, reaching for the first knot to untie it.

Chanyeol shifts, pulling his hand away. “Don’t!”

Baekhyun stops, hands hovering in mid-air for a moment, “Don’t what?”

“Don’t take it away yet.” Chanyeol says, toying with the loose end, “Maybe, just maybe I’d like to see how it looks on both wrists?”

“For science?” Baekhyun jokes lightly. He hopes that he read the situation right.

Today would not be the first day they end up in the bedroom (if they do now). They’ve done it enough to know something about each others’ preferences in bed. But Baekhyun has never mentioned this side of his sex life to Chanyeol before as it’s not something he absolutely craves for. Especially this early in a relationship. He has had his share of men running away at the first mention of adding something extra in the bed.

Chanyeol looks directly at Baekhyun with a lopsided smile, “That and maybe I like how the black looks on my skin?”

Baekhyun leans in and gives him a soft kiss, “I’m glad to hear that. I’ll wrap you up prettily.”

“How far do you want to go today, because if I use the other end, you won’t be able to take your shirt off.” Baekhyun asks, knowing that he wants to go to the end and beyond if the other man wants it too.

The job has been stressful lately. A few bigger cases that required a lot of scene work from Baekhyun. Not under Chanyeol’s eye, but the other sector, investigating plausible work crimes and workplace safety neglections. It’s not normally what Baekhyun does, but the guy in charge is away and he was asked to fill in. On top of that, this new case they’re tackling together. Baekhyun hasn’t gotten a good night's sleep after the last body was found. No matter how hard he tries to relax and empty his mind after leaving work, the case just creeps back into his thoughts during the middle of the night. Good sex would serve as a great stress relief for both of them.

Chanyeol looks at him closely before raising his hands and pulling Baekhyun into a deep kiss. The intensity of it makes Baekhyun moan and sink against the other man’s chest as they continue to kiss.

Baekhyun allows Chanyeol to take the lead. He nibbles on Chanyeol’s top lip, smiling into the kiss when the other man pulls him closer. Baekhyun winds his hands around Chanyeol’s neck, touching his hair and tousling it as the kiss gets more fervent.

With a groan, he pulls back to look at the Detective. “If you want me to tie your other wrist too, we have to stop for a while or I can’t concentrate enough to make it pretty.”

Chanyeol chuckles, letting his arms drop down. He moves his hands to unbutton his shirt instead. “I recall it took you mere minutes to do the first one. Looked pretty swift too, muscle memory while knotting. What’s there to concentrate on?”

“A lot of things actually.” Baekhyun says, letting his eyes wander over the white undershirt as he waits for Chanyeol to take off the button-up before lifting the wifebeater away as well. “How tight it is, are the knots situated so that they’re not pressing down on any blood vessels even if you manage to twist your wrist within the ropes. And I wasn’t planning on making the same design on this wrist.”

“Oh.” Chanyeol breathes morosely. He didn’t know that. Feeling a bit too underdressed, Chanyeol moves his arm across his chest. They’re still in the bright living room.

“Right.” Baekhyun smiles, “If you let me, I’ll make you one of my favorite cuffs on the other side. It is a bit longer but more decorative.”

“Show me.”

Baekhyun nods and starts to twist and knot the end of the rope all the while explaining what he is doing. He sticks two fingers in between the rope and the skin, wriggling them around, “Is it okay, not too tight?”

“It’s okay.” Chanyeol says after he flexes his wrist to test the movement.

“Next time I’ll make even prettier ones with two separate ropes. Ones that you want to wear under your shirt at work.” Baekhyun whispers seductively against Chanyeol’s lips before engaging him in a passionate kiss.

Baekhyun walks them to his bedroom while kissing him every other step and helps the Detective to undress. He presses kisses on Chanyeol’s thighs and knees as he slides the trousers off his long legs. Only after that he undresses himself.

He leans in closer, hands roaming over the smooth expanse of skin. Baekhyun wraps his hand around Chanyeol’s wrist, lifting it up to press a kiss to the tattoo peeking under the black rope. It’s a beautiful star constellation. One that Baekhyun has kissed countless of times.

Positioning them on the bed, Baekhyun reaches for the lube and the condoms. With consent, he slides the rope in carabiners and fastens them at the end of his bed. It’s not ideal, but easy enough to undo if needed in the middle of sex.

There’s just something so empowering to see the tall and strong detective bound to his bed like this. His cock hard and against his pubes, twitching as it fills even more. Baekhyun wants a taste.

He slides down and licks over the tip, suckling the pearling precum from the slit. Chanyeol is big and smells incredible, Baekhyun can’t get enough.

Smiling around the cock, Baekhyun glances up. Chanyeol is gripping tightly on the metal bars above his head and small beads of sweat are starting to form on his temple. The sight makes Baekhyun moan.

When Baekhyun decides that Chanyeol is ready, he pulls away to reach for the condom. He rolls it over the cock before reaching behind himself. Usually, he would let Chanyeol do this, prep and stretch him but he’s in a hurry today. Chanyeol in his bed, bound up so prettily even if just by his wrists is awaking something inside him that has been a dulled flame for a long time.

Baekhyun’s body is burning with desire and something else. He needs to feel Chanyeol inside him. He wants to ride the other man into oblivion and so, that’s what Baekhyun’s going to do. He slowly eases down on Chanyeol’s large cock with a low groan.

A few rocks back and forth is all he needs to get used to the size. Chanyeol tugs against the restraints, whining about how he wants to hold on Baekhyun’s waist and hips as the other man undulates on top of him. It forces a breathy chuckle from Baekhyun. He knows that Chanyeol can see from his facial expression how much he loves this.

“You feel bigger than before.” Baekhyun taunts, tweaking Chanyeol’s nipples. The man howls, arching his back.

“I guess-” Chanyeol stops to moan as he rocks up the best he can, “I enjoyed this more than I thought.”

“Fuck!” Baekhyun grunts, falling forward when Chanyeol hits his spot painfully hard.

Their bodies are getting slippery with sweat as Baekhyun continues to ride Chanyeol. He leans over to take a hold of the bed frame and shift his body up when he feels his orgasm near. With a silent groan, Baekhyun cums on Chanyeol’s lips, staining him, marking him as his own.

When his breathing normalizes, Baekhyun slithers down, pulls off the condom and blows Chanyeol until the other man releases in his mouth.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

“You called me?” Baekhyun asks as he walks into Chanyeol’s office on the third floor.

“Oh?” Chanyeol glances at the door and nods, “Yes, I did. Come inside and close the door.”

Baekhyun furrows his brows at the tone of Chanyeol’s voice. He’s not happy about it. It makes chills run over Baekhyun’s back for no reason. “Did you find something?”

“She has a tattoo. Just like all the others.” Chanyeol says, pointing at an image on the clipboard. “Kyungsoo said it’s fresh, a maximum of a week old, more scabbed than the others were though. But that’s not what I mean.” The detective knocks on a sheet filled with small numbers next to the tattoo. “This is the lab result. There was a lethal amount of ricin in her body. Minseok said it was found in the urine sample he managed to get from the bladder and that we were lucky as ricin dissolves quickly.”

“Ricin? That oil that gives you diarrhea?” Baekhyun makes a face, “I remember my mom giving it to me once and it hurt like shit, the cramps were horrible but it worked.”

“You what?” Chanyeol asks, whipping his head to look at the other man in disgust. “That’s too much information, Byun.”

Baekhyun grins widely, “What? As if you haven’t seen worse.”

“Well, I have but it is part of my job.” Chanyeol says matter-of-factly before turning back to the lab results. “After Minseok shared the result with Kyungsoo, he checked the body again. There are redness and irregularities on the tattoo area, swelling as well. Her liver is more damaged than it should be according to her family and friends. The victim had no regular medicine nor was she a vivid partygoer. It is likely that the damage was caused by ricin and in the end, it resulted in brain failure and a stroke.”

“So a murder or a bad accident?” Baekhyun asks. He hides his hands in his pockets as he inspects the photos of the girls on the wall along a map where the bodies were found. They’re scattered around the district without a pattern.

“We don’t know, but it is getting more likely that the tattoo is the cause and the ricin is injected while tattooing. I need you to do some tests.”

Baekhyun tears his eyes away from the map and turns to the detective. “Alright, what kind of tests?”

“Get some ricin and tattoo ink to see if they can be mixed.” Chanyeol explains, “Find an artist who is willing to help us and have them tattoo on a practice skin with the laced ink to see if the ricin affects the look of the tattoo.”

Baekhyun bites down on his lip as he looks away, hiding his face for a moment. He had a bad feeling about this meeting the moment he stepped into this room. This is not good. “Alright,” He sighs and turns back to look at the information. “I’ll order some and try to mix it. Do you want me to make a public call on tattoo artists or should I ask Jongin to find one? Should I mix the ink with the ricin and not tell them about it before they ink it up?”

“Hmm, that actually is a better idea.” Chanyeol nods, “Just tell them you want to know how a tattoo is done and how to tell the freshness of it. There is no need for them to know that the ink is mixed. And oh, Minseok will tell you the amount of ricin needed for it to be lethal. He’s currently making calculations about it based on the size of the tattoo.”

“Anything else?”

“Not for now.” Chanyeol says, “Just be careful, we don’t know who is doing this and if they’re going to go after you if they find out we’re testing things.”

“I’m not a pretty young woman.” Baekhyun jokes morbidly. He’s not a pretty woman, but he is an underground tattooist so the person Jongin chooses for the job has to be someone who doesn’t know him from the circles. It would be a terrible way of blowing his cover to Chanyeol and to the whole team.

Chanyeol would soon find out that he is using the communal studio near the university where this woman was found. This and his tattooing background makes him a suspect in the other’s eyes. It would ruin the carefully blossoming relationship they have and more.

Baekhyun notices Chanyeol glancing at the door before he says, “No, you’re a beautiful and talented man who takes unnecessary risks at times.”

