Midnight Season (IV)

[bbyah]

Title: The Midnight Season
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Homin
Genre: AU, Pseudo-Victorian Era
Summary: There's nothing pretty about this love story. A sickness is spreading through the city, in more ways than one. It's a bad season for growing.



prev

There’s someone whispering- or rather, hissing- at Changmin, right in his face.

“Changmin! What the fuck are you doing here?”

Changmin tries to burrow further into the pillow.

“Mn...a little longer, Yunho.”

...Yunho.

“Yunho!” Changmin exclaims, eyes snapping open.

Sure enough, Yunho is hovering over him and looking upset. Boa looms above both of them, looking even more upset and holding a lantern.

Shit.

“Guess you hid a few other things from me,” Boa says with a frown.

Changmin still can’t figure out why Yunho is here.

“Why are you here,” he mumbles, still sleep-addled.

“I’m asking you,” Yunho says, shoving a hand under his back and forcing him up. “Byunghyun’s working the village into a right fit about me on the run with some mad doctor. Why did you come to the village?! For a thinker, there’s an awful lot of times where you don’t think. Come on, up.”

Boa pushes her long hair behind her ear. Her jaw is tense with agitation.

“If I had known you were with Yunho, that you got caught up with Byunghyun- nevermind. What’s done is done. What’s important is getting you two out of here. Quickly.”

Changmin’s too tired for this, but his mind is used to working on little sleep, courtesy of school. Yunho is ushering him to some boots, shoving each of his feet in and lacing them up. Changmin lets him do that, and tries to pay attention to what Boa is saying.

“There’s a boat under my dock- take it. It’s got a good propeller and it’s quiet. Leave it at the delta, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

“Why- why is Yunho here, though?” Changmin asks. Yunho tugs at his boots and stands up.

“Yunho’s my best friend,” Boa says. “He may have done bad, but I know he did it for a good reason. I can’t do much for him, but I can get him and you out of here.”

“Alright, alright. To the boat, then. Ah, my bag,” Changmin says, grabbing it from under the bed.

Boa puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t know your story, but I’ll remember what you did here.”

Changmin nods, and Boa strides ahead. Yunho’s holding Changmin’s sleeve, tugging him along, and they make their way down a rickety, narrow staircase leading down to the water. There’s a boat there, nicer than the one Changmin rode in on. Yunho jumps on and help Changmin in, steadying him. Yunho smiles back at Boa.

“Thanks. For everything. I’ll write you- keep an eye on Jihye,” Yunho says. His eyes are oddly shiny and it sounds like he wants to say more. Boa pushes their boat off with a muddy boot before he can.

“I will. Now get.”

Yunho flips the switch and the engine rumbles. The boat jerks to a start and begins zooming through the water. Once they are away from Boa’s lantern, it’s dark, but the night is hardly a challenge for Yunho. He cuts through it like he was born for it.

Changmin looks up at Yunho through the thick black, and can’t see what face he’s making. His eyes feel tired, and he tries to focus on the horizon to rest them, but it’s trees on all sides. They don’t talk as Yunho navigates the twisty canals, and Changmin slumps over onto his knees.

It’s only half an hour before the distant city appears, a soft glow between the dark mountains.

Yunho brings the boat to a stop against a wall of waist deep grass.

“Watch yourself,” Yunho warns. “Make sure you don’t step in the water. Lots of snakes and such in here.”

Changmin steps carefully out onto a ridge of dirt. Yunho does the same behind him, nudging him forward, and they begin to walk towards the mountains. There’s a bit of color in the sky from the approaching sunrise. A misty field lays out before them, thick with tall weeds.

Yunho blazes a path in front of them, and Changmin thinks through the situation as he steps along with Yunho’s footprints in the mud.

They need to meet with Kyuhyun. They’ve lost the luxury of laying low and mailing the notes- there’s an urgency to the situation brought by the knowledge that the villages around the city are in no way prepared for an epidemic like the city is beginning to experience. The city will have enough difficulty controlling the spread with its sophisticated medical industry; the village with its one doctor would probably be wiped off the map.

He’s considering speaking to the professor directly, wanted status be damned. There’s more at stake than he’s comfortable with.

Yunho seems fairly unfazed by it all. Changmin assumes he would share his urgency, but it’s just that: an assumption. After the hectic jaunt through the swamp, Changmin is realizing just how little he knows about Yunho. He has no clue where Yunho stands on the situation anymore.

“Where did you go?” Changmin asks, stomping to tug his boots from the muddy furrows they keep slipping on and getting sucked into.