“What unnecessary risks?” Baekhyun snorts, turning fully to look at the other. He steps closer and tiptoes to whisper in Chanyeol’s ear, “Like us fucking in the far end toilet on the upper floor?”

He feels delighted at the sharp intake of breath the words cause Chanyeol to take. Baekhyun grins at the faint redness on the detective’s neck and ears as he draws back to look at the taller man, “Or did you want to try it again?”

“You’re a dangerous man.” The detective says slowly. It seems to Baekhyun that moving away from him takes much more mental strength than what he shows on the surface.

“You don’t know half of it.” Baekhyun quips and bites his lip seductively.

“Right.” Chanyeol coughs, brushing invisible lint off his shirt. “Anyways, obtain the ricin and ink. Let me know who you have found to perform the task so that I can run a background check on them. But make sure to tell them that we are not going to arrest them for their profession. The non-disclosure agreement is to be written both ways and I will personally write it down.”

Baekhyun inspects the Detective in silence. He wonders for a moment if he should out himself and just perform the tests by himself. The pros would be a quicker test and no risk for the inspection details spreading within the community. Cons would be that he would come out as a tattoo artist as well as putting himself at risk for being detained.

“Baekhyun?”

The call of his name makes the forensic technician jolt. “Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking something.” He mumbles and rubs his neck awkwardly. “I will make sure Jongin relays the information and is as discreet with it as possible. We will find a suitable artist to perform the tests within a week.”

A few days later Baekhyun looks at the pile of fake skin on his desk. “What’s this?”

“What’s what?” Jongin asks and looks at his boss’ direction, “Oh, that! It’s a practice skin for tattooing. It arrived in the mail just now.”

“Okay… what about the ink and the tattoo gun?” Baekhyun picks up one of the skins and turns it around. It’s a thin silicone mat that stretches and feels close to actual skin. It’s something he is actually very familiar with; having practiced on these before moving on tattooing random drugsters free for more practice.

“On the way.” Jongin says as he gets up and rounds the table. There’s no one but the two of them in the room and the other forensic technician feels brave. “Boss?”

Baekhyun puts the fake skin away and gives his whole attention to the other man, “Yes?” Jongin is biting his lip in a nervous manner. “What is it?”

“I asked around-” Jongin starts and glances towards the door to make sure no one is coming in right now. “Hyunwoo said he knows you. He’s seen you in Open Ink near the university.”

Shit.

“Open Ink, yeah maybe I’ve been there before.” Baekhyun shrugs. Jongin is smart, he’s one of the best forensic technicians out there. There is no way he can fool him with this matter when there is a common acquaintance.

“He said you also tattoo there.” Jongin presses on, “Why haven’t you told anyone you can do that? He showed me your portfolio, it’s amazing!”

Baekhyun huffs out a chuckle, oh, Jongin was just enthusiastic about the fact and not suspicious. “You know it’s in the gray zone here, I can’t be part of the police and openly doing business in the gray zone so don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Why don’t you do this test by yourself?” Jongin asks, nodding towards the fake skin on Baekhyun’s table. “You’re more than capable and we don’t have to worry about the word spreading.”

“The word will be spread soon anyways.” Baekhyun says, “The Detective said he has to issue a public warning if the ink test is a success.”

“But still.” Jongin insists, “It’s easier and faster if you do it. Minseok called and said he’s bringing in the ricin with the amount calculated tomorrow and by then the ink gun and the ink should have arrived as well.” A pause. “And no one is willing to perform the test for us. Not from my contacts. The only ones that would are fresh artists, but I can’t trust them. Not with something like this. And I asked Luna as well as my regular and they both weren’t too open about it. We don’t have anyone so there aren't many options out there.”

Baekhyun knows that what Jongin is saying is true. They can’t trust the new artists and their skills aren’t up to the bar and could possibly ruin the test. “I will have to talk to the Detective about this first.” He says eventually. “It might be against the rule book.”

“It’s not and you know it.” Jongin quips. “We’re forensic technicians, we can do whatever to prove a case.”

Baekhyun laughs. He keeps a smile as he looks at Jongin. “There’s no way I can talk myself out of this, is there?”

“Nope.” Jongin laughs, “I can’t wait to see you using the machine and you know, your designs are pretty, maybe one day you can do one on my thigh?”

Baekhyun opens his mouth to answer, but stops before the words come out when Chanyeol walks in the room uninvited.

“Do what on your thigh, Jongin?” He asks as he catches the end of the conversation, looking at the two in bewilderment.

Baekhyun can’t stop laughing at the flustered look on Chanyeol’s face and he has to bite down on his lip to quiet down. “Nothing. We were talking about a case. Did you have something to ask us or why are you invading our office?”

“Actually we were talking ab-”

“Jongin, not now.” Baekhyun says and gives the man a hard stare. He turns to the Detective, “So? Did you have any reason to visit us?”

“I did?” Chanyeol says, looking between the forensic team members with furrowed brows. “Here is the non-disclosure contract for the tattoo artist to sign.” He says, holding out an envelope. “Have you found a suitable artist?”

“No and yes,” Jongin says before Baekhyun can stop him, “Boss can tattoo so he will do it.”

Baekhyun freezes at the words. This wasn’t how he had planned to offer himself for the job.

“Right, boss?” Jongin asks in an overly sweet tone. “I asked around but people don’t want to do it for us. This is much easier and safer if only he accepts.”

That bastard, Baekhyun thinks but smiles, “Yeah, well I had to learn it before for a previous case. I’m not too good at it though.” He says and shoots Jongin another look to shut him up. The Detective doesn’t know his whole history, there could have been a case he had to learn this skill for. He’s not a famed forensic technician for nothing.

“Oh really?” Chanyeol exclaims and Baekhyun hates the way his eyes light up. “Why didn’t you say it before? Would have saved me the time for drafting up this paper.”

“He doe-” Jongin stops when Baekhyun nudges him on his way to Chanyeol.

“Who is going to check the results, Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asks as he takes the non-disclosure papers from Chanyeol and eyes them through. It’s a fairly simple contract, stating it is part of an investigation process and anything related to that should be kept in secret. If found breaking the contract there is a fine and possible detainment.

Chanyeol nods in agreement. “Yes. He told me that it won’t be the same on the fake skin as it would be on real one as the silicone doesn’t rash or turn red, but it is more for finding out if the ink laced with ricin would be workable and how it behaves and stays in the skin.”

“It seems that Jongin couldn’t find anyone reliable enough to do this. We kind of expected that to happen. So, if there is no one else volunteering, I guess I have to perform this.”

“But he is really much better than he says he is.” Jongin says, “I’ve seen some art he draws while he’s thinking or bored here in the office.”

“I knew he could draw.” Chanyeol says, “I’ve seen some scribbles on notes when he was doing that and not concentrating on the meeting as he should have.”

“Hey! I need to do something with my hands to concentrate on those boring events.” Baekhyun defends himself.

“-but I didn’t know he could tattoo as well.” Chanyeol continues, “Why didn’t you tell me before? I remember the time we went to have lunch and we talked about tattoos with Jongin.”

“I guess I didn’t find it important.” Baekhyun shrugs and tosses the envelope with the contract on his desk. There’s a random pile of papers that scatter about with the impact. He can’t be bothered with cleaning them now. There’s too much on his mind. “Anything else? I have an errand to do outside the office and will be going home from there.”

Chanyeol looks slightly concerned at the harsh tone Baekhyun uses as he talks. “Nothing that I can’t continue with Jongin.” He says, keeping emotion out of his voice.

“Great. I’ll leave you two to it then. Hyuk should be coming back soon. I sent him to check a body with abuse signs. I’ll be back tomorrow morning if no emergency happens before it. Have a good day.”

“Take care, boss. See you.” Jongin says from his desk, giving a small wave to the man. Chanyeol just looks at the exchange silently, giving a timid nod when Baekhyun waves to him and leaves the office.

It’s barely 2 p.m. and the streets are empty of students and workmen alike.

Open Ink is quiet at this time of the day and that’s exactly why Baekhyun decided to visit the shop now. He unlocks the door and locks it behind him before descending the stairs down. He walks to the locked drawers where he keeps his inks, tattooing machine and other personal things.

Unlocking it, he takes out a bottle of nearly run out ink. Baekhyun stares at the black contents, there is enough for another tattoo but he doesn’t need it anymore. New shipment of inks just came in yesterday. He makes a mental note to remember to take them along next week when he has a date booked for the studio.

The bottle of ink is hidden in his pocket before he locks the drawer. It would be suspicious if he suddenly cleared up everything and informed everyone that he’s keeping a break.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

“It works like normal ink.” Baekhyun says as he tattoos a simple design onto the fake skin a few days later in Kyungsoo’s lab. Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Minseok are all there looking at him while Jongin is staying a few steps away, watching from the other side of the room.

“Does it feel runnier than usual?” Minseok asks, “Like, can an artist notice any difference when using the ink?”

“At least I can’t tell the difference.” Baekhyun says, dipping the needle in ink before bringing the machine back on the fake skin. He stretches it slightly just as he would when tattooing a person and presses the needle against the skin.

He straightens his back to look at the square tattooed on the material. The left side of it was done in regular ink and the right side with the ricin laced ink. Both look exactly the same, black and even. It’s impossible to tell the difference.

“So it is plausible to inject ricin this way.” Chanyeol muses out loud. He takes the fake skin and looks at it more closely, “Would the person feel any difference though?”

Minseok hums and shrugs, “researchers say that when injected, ricin causes the skin to heat and itch. It most likely will cause a rash as well. You could try to find some people who have accidentally got injected by ricin and ask them about it? I ran into some articles about that while researching the lethal amount.”

“Those are all symptoms that can happen with good ink as well.” Jongin says and steps closer to look at the tattoo. “My skin always itches for a week after, because it reacts to the inks. Once I got a rash too, but I think it was mostly because my skin was so dry when I got the tattoo that it just flared up.”