“Hm?” Yunho asks, pausing in his destruction of weeds to listen.

“Where did you go? Last night.”

“...I went to go see Jihye. Talk with her about a few things. I told her. The truth. About you, about what we’re doing. She gets it. She’s a good kid. Clever, like you.”

They keep moving. Their boots squelch in the mud. Changmin considers if he cares about the answer to the next question.

“Were you planning to come back?” he finally asks.

Yunho doesn’t say anything for a few paces.

“You make me nervous,” he says, heavy with thought.

Changmin raises an eyebrow. “‘Nervous’? How so?”

Yunho comes to a stop in front of him, and Changmin stops too. Yunho doesn’t look at him.

“You’re...you’re not easy to figure out. Sometimes I think you’re good for nothing, medicine and money and bad blood and all that. The type of person I should stay away from. Then sometimes you seem so much more...more...good. Better than me. You have no faith but you trust in people, and you helped everyone in the village on your own and...I look at you and I get confused. You’re making me bend my rules. Break them. Don’t know what to do now.”

Changmin tilts his head. Yunho has been thinking about him. A lot.

“Why does that bother you?” Changmin prods. He needs to. “You can leave at any time. That’s what I thought you did when I woke up and you were gone.”

Yunho turns around.

“I thought I left too. I just...I can’t leave you alone. I keep thinking, God, this is something I need to see through. You came into my life for some reason and maybe it’s so I can make sure you finish this, and save everyone, but it doesn’t seem like you’re saving anyone-”

Yunho’s eyes light on Changmin’s face and he’s drawing him in with a sudden intensity. Changmin looks down out of an unexpected sense of self-consciousness. His suspicions about Yunho’s flightiness around him, the abrupt subject changes, the stubborn inflexibility and fixation on what’s right and what's wrong and the way Byunghyun had prodded at Changmin to get at Yunho- they’re all starting to become a little less muddled.

Then Yunho sighs. “You, uh...you talk in your sleep.”

Changmin doesn’t know why, but it all clicks.

“Yunho. You like men.”

And he absolutely doesn’t expect Yunho to lunge forward, slapping a hand over his mouth and tugging his collar with a fist.

“Don’t-” Yunho takes a deep breath and releases him, his hand still hovering over Changmin’s face. “No. No, I don’t. I like girls. I know so, like the girls in the village-”

“No you don’t, you said they were interested in you. But I wondered why you, someone who obviously puts family on a pedestal, would be so reluctant-”

“You’re being a bad person right now, doing this,” Yunho hisses. “This is the worst. An abomination.”

Changmin can’t help but smile. “I’ve been with boys, sure, and I haven’t been divinely smited yet. Don’t you like how I’m bad? ‘The type of person you should stay away from’, wasn’t it?”

Yunho growls in frustration and runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m not- It’s you, it’s you and your terrible personality and your...misleading face- I should have known you did that kind of thing, you do everything wrong-”

Changmin bursts out laughing. Yunho looks agitated, and punches him lightly.

“I didn’t want you to laugh at me,” Yunho says.

Changmin sobers up, and grabs Yunho’s arm. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at your feelings, really...you have an interesting way of telling someone you like them.”

Yunho squints, as though he’s expecting Changmin to pull a ‘just kidding’, and stamp ‘blasphemous heathen’ on his forehead.

“I don’t like you,” he says for clarity. “It’s just...I like watching you.”

Changmin smiles, moving in close.

“Just so you know, it’s not a ‘rule’. It’s not wrong to be attracted to someone, even if they aren’t what your pastor tells you is the right type of human. I’m not breaking any rules, and neither are you. If you like watching me, then keep watching.”

Yunho gives him the hairy eyeball and starts stamping through weeds again. “Come on.”

Changmin can’t do anything else but follow him. It’s a long walk to the city, but they’ve given each other a lot to think about.

“I am curious, though,” Changmin says as he steps over a thick branch. “What kinds of things do I say in my sleep, Yunho?”

The second they arrive on the outskirts of the city, Changmin locates a public phone and calls up Kyuhyun.

Yunho hangs around outside the phone box restlessly, pacing about and being conspicuous in general. Changmin ignores him and rolls his eyes when Kyuhyun doesn’t answer on the first try, nor the second. It’s not that early, a bit past sunrise. Changmin’s not tired anymore. He's actually been getting more sleep lately, compared to his regular hours in residence as a student, fractions of naps caught between shifts and lectures.

Kyuhyun finally picks up.

“‘Lo?” Kyuhyun sounds wholly unprepared for any kind of conversation, which is unfortunate for him, since Changmin has no intention of respecting that at the moment.