“So it would be very easy for the tattooist to say it is a normal reaction and there’s nothing to worry about.” Chanyeol says with a small nod. “Red skin and irritation are totally normal reactions but you are right Minseok, I will try to find someone who has experienced the injection or other ricin overdose”

“The tattoos I inspected closely had these little bumps that looked more like scabs than rash. Like blood or fluids had seeped through and dried forming these little scabs.” Kyungsoo says, taking his turn to look at the fresh tattoo. “It wouldn’t happen here, because silicone is dead material whilst skin has all sorts of fluids that can react with the poison.”

“That’s true. But at least we know now that it is possible to tattoo with that and it looks completely normal. So we'll just have to find out who is doing this and why.” Chanyeol concludes with a sigh. “That itself won’t be easy. We have to issue a public warning and it will become a mess.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to cause all that trouble to the tattoo artists.” Jongin says carefully and glances towards Baekhyun.

“Do you have another idea how to catch the murderer?” Chanyeol asks, “Because I don’t. We have been thinking aloud with my team and there really is no other option than is-”

“I’d-” Baekhyun interrupts Chanyeol, “I would leave it be for now and wait. Maybe spread a rumor among the tattooists that there is a raid going to happen. Ask them if they know anything.” He glances at Jongin, “Like Jongin said, it’s unfair to them if their profession is harmed in that way.”

“How do you suggest we do it then? Where to start?”

“How about looking for something near the places where the bodies were found?” Kyungsoo suggests, “Like check for tattoo shops or piercing stores. Run a quick test on their inks and assure them that everything is just for precaution. The word is going to go around quickly. It probably makes the person hide or at least stop the murders for a while and that way gives us more time to think what to do.”

“Isn’t that a bit too risky?” The Detective asks and sighs, “there have already been five murders within a year. With a period where they skipped a month and murdered another victim three months later. Nothing like this won’t stop them from keeping a break again and then just returning to the task later when the word has died down.”

“That is also true.” Baekhyun says, “But it’s also true what Kyungsoo said. The artists might even out someone who they don’t trust and because we know they’re doing this in the gray zone, we can always get a warrant based on that and go through their things and interrogate them.”

“Alright,” Chanyeol nods, deep in thought. “Jongin? With your knowledge in the subject, can I leave it to you to search for a place to start? I will go through my contacts as well. We will hold a joint meeting next Tuesday to discuss the search and how to conclude it.”

“I will ask around before that, Detective.” Jongin smiles, “I still think it is not the best solution, but better than asking the public.”

“I guess we can still change the approach if we can find another option.” Chanyeol says and excuses himself when his phone rings.

Baekhyun was sure he wouldn’t see the Detective until the next Tuesday, but he was wrong all along when the shop bell chimes happily that Friday evening and someone steps in.

“Hello, welcome to the Open Ink!” Baekhyun calls, quickly saving the sketch he’s working on a tablet before looking up.

He freezes the moment he realizes who is standing there in the middle of the small space. Detective. Chanyeol. His boyfriend. Fuck.

Chanyeol seems to be just as surprised as Baekhyun is, mouth agape as he stares at the only occupant of the room besides himself.

Baekhyun finds his voice first. His heart is beating a mile in a minute and he’s oddly nervous. “Yeol? What are you doing here?”

“I- We- What are you doing here?!” Chanyeol sputters, striding to the counter with just a few long steps.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you.” Baekhyun says as he rounds the counter and steps close. “I didn’t mean to keep it hidden so long, but Jongin found out and I knew it wasn’t going to stay a secret for much longer. I never meant for you to find out this way though.” He hopes he looks and sounds as apologetic as he feels. “I work here sometimes. That’s why I knew how to work the ink machine and the inks at Kyungsoo’s earlier this week.”

“...That’s why you were so against the public announcement.” Chanyeol says and steps away from Baekhyun, his voice turning emotionless. Business only. “I’m here to do the ink test. Where are your inks?”

Baekhyun looks at his boyfriend. The man has put on a cold expression and tone in his voice. He can’t blame him, but it still hurts. “Right, wait, I’ll show you. But each artist here has their own lockers and I don’t have keys to them.”

Baekhyun walks to the far end of the room where a large cupboard is standing. Its drawers are all locked except one. Each of them has a name taped at the corner to show whose materials are stored in it.

“Open Ink is a communal place so we have quite many artists who work here, some more often than others. That’s why we decided on everyone bringing their own equipment and inks and whatnot. Only gloves and cleaning products are bought together. It’s also because each artist has their own preference of the ink brand.” Baekhyun explains as he pulls his drawer open to display a tattoo machine and several bottles of black and colored inks. “Most of them are brand new. I just got a new shipment earlier this week as someone requested colors that I didn’t have. But this red and this black is open. As well as the light blue.” He points to the little bottles.

Chanyeol nods without a word and reaches for them. He picks them up and brings them to the counter. Next, he produces a test kit from his bag and sets it next to the bottles.

Baekhyun stays back to watch him. It hurts to see Chanyeol so cold, have him revert back to the wordless and business-only mindset he had before they started to get closer and eventually started to date. Baekhyun knows he’s safe, the inks are from a good brand and definitely a good quality. He’s lucky that he threw out the laced ink the week before.

“These ones are clean.” Chanyeol says when the test is finished in a couple of minutes. It’s been torturous and awkward silence until those words.

“Good to hear.” Baekhyun says, “I only use the best quality products for my customers.”

“Who owns this place?” Chanyeol asks next, “Who can order everyone to open up the cabinet for all-around testing?”

“Park Jaehoon?” Baekhyun says after a moment, “I think he has the lease in his name, but we are all collectively owning the space so I’m not sure if anyone has the rights to order the artists to comply with your request.”

“I have a warrant ready in three days for that. Tell this Jaehoon guy to get everyone ready by then.” Chanyeol says and collects the test slips in a small plastic bag before placing it in his bag.

“You know I could get you fired for this.” The Detective says as he reaches for the door. “Side businesses are not allowed in the Force, even less semi-illegal ones. Unless you are hiding the fact that you are a doctor as well as a forensic expert.”

“I know you can.” Baekhyun acknowledges quietly, “I’m hoping you won’t do that though. I'd rather quit this job than the other one.” He offers a small smile to the Detective.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

The next week in the office passes by without Baekhyun seeing Chanyeol. It makes him feel oddly good, despite knowing that Chanyeol is still mad at him. The Detective has kept radio silence since the night he visited Open Ink. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ mindset definitely helps Baekhyun’s mind calm down.

“He knows.” Jongin says without further explaining as he swings his leg over a chair and sits promptly down on it, facing Baekhyun.

Jongin is his oldest friend in this office. He can trust the other man to know everything that is happening in the building. “Yeah, he does.” Baekhyun sighs as he looks at the other man. “Don’t talk about it, he might get me fired.”

“No way?!” Jongin exclaims and Baekhyun is glad the other man chose a time to talk to him when the office is empty.

“Yes way.” Baekhyun says, filing a folder in a cabinet before taking out another one. “He walked into the studio when I had my hours there. Hard to deny anything.”

“Oh shit.” Jongin chuckles under his breath, but Baekhyun knows he doesn’t mean it in a bad way. That’s just what it is.

He offers Jongin a paper, “He sent me a list of tattoo places he already tested and which ones he chose to test next.” Baekhyun says and leans back in his chair when Jongin takes the paper. “For me it seems a bit weird to look only at the shops near the scenes. He goes to a place at the other end of the town and you go to one in the next city, right?”

“Hmm, yeah.” Jongin mumbles as he reads through the list, “But it is easier to start on a small scale. The victims don’t have tattoos from any well-known artists, like none with a special style that would be trackable. Like we discussed before,” Jongin places the paper down, “the tattoos are general designs that pretty much anyone can do and which the artists with a name won’t touch anymore. It’s easier to just go through these smaller shops and less well known names.”

“There is a point in that.” Baekhyun nods, “I knew I could trust you.”

“But you don’t trust him.” Jongin says.

“It’s complicated.”

“How?”

Baekhyun looks at Jongin. He hasn’t shared the fact that he is in a relationship with the Detective with anyone here. Workplace romances aren’t looked too fondly on and it could cause a backslash on both of them. He debates for a moment what to say.

“I should be helping him to solve the case, but as I am part of the circle that is related to the main suspect, I shouldn’t take part of this by the protocol. Even more, as what he told me is correct: Tattooing is in the gray zone. I don’t really have the permission to do it and having a second job is not permitted to everyone here, only a few have gotten the ok from the board. He trusted me as the master forensic technician and maybe as a friend, but I lost that trust the moment he walked into that shop.”

Baekhyun doesn’t want to see Jongin’s caring expression now so he turns back to the papers and pretends to be busy. “Did you find anything suspicious at the man’s house earlier today? Anything that could prove it was an assault and a murder?” He asks instead and changes the subject.

Jongin makes a small sound, surprised and stunned by the sudden change of topic. He knows his friend and boss well enough not to pry more and starts to explain the findings.

Baekhyun listens to Jongin as the other man explains the scene and what he thinks about it and it gives him a small mental break from the problems in his life.

A month later, Chanyeol is still avoiding Baekhyun at work and in private after the random ink testing at Open Ink. So far there hasn’t been any results. No one knows anything or if they do know, they’re hiding it. All the inks are clean, permissions are not looked through as promised. It’s not important and it would frankly ruin the investigation.

Baekhyun wonders if he’s going to get a single customer today. He scribbles random words on the tablet as he loiters around in Open Ink. The others had complained in the group chat that it’s been quiet for them too.

The doorbell jingles and Baekhyun looks up to see a young woman step in. She looks familiar, but Baekhyun can’t figure out from where.

“Hey, do you have time today?” She asks, sounding less sober than one should at nine in the evening.

“For something small, yes.” Baekhyun says and offers the design folders for her to look through. “I don’t tattoo if you are drunk.”

“Oh?” She giggles, “I’m not! I just had a few with my friends.”