“Kyuhyun, it’s Changmin,” he says.

They’re best friends for a reason, and Kyuhyun wakes up.

“Changmin! Are you alright? I got your note- what’s going on? And where have you been? I heard you were in jail, bodysnatching?” Kyuhyun is talking a mile-a-minute, and Changmin doesn’t have the patience to wait for him to run through his list of questions.

“I’m fine. I’m back in the city, although not entirely legally. There’s been some problems. But I have my suspicions about the circumstances surrounding my arrest, and more importantly, the illness I told you about.”

“Right. I’ve been looking into that- have you reported your findings to the surgeon general?”

“I tried. I gave my notes to the Professor, but it appears the pass stopped there. It was never brought to anyone else’s attention, as far as I know.”

Yunho slides the door open and braces himself against the doorframe, effectively blocking Changmin in. Changmin raises an eyebrow, but Yunho seems interested in the conversation and says nothing.

“That’s weird- he didn’t say anything? There’s been a lot of cases, more deaths- you’d think they’d all be frothing at the mouth for a lead,” Kyuhyun says.

“Has there been any public statements? How many deaths? Are they burning the bodies?” Changmin asks. Yunho is frowning.

“No public statements. ‘Bout twenty-nine deaths so far. I’m pretty sure they’re burning them, but- Changmin, do you think it originated from them? Those bodies you examined?

“I’m almost positive. Which is why, if they are being as diligent with the cremation as they claim, there should be less cases, not more. Something’s transmitting this virus.”

There’s an uneasy quiet on the line.

“Another transmission vector...” Kyuhyun begins. “There is a lot of waste that goes into the sewers from the morgues...”

“Do you think it’s possible the waste is leaking into the water supply?”

Kyuhyun sounds uncertain. “Rather possible. They say it’s sanitized, but...I’m not sure.”

A dark thought suddenly flaps its wings in the back of Changmin’s mind. He lets it fly, horrible suspicion creeping across his skin.

“It’d explain why the professor would be hesitant to report anything. The industry wouldn’t want that getting out. Nor the government.”

“Changmin, wait. Before we get mired in conspiracy- I still think there must be an additional vector. The original. What infected the first victim?”

Changmin lets out a frustrated sigh, looking at Yunho as he thinks.

“Good question,” he murmurs. “Tell me one more thing. Is the city water supply a closed circuit, or does it feed into the water features around it?” Yunho steps closer, visibly bursting with curiosity.

“I’m a student of medicine, not urban planning,” Kyuhyun says. “But I know someone who can tell me. I’ll get back to you?”

“That’d be great. We need to start developing a cure. And I think...we need to talk to the professor. Carefully. Find out what he knows, or is pretending not to know. Do you know where he’ll be later today?”

“I’ll see what I can do, try to get an appointment. I think he has lunch with the board on Tuesdays, a nice place downtown. Worst case scenario, I’ll do a little coincidental gatecrashing.”

Changmin laughs. “Sounds good. Good luck, and thanks, Kyuhyun.”

“No problem, Chwang. But you owe me!”

Changmin hangs up and looks to the phone booth ceiling, putting his thoughts in order.

Yunho steps into the booth fully. “So?”

“So, I have my work cut out for me. There’s something rancid about all of this,” Changmin says, running a hand through his hair.

“All this questioning and scheming, it’s way out of my league,” Yunho admits. “But I’ll help however I can. Why’d you ask about the water around the city?”

“I wanted to make sure The Creeks were safe. Your village had no signs of the illness- I’d like to keep it that way.”

Yunho stares at him, completely expressionless before he swallows. Changmin almost laughs at the sudden sheen of tears that well up. He would have never guessed that Yunho was so sentimental upon their first meeting.

“Y’know, for someone as unrepentantly corrupt as you, you’re awful nice.”

Changmin ducks his head. “Thank you, I guess. Now, are you going to let me out of this booth?”

He knows hoping for a suggestive ‘maybe not’ is a bit too much, and accepts his slight disappointment when Yunho flushes and backs out quickly.

They linger outside the booth, and Changmin picks at his wet trouser legs. He's getting too used to the feeling.

He glances at Yunho. Changmin had been able to change clothes, but Yunho was still in the outfit Changmin had lent him. It was beyond salvage, wrinkled and creased and muddy. The shoes are who-knows-where; Yunho’s replaced them with rubber boots that have seen some rough times. They look like the ones Boa had given to Changmin. Yunho must have stopped by his sisters’ and picked them up.