“Right.” Baekhyun mumbles under his breath, “Well, what kind of a tattoo do you want?”

“The word ‘angel’ on my neck.” She says and moves her hair away. “In cursive font. Can you do that?”

“Of course.” Baekhyun gives a straining smile. He detests these people. “How big are the letters, upper or lower case?”

She takes out her phone and shows him an image. The text on that person’s neck is medium sized, all lower cases and spanning just about the width of the neck. “I want it like this, but with prettier letters.”

“Alright, let me measure your neck before I draft the lettering, is that fine with you?”

“Whatever.” She says and pulls her hair up so that Baekhyun can use a measuring tape to get the approximate size.

Satisfied, Baekhyun moves to the table and letters the word out. He shows it to the lady before making a print out of it.

He takes the newly opened black ink. It’s not the bottle that was tested by Chanyeol before. It’s a mix that he did after the random check and after Chanyeol stopped talking to him.

With the whole situation of Chanyeol finding his other job and then avoiding him like a plague, Baekhyun feels stressed. His emotions are high and he’s been snappy to his workmates and family members alike. He’s both angry and sad at the same time and he’s not exactly sure how to deal with all that. The only thing that he knows is that things have changed now and he has to retort back to the old methods to get the Detective to talk to him again.

Which is why he decides to drop his previous plan of not adding cases for Chanyeol to inspect and picks up the new bottle of laced ink instead of the regular one.

He pours the little ink cup full and sets it on the tray. He takes the tattooing machine and places it on the tray as well. He smiles at the customer as he takes a seat next to her on the chair. “We can do this in two positions, you can stay seated and keep your head down or you can lay down and I’ll bring you a face cushion so that it’s more comfortable for you.”

“I sit and look at my phone or something.” She says and moves to sit sideways on the chair.

Baekhyun resists the urge to roll his eyes, “Well, if it, at any point, starts to feel uncomfortable just tell me and we’ll take a break or change the position, okay?”

“Sure, whatever.”

This time Baekhyun rolls his eyes. He gathers the small hairs on her neck up with a bobby pin and cleans the area with disinfectant. He allows it to dry before placing the transfer sheet on the skin. “Do you want to see it?” He asks, reaching for a hand held mirror. She barely glances up from her phone before nodding, “Looks good. Now get with it.”

Baekhyun starts the ink machine and dips the tip in ink. He doesn’t hesitate as he presses the machine to the skin and starts lining the letters. With each dip in the ink, more ricin gets into her skin and eventually into her bloodstream.

He knows what he’s doing. He keeps the pressure even, coloring quietly and wiping off the excess ink once in a while. Baekhyun can’t help, but see the texts as she talks with her friends. A few familiar names show up on the screen and he realizes something: This drunk lady is part of the group that bullied him in high school. Two of the friend group are already dead and Baekhyun bites back a snort as he thinks how stupid these bitches are. One after another they die and yet another shows up and wants his hands on her.

“Alright, done.” Baekhyun says after he swipes it with a swap and spreads some cream on top. He takes the mirror again and shows the end result to the customer. “Keep the area clean for a few days, no shampoo or hair products. Add cream regularly and don’t scratch even if you feel like it. It would ruin the tattoo as the ink can come out if the top of the skin isn’t healed.”

“Okay okay, it was fifty, right?” She says and lets her hair down. She walks directly to the counter and impatiently waits for Baekhyun to join her and punch in the price.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods and accepts the note. It’s always nice when they pay in cash, easier for him. Less records to be used as crime evidence.

When she leaves the shop, Baekhyun keeps his eyes on the door as he says, “and now we wait.”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

He’s the least surprised when Chanyeol calls their department five days later. The body of a young woman was found by the landlord after a tenant complained about water that had flooded the apartment on the lower level.

“Park Minseo,” The Detective says as Baekhyun and Jongin join him in the woman’s apartment.

Baekhyun nods, looking at the man. He looks stern again, only focused on work. But at least he’s talking to him now even if it’s just about work.

“Twenty eight years old, freshly graduated and working part-time in a nearby beauty salon.”

“How was she found?” Baekhyun asks, pulling on examination gloves before moving the sheet covering her body.

Chanyeol looks at the body rather than the forensic expert as he talks, “The tenant on the first floor complained about water damage and water leaking into his apartment. The landlord came to check and found this apartment flooded with water and the shower still on. The woman was lying on top of the drain and effectively blocked it. Apparent cause of death is a sudden medical issue or passing out due to alcohol and then drowning in her own vomit or water. I’m hoping that you can find the cause, Byun.”

“Well, I will try and Kyungsoo will do the medical examination when needed.” Baekhyun says. “Either way, there’s not much for me to do if the situation is so clear. She was found naked and dead in a shower. Most likely drowned. So I don’t really see why you called me here, this is all for Kyungsoo.”

“I wanted you to look through the apartment for any clues about her connections, friends and family. Look through her phone.”

“She has a tattoo.” Baekhyun says, seeing the dark ink on her neck. He moves the hair away to see it better, “Angel?” He reads and glances at her face. “Right.” His voice is full of badly hidden amusement.

“You’re not in a position to judge.” Chanyeol reprimands him.

Baekhyun turns to look at the body again. A week old tattoo, showered, drowned. The ricin is definitely out of her system at this point, but her phone will reveal things that shouldn’t be out in the open. He remembers seeing her texting to her friend that she’s in Open Ink to get a tattoo.

“As if you never find these funny.” Baekhyun shoots back and stands up. “Well, I shall start looking through the apartment. Call Kyungsoo and arrange the transfer of the body. I don’t need it for my inspection.” Baekhyun turns to Jongin, “Find her phone, wallet, purse, whatever that can help us to find more information about her.”

“Sure boss.” Jongin confirms and gets started.

Baekhyun wanders around the small apartment. It’s just a room with a tiny cut-in-a-wall kitchen and a separate bathroom, barely big enough for an adult to lie down on the floor. A beige sofa with a few pillows, a small foldable table next to it. Some papers and books on top of a cupboard at the end of the room. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He watches how Jongin bags her laptop and phone away, taking the whole purse along as well. Chanyeol is now talking with the landlord just outside in the hallway. Baekhyun wonders if the detective will ever talk to him again or if he really got mad enough for him to cast their relationship away without even a break-up text.

“What are you thinking about?” Jongin asks as he comes to stand next to his boss.

“Oh, nothing much.” Baekhyun shrugs, “The apartment looks fine, slightly messy but lived and loved. I hope we can find something on the phone and laptop to help us to solve this case.”

“I saw she had a tattoo. What do you think about that, boss?”

Baekhyun laughs out loud, “I think it is a tacky one, but who am I to say anything? Maybe it is connected, maybe it is not. This feels more like an actual accident where a young person has passed out from drinking too much.”

Jongin hums and looks around, “There was a single alcoholic beverage in the fridge and none littered around, but you’re right. She could have been outside with friends or company and had too much.”

“Kyungsoo can probably find that out, especially if she has died of suffocation.”

“He should.” Jongin nods, “He will probably ask Minseok to run the lab tests again. Let’s see if we can figure this out together. The Detective seems to be having a hard time for some reason. He was awfully snappy before as he called after me in the office building.”

“Oh? Well, maybe the cases aren’t getting cleared.” Baekhyun laughs. “He has been busy, and could be stressed as well. But either way, if you gathered everything we need, let’s get back to work at the office and snoop through those electronics!”

Baekhyun takes the phone as soon as they reach the forensic headquarters. He stashes it away to be able to look through it alone after everyone else has left.

It’s past eight in the evening when the last team member bids his goodbyes to Baekhyun and closes the door. Baekhyun gets up and locks it from inside before returning to his desk.

He takes the phone and stares at the unlock screen for a moment. There’s no pin code needed, no drawn image. Gosh these ladies are stupid. Baekhyun chuckles as he swipes his thumb over the screen and the phone opens to reveal the apps.

He opens the messaging app and reads through the newest chats. There isn’t anything of interest, just a general talk with workmates and some girls Baekhyun doesn't know. These are easy to delete and swipe from the memory of the phone and cloud services.

One particular chat attracts his attention. He pauses to read the last messages, it’s about partying with the company she’s working part-time. He scrolls through the chat and sees photos of the tattoo from a week ago.

The timestamp shows the date a week back, on the night when he did the tattoo. There is red irritation around the letters and the skin itself looks a bit bumpy. She had taken off the protective film and apparently wiped off the thick cream as well before taking the photo.

Baekhyun shakes his head in annoyance and deletes the messages about where the tattoo was taken. He takes a moment to delete a few more to make sure it looks like there was a problem with the messenger service. He checks the other chat rooms to be on the safe side, but it seems that this one was the only one where she sent any photos or talked about the tattoo at all.

He copies the most recent chats and prints them out for the team and for the Detective to review. He takes a moment to add some extra lines in the chat too, to mention the service problems. Then Baekhyun looks through the gallery of the phone and there are a few random shots where the tattoo is visible but none taken in Open Ink. This should be enough coverage.

He snoops around the phone a while longer, but there’s nothing interesting. Turning off the phone, he tosses it into an evidence bag and places it in the case box. It’s rare for anyone to look through the phones or laptops again after they have passed Baekhyun’s inspection.

Chapter 2

Baekhyun looks up at the door when the doorbell jingles. He expects anybody else but the Detective to walk into Open Ink again. It’s been almost three months since he last set a foot in here.

The Minseo-case was filed as an accident. From the past records on her phone and from her friends, it was clear that she had been a vivid drinker. She also tested positive for weed from a hair test. The tattoo had healed nicely, ink had seeped out but there were the images and their time stamps to prove a bad protocol of taking care of it.

From there on, their relationship had slowly started to get back to what it had been before the reveal. They never talked about tattooing when they were together though.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun says and stands up. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve… I-” Chanyeol starts and Baekhyun wonders for a moment why it’s so difficult for the Detective to say whatever it is that he wants to tell. He’s not usually so tongue tied.

Baekhyun rounds the counter and comes to touch Chanyeol’s arm. “Tell me.” For a fleeting moment, he thinks Chanyeol has found out his little secret and is trying to come and warn him about the upcoming investigation and arrest.

He lets out a relieved chuckle when Chanyeol rubs his neck and admits that he wants to look at Baekhyun’s tattoo designs. “Oh, of course!” Baekhyun grins and pulls Chanyeol towards the counter.

Baekhyun sits him on the tall chair and pushes a folder into his hands. “Here are the ones I’ve drafted or I could just draw something special for you.”

He watches Chanyeol as the man flips through the designs. He looks awed and pauses on some pages to look at them in detail.

“Wow, these are amazing.” Chanyeol says, “I love them. No wonder Jongin kept telling me to check these out.”

“Wait, Jongin told you to?” Baekhyun asks. He gnaws on his lip in thought. Chanyeol is here because Jongin told him to come rather than on his own interest? Ouch, that hurt.

“Yes, but to be fair, I’ve been kind of curious ever since I saw you here.” Chanyeol admits. He looks bashful and Baekhyun can’t really stay hurt or angry at him. He’s here now regardless of how he got the courage and he is loving the designs and that makes Baekhyun happy.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you like them.” Baekhyun says, “I did try some universe and space things after the talk we had over lunch a long time ago.” He takes the folder and flips forward and stops on a page showing a few smaller planetary designs. “I’m not even near Luna and her skills on this theme, but I wanted to try. There are a few bigger designs on the following pages.”

“She has her own style and you have your own.” Chanyeol reminds him gently. “These look good though. I like the way you drew the rings on this planet and the faint background.”

“Ah that!” Baekhyun laughs, scratching his arm, “I tried it after I saw your tattoo having a background design. I never thought of it before and it really didn’t turn out too good. I should probably re-draw it in case anyone ever chooses to do that design.”

“I think it’s fine as it is.”

“I think I should take it out.”

“No, you should keep it.” Chanyeol says and stops Baekhyun from sliding the page out of the folder. “It is a good design and you can definitely change it if someone wants that when you resize it and decide on the colors and such.”

Baekhyun sighs in resignation. He will just take the page off after Chanyeol leaves. “Okay, I’ll keep it in for now.”

“Would you draw me one?” Chanyeol asks and when Baekhyun looks at him in surprise all he can see is shy curiosity on his face.

“I’ll pay for it, of course! Like a regular customer.”

He surely didn’t expect this one. Baekhyun looks at the other man closely. He’s not even sure where they stand right now. They’re on talking bases again, and have gone out together once after a long period of not talking. It seems that Chanyeol has forgiven him, but he’s still not entirely sure what is going on.

“That’s a big step to take.” Baekhyun says, “I mean, I’m honored you want me to tattoo you especially when you have your own artist to go to. But it-”

“You’re worried.” Chanyeol says and reaches for Baekhyun’s hand to hold it gently. “That’s why I proposed just a sketch, if you don’t feel like tattooing it on me, you don’t have to. I just want to see a sketch and maybe hang it on my wall if you decide you cannot accept the job. That’s all.”

Baekhyun is silent for a long while, “What I’m most worried about is if you would still want to keep it even after we break up?”

Chanyeol turns to look at Baekhyun. He keeps his eyes on him until Baekhyun lifts his eyes and matches the gaze and only then he speaks, “I’m not planning on breaking up with you anytime soon.”

Baekhyun flushes at the words. Are they really having this conversation now, here at the ink room? He doesn’t know what to say, not really. He wants to bask in the warm words and the soft pink feeling that is growing in his chest. But he also knows that any day, if his real secret is out he will be jailed and given a death sentence.

Baekhyun can’t afford Chanyeol to find that out. He can’t afford to slip up and just think about living together for years, decades even, how is he going to keep a secret of this scale?

“Wow…” Baekhyun breathes out, stunned. “I-I don’t know what to say.” He admits with an awkward chuckle. He takes a shaky breath and gives Chanyeol a smile. “But if you are sure about it, I will just sketch you something. What were you thinking about and where?”

He can be professional when needed and think about his mental struggles later on, right?

Fuck professionalism.

Baekhyun is kneeling on the tattooing chair half an hour later. Chanyeol is fucking him hard and rough, taking what he wants rather than asking what Baekhyun wants. But he knows that this is what they both need. A rough, mind-blowing sex to get over the final mental remnants of the loss of trust.

Because this is all about trust. Trusting the other to keep one safe. Trusting them to know when too much is too much.

Baekhyun mewls at a particularly hard trust. He bites on the black leather to keep his voice down but it doesn’t work. Chanyeol’s big hands are holding his hips strongly in place. He’s sure there will be bruises later. He knows he’s leaking all over the leather.

“Fuck, you’re so tight.” Chanyeol growls somewhere behind him.

Baekhyun clenches his muscles when Chanyeol changes from thrusting to grinding, very slow and deep. Baekhyun pushes his upper body off the chair and winds his arm back to hold on to Chanyeol. The taller man’s skin is slippery with sweat and Baekhyun can’t hold on.

Chanyeol slides his arm around Baekhyun’s waist and raises another up to his chest, pulling Baekhyun’s back against his chest. The position forces Baekhyun’s back to curl and ass to push out against Chanyeol’s hips.

“Fuck.” Baekhyun curses. He opens his eyes to look at the soiled chair. He’s leaking all over his legs and the chair. The tattooist can’t remember when he was this wet .

“I’m gonna come.” Chanyeol grits out. He is breathing harshly against Baekhyun’s sweaty neck. “Come on. Come for me, baby.”

Baekhyun’s nerves are strung high at this point. He has been holding back for a long while and just riding the pleasure from the hard fuck. His vision is littered with black spots as he finally lets go and releases untouched hard on his abdomen and the chair. He blinks through the aftershocks, gasping for breath as he feels Chanyeol’s cock swell inside as he cums into the condom.

Chanyeol pulls out with a sign after his muscles have stopped spasming. “You alright?” He asks when Baekhyun all but flops down on the dirty seat after he releases his hold on the other man.

“Just spent.” Baekhyun rasps, throat dry. “Satisfied.” He adds after he raises his eyes with some difficulty to look at his companion.

Chanyeol laughs, voice deep and eyes tired but filled with adoration. “Can you move or should we sleep here tonight?”

“Just, give me a minute.” Baekhyun says with a tired chuckle. “You can join me at my apartment after cleaning up if you want though.”

“Sounds tempting.” CHanyeol says and turns in a circle before noticing an employee’s door behind the counter. “That’s the toilet? I’ll get some wet papers.”

“Just use the disinfectant ones.” Baekhyun groans and pushes himself up. He feels so dirty but just pulls on his clothes with a grimace. “We have to wipe this down with them anyways.”

He can hear Chanyeol’s laugh over the running water, “Not the chair, me and you.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun says, looking at Chanyeol when the man emerges from the toilet, “Too late.”

Chanyeol makes a face at him, “Eww, gross.” He tosses the wet papers to the man anyways before making a beeline to the chair and picking up the clean wipes.

“We– I’m gonna shower at home anyways so what’s the deal?” Baekhyun laughs and wipes the floor with a pile of wet paper towels. When he deems it clean enough, he tosses them to the trash. “But, either way. If you want, you can crash at my place. We have the day off tomorrow and I could sketch something from home after we talk more about the design you want.”

“A coffee sounds fine,” Chanyeol smiles, “or maybe some wine and a movie.”

“We’re not young anymore, can you really go to the second round tonight?” Baekhyun jabs at him with a chuckle. He knows he can, although he might regret it tomorrow morning when his lower back and thighs are screaming in pain.

Chanyeol’s laugh is loud and free and it makes Baekhyun smile as he swipes the cleaning wipes over the black leather, deeming the chair clean after a few minutes of swiping.

“Okay, we’re done here for today.” Baekhyun informs the Detective. He goes to shut off the cashier and locks his drawer. “I took the subway, did you drive?”

“Mhmm, want a ride?”

“If you’re offering.” Baekhyun smirks and locks the door behind them before following Chanyeol up the stairs to the bustling road. It’s past ten in the evening, prime time for the university students and businessmen to be mingling around here. Restaurants and bars are all trying to attract customers, while coffee shops and small convenience stores are waiting for their share.

They walk side by side towards the small parking area around the corner. Baekhyun glances at Chanyeol. He repeats it a few times and Chanyeol notices it and turns to look at him fully, “What you’re thinking about?”

“Just about the chances that you want a tattoo made by me. I never thought it would happen, but it’s an honor although it does stress me out.” Baekhyun admits freely. The idea of Chanyeol carrying something he has inked onto his body for the rest of his life is exhilarating, but he can’t stop the small voice in his head saying ‘What if he finds out, what if they break up?

“Oh, if you feel like that you don’t have to do it.” Chanyeol says as he opens the car door locks with a beep from the remote keys. “I know it is a lot to ask and I don’t want to stress you with it.”

Baekhyun slides into the passenger’s seat with a hum, “I guess I’m just surprised about it. It’s normal to be nervous when asked for something like this.”

“I guess you do know it the best.” Chanyeol says with a smile as he fastens his seatbelt and ignites the car. “Can you see hesitation in the murderer’s acting when we are searching through a scene?”

Baekhyun burrows his brows, the change of topic is not unwelcome if not slightly surprising. “Depends?” He starts and relaxes against the seat, “It’s mostly for Kyungsoo to determine as he can notice a lot from the trauma, is it blunt, has it been repeated, are there scratches or is it a clean hit. The scenes and people around the victim do give us a lot of information, but not about this specifically.”

“Oh, right.” Chanyeol laughs and suddenly grins at Baekhyun, “Remember the young man found dead on the street some half a year ago? Overdose of drugs at the bar? Remember what Kyungsoo found out?”

“The gay bar case?” Baekhyun asks, trying to connect the dots. There have been a few young men in the past year that they have inspected together.

“Yes, we only got to the gay bar to investigate because Kyungsoo found out that the dude had deepthroated someone the same night. There were marks on the palate of his mouth.”

“What?!” Baekhyun exclaims with a chuckle, “Really?”

“Mhmm.” Chanyeol glances at Baekhyun as they stop at the red lights. “I never knew it could happen before that.”

Baekhyun can’t help but tease the other man, “Is that why you haven’t blown me lately? Afraid of getting inspected?”

The splutter and red blush spreading from Chanyeol’s ears to his cheeks makes Baekhyun smirk, “ Oooohh .”

“N-no! No,” Chanyeol coughs out, “No. I was just… no, it’s not something anyone can tell, of course I’m not afraid of that!”

“Then why?”

“There hasn’t been any opportunities for it, don’t you think?”

Baekhyun knows exactly what Chanyeol means. While they managed to solve things between them and have been on dates again and shared a few kisses here and there, nothing explicit has happened since their last explicit encounter at the Open Ink. He is getting as impatient as his lover about it. “Well,” He murmurs seductively as he slides a hand over Chanyeol’s thigh and squeezes, “We can change that today.”

He pretends not to notice how Chanyeol presses the gas down to speed towards Baekhyun’s flat.

They can barely keep themselves apart during the elevator ride up to Baekhyun’s apartment. The moment his door closes, Chanyeol has Baekhyun pinned to the smooth surface, bodies pressed together as he locks their lips in a passionate kiss.

Baekhyun moans almost wantonly into it, surprising himself with the neediness. He pulls the taller man closer, hands struggling to undress him at the same time. He can feel Chanyeol’s hands tugging his jacket open before trying to pull his shirt off.

"Wait! Wait," Baekhyun chuckles as he pushes Chanyeol away. "Let's-" He slips his jacket off hurriedly and leaves it heaped on the floor before reaching for Chanyeol’s jacket, “-take this to the bedroom.”

They manage to kick their shoes off and step over the mess. Chanyeol has Baekhyun pinned to the hallway wall half a minute later. A hot flush of arousal zips through Baekhyun’s body at the lust and want . Chanyeol wants him so bad that he can barely contain it. The Detective is ready to fuck him right here, right now and that knowledge makes Baekhyun heady.

“Fuck, here.” Baekhyun gasps and leads them into his bedroom. They fall onto his bed and Baekhyun struggles for a moment to find a good position under the taller man. He wraps his arms around Chanyeol’s shoulders, pulling him closer as he kisses the man fervently.

Everything about this is urgent. Chanyeol stands up long enough to take off his clothes while Baekhyun lifts up awkwardly on the bed to shimmy out of his pants. Baekhyun is sure he’s not stretched nearly enough, but it’s something he can deal with later. He wants it now.

Baekhyun closes his eyes at the first push. He can feel Chanyeol’s muscles trembling as the man holds himself back from pushing to the end right away. He’s so tight, not opened enough and it hurts but the pain is good. Baekhyun shifts his legs up and wraps them around Chanyeol’s waist and pulls him deeper.

Chanyeol drops his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder at the move. He stiffles a groan by mouthing the skin.

Baekhyun moans at the feeling of being stuffed full after so many months. He can feel Chanyeol growing larger inside him as the Detective rocks their hips together, relaxing him before he can truly fuck him deep and hard as he wishes to.

Baekhyun lets his legs drop open and Chanyeol kneels up in between them. The other man takes a hold on them as he starts to fuck him faster. Deep and hard, hitting places that Baekhyun had forgotten exist.

Chanyeol shudders again, cursing about how good this feels, how close he is. Baekhyun scrapes his back with blunt nails, making the other man moan loudly.

“‘M gonna come if you do that.” Chanyeol rasps out, looking at Baekhyun with dilated eyes.

Baekhyun just grins back, encouraged, and scrapes his nails all over Chanyeol’s broad back again. He delights seeing the goose bumps raise on the smooth skin.

Chanyeol all but growls at him and moves his other hand to stroke Baekhyun’s neglected cock. He squeezes it just so, stroking and teasing the sensitive head as he rams into him.

Baekhyun’s moan gets cut in the middle as he cums without a warning, back arching off the bed. His hips undulate, unsure what to get more of, the hard cock in his ass or Chanyeol’s warm hand around his cock.

His orgasm triggers Chanyeol’s and he cums inside of him with a strangled groan. Baekhyun welcomes him with an embrace as Chanyeol flops down.

“Whoa,” Baekhyun chuckles, slightly out of breath.

Chanyeol chuckles with him and shares a tender kiss with the other man. There’s no urgency anymore, just intimacy between lovers.

After a shared shower, Baekhyun hands a glass of wine to Chanyeol and takes a seat next to him on the couch. His tablet is open on the table in front of them, ready for him to sketch on.

Baekhyun sips his wine and shares a few slow kisses with Chanyeol in between. He’s cozy and warm against Chanyeol’s side. He places the now empty glass on the table and reaches for his tablet and pen as his phone rings.

Baekhyun glances at the offending device that the Detective is now holding. “Who is it?”

“Chief Hwang.” Chanyeol says and goes to answer the call, “Hello?”

Baekhyun listens in, Chanyeol sounds and looks irritated as he listens to the man on the phone.

“It’s late and it's the weekend. Can’t someone else check this?”

“Murder?” Baekhyun mouths at Chanyeol when he catches his attention.

Chanyeol nods and rolls his eyes, “I’ve had drinks, I can’t drive.” He listens for a moment longer, “I’m quite tipsy, I’m not in the condition to work. Can you call Kim Jaewoon instead? I trust him and can promise he will do a great start on the case.”

Baekhyun stifles a snicker, tipsy his ass. The call ends and Baekhyun opens his mouth to retort about the white lies, but gets interrupted by his own phone ringing on the table. He reaches for it and snorts, “He’s calling me now.”

“Just ignore it.” Chanyeol says and takes a sip from his wine.

“You know I can’t.” Baekhyun sighs and accepts the call with, “Hello Chief Hwang.”

He listens patiently as the man explains the situation, “If I come tonight, I will get extra days off after the case is cleared.” Baekhyun can negotiate his price. He smirks at Chanyeol who is gaping at him as he talks to the chief, “A week off, paid leave. I’m in the middle of something important right now and if I am going to cut this short and come to work, there is a price to it.”

Baekhyun grins triumphantly at Chanyeol, “Oh, you will arrange it? Great. Give me the address and I’ll get there. I have to swing by the office to get my kit first.”

“How?” Chanyeol wonders, staring at his boyfriend.

“It sounded important and interesting. And you can thank me later for the free paid leave.” Baekhyun laughs, “Let’s get going, the body waits.”

“Paid leave?” Chanyeol is still puzzled, didn’t Baekhyun just ask it for himself.

“You are going to join me at the scene. I will explain to the chief that we both deserve the vacation, your team member will get the pay for the case and we’re all happy.”

“You can’t ask the chief for that! I just told him I’m too drunk to work.”

“We both know you’re not.” Baekhyun says, “Now, we will think about the lie to cover that slip up while driving to the office. They found a body at the love motel near a gay bar, isn’t this fascinating?”

“I don’t see why I have to be there, there’s no sign of assault.”

“Aha! You’re wrong. There are scrapes and bruises according to the chief.”

“I know about that club.” Chanyeol says as he begrudgingly stands up from the couch and lets Baekhyun drag him towards the bedroom to dress. Their clothes are still all over the floor. “I’ve investigated it before a couple of times for illegal sex parties.They have equipment and sex machines.”

“Like I said, exciting.” Baekhyun winks as he tosses Chanyeol’s shirt to him. “Now, dress up honey. Let’s go and dig up some information.”

“Oh you’re…here, Detective Park?” Chief Hwang says confused as he notices Baekhyun strolling casually into the scene with Chanyeol trotting behind him.

Chanyeol nods a greeting and smiles a little sheepishly, “Forensic expert Byun found me near the office, I was just leaving home and he kidna-”

“I asked him to come along.” Baekhyun interjects with a smile, “He doesn’t seem too drunk and either way, his team is here already.”

“I didn’t know you two are in such a friendly relationship.” Chief Hwang says, looking between the two men.

“Well, the best have to work seamlessly together.” Baekhyun grins. “So, what do we have here?”

“A man in his forties, we found his wallet so we have the identity.” The chief explains, “This is an anon room and it was paid in cash so we don’t have information about his partner.”

Baekhyun nods and pulls on gloves before stepping closer to the body on the bed. “Who found him?”

“The janitor. Their booked time ended and she was coming in to clean up the room. Detective Kim is with her now.”

“Detective Park?” Baekhyun says, and glances at the said man. “I believe we have a sex murder victim here.”

“No shit.” Chanyeol mumbles under his breath, “Even I can deduct that, Byun.” He says louder, keeping this professional.

“There is a faint bruise on his neck, palm sized.” Baekhyun continues, “Suffocation is a probable cause of death.” He lifts the body from one side to peer at his back, “Ohhh, lots of bruises here in appropriate spots for submission and hard impact play. They’re older, some are at least two weeks old, some a few days old. Definitely not fresh unlike the ones on his thigh and throat.”

Baekhyun fails to notice the Detective’s surprised look as he starts to explain the marks in detail. “Seeing as most of these have already faded, I believe these are deliberately made a week or maximum two weeks ago in a bedroom or similar setting. Impact play with floggers, paddles or canes easily leave behind bruises like this and the area these are situated in are safe for conducting such physical acts safely.”

He only notices the flabbergasted look on Chanyeol’s face when he lets the body flop back down and stands up straight. “What?” Baekhyun asks with the beginning of a smirk forming on his lips.

“Absolutely nothing.” Chanyeol manages to say flatly and turns to talk to the chief.

The tone just makes Baekhyun grin wider and send him a wink in secret.

The motel room is small and everyone has been herded outside for Baekhyun to take evidence photos and snoop through the bin. He is just dusting the bathroom handle for fingerprints when Chanyeol steps back into the room. “Any progress?”

“Hm?” Baekhyun hums, glancing behind him before turning back to his task. He slowly peels off the tape now holding half of a fingerprint in blue dust. “The front door is out of question for the fingerprints, too many have touched it before I got here, but I thought that maybe the bathroom has some salvageable prints left. They might be the victim’s, but better to take them anyways.”

Chanyeol looks at the body and shudders. Why would anyone want to be choked while having sex?

“Because it feels amazing. It’s scary, the fear enhances the pleasure for some people, just like some enjoy public sex for the mere idea of getting caught doing something that is not permitted.”

Chanyeol’s ears turn red, “Did I talk out loud?”

“Mhmm,” Baekhyun nods with a smile, “And I can see you’re curious.”

“I don’t want that.” Chanyeol counters quickly with palms raised up. He’s glad they’re the only ones in the room right now.

“Good, because I won’t do it to anyone even if they ask.” Baekhyun steps into the bathroom and looks at the counter closely for fingerprints. “The impact play is different, that I can easily perform to the level someone wants.”

“We’re at work.” The Detective reminds Baekhyun sternly.

Baekhyun shrugs and takes the powder to dust over the surface, making several fingerprints show up against the pale surface, “It’s important to know when looking at bruises how they’re made, cause of a struggle to free oneself or a struggle because they asked for it themselves. Sometimes it is impossible to tell.”

“How can you be so sure about these ones then?” Chanyeol asks and crosses his arms as he fights back a yawn. He has nothing to do with his team member leading the investigation. He’s just here because Baekhyun dragged him into this. It’s getting late and he just wants to crash and sleep.

Baekhyun looks past Chanyeol to the small room and when he deems it empty he looks directly at the Detective as he speaks. “Let’s say that I have been the cause of similar bruises before on several occasions. These aren’t from fighting against an assault, these are bruises he asked to have. The one on his neck is impossible to tell, maybe he had an asphyxiation kink, maybe the other partner had. Maybe this was all an incident, a miscalculation of power, held for too long and missed the ques or the victim had a health risk they didn’t know of before going on with the choking.”

Chanyeol gawks at the forensic expert. He had no idea that the other was so knowledgeable about this topic. "How… actually no, don't tell me now. It's too late."

Baekhyun snort-laughs as he looks at the taller man and gets back to work.

Half an hour later, Baekhyun is finished with collecting the evidence from the room. He yawns as he greets Chief Hwang on the way out. “I’m spent. Wanna crash over?”

The black car is parked just opposite of the motel and Baekhyun rounds it ready to get in.

“You mean I’ll give you a lift and stay over?” Chanyeol says, but there’s no bite in the words, they’re both tired and the cuddle time after sex got disturbed by this case.

“Yeah, just that.” Baekhyun says and gets in when Chanyeol opens the doors, “But I can crash over at yours too.”

“To your place it is then.” Chanyeol chuckles as he starts the car and drives towards the main road.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

Another few months pass by without care. They work on some cases together and Baekhyun is happy to hear that the tattoo murder case is now binned and filed away as unsolved. He hopes it reminds that way until the end.

Baekhyun is jittery for a whole other reason today. It’s bad enough for Jongin to notice and the younger forensic expert corners him during lunch.

“What’s with you today, hyung?” Jongin asks as he sits opposite Baekhyun at the small corner restaurant by the office. The meat is sizzling with vegetables in a pan on the table.

“Huh?” Baekhyun jerks his head up and looks at Jongin.

“Exactly that.” Jongin sighs and mixes the food for a moment, “You’re very distracted, are you falling sick? Did something happen? Do you need to take some days off?”

“Nothing like that.” Baekhyun says and shrugs mostly to settle with himself. “Chanyeol wants a tattoo from me. I sketched it and he approved it and I promised to do it today.”

“Oh! That’s amazing!” Jongin exclaims happily, “Why are you like this then, isn’t it a good thing?”

“Well yes and no.” Baekhyun gives him a quick smile. Jongin might have his suspicions about their relationship but Baekhyun has never confirmed anything. “I guess I’m just scared that I fuck it up and he ends up hating that thing.”

Jongin nods, “I understand that. What did he ask for?”

“A space themed piece and that’s why I’m even more worried.” Baekhyun admits, “I first said no to anything celestial, knowing it is an important theme for him. And he likes Luna’s style but he kept asking so I drafted something and he loved it.” He keeps a small break and chuckles morbidly, “And now I’m totally fucked.”

“You can still say that you won’t do it, I’m sure he understands.” Jongin consoles him, “But that is kind of amazing, don’t you think? After the shock of not knowing you do this, he wants you to tattoo him and with his favorite theme too?”

Jongin sounds all too excited about this and Baekhyun just can’t feel that, “I suppose…”

Jongin turns the food in the pan again, making sure to cook it evenly from all sides. “He understands, I’m sure about that. Do you have a photo of the design?”

Baekhyun has it. He took a photo of the design to show it to Chanyeol. It’s sitting on the top of his gallery on his phone but he hesitates to show it to Jongin. His silence continues a bit too long and Jongin notices his discomfort.

“Okay, you don’t have to show it, but I’m sure it’s great!”

Baekhyun reaches for a piece of carrot in the pan and eats it before answering. “I’m proud of how it turned out on paper, but I’m worried about the coverage in the actual tattoo. It’s been a while since I last did something this intricate.”

“Well, maybe you should talk about it to him before you start?” Jongin suggests and takes a piece of meat from the pan, inspecting it before tasting if it’s done. “Do you have any means to calm yourself down? Meditating, sports, anything that you could do?”

Baekhyun chuckles at that.

“What?” Jongin asks.

“Nothing,” Baekhyun is still smiling. “I do some rope and knot work to calm my mind.”

“Knotting?” Jongin blinks. He looks at Baekhyun who just smirks back at him until the younger forensic worker connects the dots. “Hyung?!”

“ What? ” Baekhyun is enjoying this way too much.

Jongin lowers his voice and leans forward to talk over the sizzling plate in between them, “Do you like those huge dildos then?”

“No,” Baekhyun looks at him mildly confused, “I said rope not…huge sex toys. I like to take time to make pretty designs with a certain type of rope.”

“Ah…. ah, right. ” Jongin nods, picking up some food and eating it. “Well, why not do that then?”

“On what, him?” Baekhyun snorts. He knows that Chanyeol wouldn’t mind, he has done several different bondage designs on him before. It’s just, if he wraps the other up in such a pretty rope, they might not get to the tattooing part or at least, the end of it.

“On Detective Park?” Jongin shakes his head, “No, I don’t think he likes that. I meant like if it relaxes you then maybe you can try, like, a design on yourself.”

Baekhyun is so close to revealing their relationship to Jongin. It’s just something they haven’t talked about yet so he just takes more food to buy some time to arrange his words better. “I think I’ll try something else.”

Jongin smiles at him, “Well, just know that he probably won’t care if you say you don’t want to do it after all.”

“You’re probably right.” Baekhyun agrees, “But let’s eat now before this burns and let’s get back to work.”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

Baekhyun fidgets with his hands as he waits for Chanyeol to come to Open ink. They agreed to meet at eight, giving them both time to enjoy dinner before starting the job.

His tablet is on the counter with the agreed design on display. The clear lineart is mixed with thicker black lines, carefully arranged to show planets and star dust. It’s slightly different from his usual designs. Baekhyun has done a lot of clear line art and he loves the challenge but the pieces have been smaller designs before, nothing this big and definitely nothing as intricate as this on many levels.

The door bell dingles and Chanyeol steps in with a greeting and smile. “Hey, are you ready?”

“No.” Baekhyun answers honestly and chuckles, “But I’ll try my best.”

“Good.” Chanyeol says and comes to press a kiss toBaekhyun’s lips. He looks at the design on the tablet and nods, “I really like this design.”

“Did you choose where you want it?” Baekhyun has to ask this before printing it out as they never discussed that before.

“I was thinking here,” Chanyeol says and rubs his right thigh. “Right on the top, about this high. Do you think it would work?”

“Yeah, it works. I designed it to be tattooed on one’s forearm but it does work on the thigh too. Especially as you showed about the same height there as your forearm is.” Baekhyun picks up the tablet, “Should I print it out?”

He looks at Chanyeol as the other man nods enthusiastically, “Yes, I want that. The height could be about 20 cm?”

Baekhyun hums and connects the printer. He resizes the drawing and soon the printer whirls to life. He’s still jittery as he moves about collecting the required items. He locks the door and turns the closed sign on, hoping to have the privacy he needs to be able to concentrate. He’s definitely not thinking about the lewd ways to calm himself down.

When he turns around, Chanyeol has already got rid of his jeans and is perched on the chair. He has black underwear on and Baekhyun chastises himself mentally for noticing it as the first thing when turning around.

“I- okay, I think you’re ready.” He laughs and places the paper on Chanyeol’s thigh. “Is the size okay? Before I cut it.”

Chanyeol looks down and nods, “I think it’s great.”

“Awesome.” Baekhyun says and tosses a single use razor to Chanyeol, “Shave the area while I check that everything is ready.”

Chanyeol’s laughter and ‘yes sir’ echoes in the small space, making Baekhyun smile as he checks the tattoo machine and ink pot, swaps and wipes. He takes a calming breath as he turns around again. Chanyeol has shaved the hairs off his leg and there’s a nice even spot for him to paste the design on.

The blue lines stare at Baekhyun after he removes the protective paper.

“It’s going to look amazing.” Chanyeol says as he looks at the lines as well. He flexes his thigh a few times, relaxing the muscles the best he can.

Baekhyun nods, “I hope so. Are you still sure you want me to do this?”

“Of course!” Chanyeol says quickly. “I trust you.”

“It’s going to take a while to fill in even if it’s on the smaller side.”

“I have time.” Chanyeol smiles, “You can start whenever.”

Baekhyun nods. He kind of wishes that he took the bondage ropes along tonight. Maybe Jongin was right, it could have helped him to calm down. But they are at home and Chanyeol trusts him.

He takes his time and dips the needles in ink. It’s pure black. He touches the freshly shaved skin and pulls it slightly before pressing the needles to the skin. The machine swirls to life, buzzing as he starts to work on the outline.

Epilogue - 35 years later

Baekhyun wakes up with the urge to pee. He sits up on their shared bed and heaves himself up.

Chanyeol isn’t in their bed. It’s early, not even five in the morning, but the retired detective has become a morning bird, getting up and doing exercise before Baekhyun even thinks about getting up. With a quiet groan, he carefully steps around the foot stool and pads into the master bathroom.

Baekhyun thinks that maybe he should tell Chanyeol to wake him up to do the exercise together as his knee joints protest when he sits down on the toilet. Birds are singing and he squints at the sunlight coming in from the small window high on the opposite wall.

They moved to a small house outside of Seoul ten years ago, right after retiring from their previous jobs. Life was peaceful out here, no bodies to examine, no interrupted nights when one needed to go for a lookout. Just the two of them and two dogs keeping them company.

Baekhyun stands up to flush and starts his morning routine. He washes his teeth while staring at the hanging plant next to the mirror. It’s a plastic one, he remembers how Chanyeol insisted on getting a fake plant because there’s not enough light in their bathroom. Baekhyun on the other hand thinks there is plenty of light, so much that it makes his still tired eyes hurt.

“Honey?” Baekhyun calls out after dressing in light shorts and a loose shirt. It’s still warm during the night, the hottest heat from the summer has already passed leaving a pleasurable warmth to wake up to.

Baekhyun can’t find Chanyeol in the living room nor the kitchen. He calls for him again after noticing a hot cup of tea waiting on the kitchen table. The backdoor is open and he looks out. Chanyeol is watering the flower bed with their dogs sprinting around his legs.

A smile spreads on his lips as he takes a sip from the tea and just looks at his partner. They have come along a long way together. Baekhyun has worked hard to forget the certain memories attached to the beginnings of their relationship. He’s not proud of how he approached the other man.

The murders are a long lost memory now. He will take the secret to his grave. Chanyeol doesn’t have to know. The serial killer case is a cold case now. Buried in a big pile of unsolved murder mysteries. Even if someone would expose him, there is no evidence to point towards him.

“Oh! Good morning darling!” Chanyeol says as he stands up and notices Baekhyun in the doorway. “Did you sleep well?”

“Woke up too early.” Baekhyun complains as he steps on the wet grass. He’s not wearing shoes or socks and the cool mist on the grass makes his toes curl.

“I’ve been up for like an hour already.” Chanyeol laughs and shoos the dogs away. He places the watering can next to the flower bed and walks towards Baekhyun.

Baekhyun scrunches his nose, “I’m not you.”

“Thank god you’re not!” Chanyeol laughs some more and turns to stand next to Baekhyun and look at their dogs running around the fenced yard. “You have started to talk in your sleep.”

“Oh?” Baekhyun hums, “It’s probably nothing but gibberish.”

“Maybe.” Chanyeol says, “Is something bothering you? One theme seems to come up frequently, are you sleeping badly because you’re having nightmares?”

"No… but I don't really remember my dreams." Baekhyun answers, feeling slightly confused why his partner is thinking anything like that.

"Ah," Chanyeol chuckles, "Maybe it's too early for a conversation like this."

“Maybe,” Baekhyun concludes and moves to sit on a chair at their patio.

The conversation keeps playing in Baekhyun’s mind throughout the day whenever he looks at his partner. What if he knows ?

To be fair, Baekhyun had already forgotten what he had done when he was younger and was trying to attract the handsome detective’s attention. He doesn’t want to admit it but he did search the law some years ago to find out if he could still be thrown in jail and given a death sentence for the homicides he performed. What he found out was that if there is real evidence to back the claim, he could be given a sentence, but if there are no records to base the accusation on, they can’t sue him for anything.

And what he knows for sure is that there is nothing left. The ink jars are long gone, the tattoo shop closed years ago after a flooding destroyed the underground room. He can’t remember correctly things that happened that long ago, it’s been nearly 50 years so his words are debatable when thinking about the credibility of them.

The topic keeps coming back to his mind throughout the day. During the dinner Baekhyun decides that he has to be strong and come out with his past regardless of what will happen.

“Darling?” Baekhyun calls for Chanyeol to get his attention. His partner is mixing the sauce with rice and looks up at the nickname.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Huh?” What is it?” Chanyeol asks, tasting the food. He hums and decides to add a little bit more of the spicy sauce.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before starting his story.

“Do you remember the cases we worked on together a long time ago?” His voice is void of emotion as he recites the story. “The ones related to tattoos? I did them.”

Baekhyun pauses to look at Chanyeol’s reaction. When he doesn’t show much more than general interest, Baekhyun continues to explain. “I murdered them. With intention. I planned to take the secret to the grave but you deserve to know and have the right to make a choice if you still want to grow old with me, or if you want to expose me and throw me into prison.”

Chanyeol is quiet for a long time. Baekhyun has lost his appetite with the topic and it seems that his partner cannot finish his meal either.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun inquires, reaching over the table tentatively to touch his partner’s hand. Chanyeol looks conflicted, like part of him already knew but he refused to believe it.

Chanyeol pulls it away. “Why?” He asks brokenly and Baekhyun loses the fight to stop a tear from falling.

He has never been an emotional person, he couldn’t be with his old job. He didn’t feel anything when he committed the crime, the girls deserved it. They had ruined his life, causing him to bury his emotions and built a hard shield to be able to face everything. But Chanyeol had brought the shield down. It took years for him to achieve that but the detective managed to do what no one had managed to do before.

“To attract attention and for revenge.” Baekhyun figures that it is best to be blunt. The former detective won’t accept lies anymore, or even half-truths. He wants the truth, full and in painful detail.

Baekhyun can see the confusion in Chanyeol’s expression as the old detective tries to figure him out. “If I remember correctly, the cases were all left open or rules as suicides. That won’t attract the public’s attention.”

“I never said it was the public’s attention I was after.” Baekhyun counters quickly. “It doesn’t matter any more. I just had to get this off my chest.”

“Why now?” Chanyeol asks, he takes a piece of kitchen towel in his hands just to have something to occupy his fingers with.

“You have told me several times that I have said something in my dreams. It's only fair that you get to learn about this, that whatever I said while asleep is actually true.” He pauses and collects himself. The next words come out in a mere whisper, “and that you’ve been living with a murderer for decades.”

Seeing Chanyeol so hurt makes Baekhyun feel awful. This is one of the reasons why he never wanted to tell his background to the former detective. He can’t stand it when his family members or close friends are hurt or sad because of someone or even less if it’s because of something he did. But he can’t pull the words back. His darkest secret is out now and he will answer each and every question Chanyeol throws at him with truth.

Baekhyun waits patiently. That’s something he has learned in the past ten years, patience. Chanyeol used to hate it when someone told him to hurry up when they were still investigating crimes together. The want and need to live a slow-paced life seemed to just get larger with age and when they moved to this house outside Seoul, everything just slowed down naturally. With their age, there is no hurry anymore, life goes on at the pace that works the best for them.

“I appreciate your honesty.” Chanyeol says after a long while, “I have to admit something as well.”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun frowns, the tissue paper in his hands is ripped by now.

“I was suspicious about it.”

“W-what?” This isn’t how this was supposed to go. Baekhyun looks at his partner closely, Chanyeol is saying the truth, his voice isn’t wavering and he’s being very serious.

“Over the years, you have talked more in your sleep than you probably realize. You talked a lot in your fever dreams a few years back when you were hospitalized with the bad pneumonia.”

Baekhyun places the ripped tissue on their dinner table and clasps his wrinkly hands together, “Oh, so you knew all along?”

Chanyeol nods slowly, “I didn’t want to believe it. Whenever I found something that pointed in that direction, I ignored it. I avoided addressing that with you, waiting for a miracle that you would tell me.”

It all made sense now. The long periods of time when Chanyeol seemed more distant to him, when they lived in separate homes for a while because Chanyeol wanted to practice meditation on his own without anyone disturbing him. With Chanyeol coming back to him after months with tentative touches and warm dinners, slowly mending their relationship back together just for the same thing to happen another year later.

Baekhyun looks up when Chanyeol calls his name, “Baekhyun? Did you commit any homicides after we got together?”

“No.” Baekhyun says, “I only did it once, when you stopped talking to me but when we got together again after the issue was resolved, I never murdered anyone again.”

Chanyeol lets out a long breath, “Good.”

The reaction is so unexpected that Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say or to do next. He wets his dry lips, and keeps looking at his partner. The former detective has aged well, his hair is almost white, deep lines around his eyes and nose just make him more endearing. He’s still the cutest when he smiles though, at least to Baekhyun’s eyes.

He doesn’t know what to do so he repeats the word quietly and nods to himself. Good, good, okay. They’ll talk about this later again or just forget it for good. At least the truth is out now and Baekhyun feels liberated from the mental weight the secret had on him.

He picks up his forgotten utensils and starts to eat dinner. The meat has gone cold now and the rice is awful but he doesn’t care. Eating gives him something to do.

Later that evening while laying in their bed, Baekhyun asks something that has been in his mind since the dinner. “If you knew all along that it was me, why are you still here?”

He’s not looking at the other but is staring at the ceiling instead. The old wooden beams visible in the low light that still illuminates the room. There is a swarm of bugs flying around the lamp.

Chanyeol’s larger hand encases his own under the covers and gives a light squeeze. “I know it’s not who you really are.”

“I murdered all those people.”

“And I’m still here with you even if you did.”

“I don-”

“I’m not going anywhere, darling.” Chanyeol says, “I love you, till the end.”

Baekhyun smiles in the dark and echoes the words softly.