“Shall we go get cleaned up? We have a little bit of downtime until the morning. I recommend riding incognito for the time being.”

“Disguises?” Yunho asks.

“Of a sort. I’d love to see you in some formal wear.”

“I wore your formal wear. I screwed it up, as you can see.”

Changmin laughs, and leans against the booth. “That, my friend, is not formal wear. That’s business casual. I wear that almost daily.”

Yunho makes a face. “Well, not all of us are quite as delicate as yourself. We got shit to do.”

“Mmm, I do wonder. It’s not bad, to enjoy looking sharp when I empty a thoracic cavity,” Changmin says, unable to keep a smile off his face. Yunho’s fun to jerk around.

“See, you could be real cute if you didn’t say stuff like that,” Yunho says, shaking his head.

Changmin pushes off from the booth and walks, brushing close to Yunho and turning to him with wide-eyes, fluttering his eyelashes for effect.

“Hyung, you don’t think I’m cute anyways?” he asks.

Yunho snags him with an arm around his neck.

“The cutest mortician I’ve ever dealt with,” Yunho mutters, before ruffling Changmin’s hair and letting him go.

They walk down the street chattering fondly, and Changmin almost wishes they had met under other circumstances. He wants to see more of Yunho laughing in the daylight, go to museums and parks with him, take him to an evening lounge and see what kind of music he likes. But none of that is meant for Changmin, because they’ve met under a bad moon, between bad blood and a bad season.

The real problem, Changmin thinks to himself, is they probably wouldn’t have met at all, if not for the dead bodies they’ve touched.

Changmin’s apartment is probably swarming with police investigators, so he makes do with a quick stop at his favorite atelier. He has a word with the owner, taken aback at their rumpled state. The man agrees to let them purchase something, as long as they change out of their filthy clothes immediately, and wash off in the back alley.

The water is cold, and it’s more than awkward, especially when they notice the line of heads peeping out from the windows above- the entire copying staff of the newspaper the tailor is next to, apparently. Changmin makes it a quick rinse down, before he steps towards Yunho and grabs his head.

Yunho grabs his wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“Let go, I’m going to wash your hair. You’re way dirtier than I am.”

“Some of us didn’t find time to take a nice bath,” Yunho mutters, but lets Changmin rub at his hair until it feels clean.

They head back inside, and get some undergarments shoved at them, before the tailor shows them their choices.

Yunho looks lost, so Changmin picks for the both of them, and asks to bill it to his account.

“Cho Kyuhyun, yes. Right,” Changmin says to the owner, smiling sweetly.

“Thank you, Mr. Cho,” the owner says as he bows and writes it down.

“No, thank you.”

Yunho holds back his comments until they leave, then lightly hits Changmin on the back of the head.

“You’re an awful best friend,” he says. Changmin laughs.

“He’ll understand. I’ll pay him back later, before the bill is due.”

“Where will we go now?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a bit hungry. It’s far past lunchtime and thanks to you, I had to skip breakfast,” Changmin says as they step off the curb to cross the street.

“God forbid I save your life and you miss a meal,” Yunho mumbles.

“Agreed,” Changmin says, before spotting a familiar sign. “Come on, we’re going to my favorite restaurant.”

“Thought we were supposed to be ‘incognito’,” Yunho says, but he quickens his pace and they duck into an extremely crowded cafeteria.

“No worries here, you couldn’t recognize someone if you wanted to,” Changmin half-yells over the noise, despite being right next to Yunho.

They grab a private booth on the sides of the massive parlor, and are almost immediately presented with a menu by a harried waiter.

Changmin takes it and scans the dessert list, before peeking at Yunho. He’s deeply involved in the menu, so Changmin smiles up at the waiter and orders.

“Two cordials, please. Mm, and some barley tea. Could we have the cold soup and the rice cake sets? Thank you,” he says, before plucking the menu out of Yunho’s hand and passing it to the waiter.

The food and drinks come out quickly, no small part of the reason Changmin likes the place. Yunho’s excitement is fun to watch as he checks out all the little plates before deciding the soup is as good a place to start as any. Changmin smiles and digs in as well.

When he looks up, he finds Yunho staring at him intently as he chews. Changmin raises his eyebrows.

“Something the matter?” he asks, taking a sip of tea.

“You’re probably gonna get a room under your friend’s name too, huh?” Yunho asks.

“I suppose? The apartment’s out, and unless you want to sleep under the bridge or something...”

“I really wouldn’t mind. I’ve done my share of nights outside back home.”

Changmin takes a sip of tea.

“What are you going to do, Yunho?” he asks. “After this, I mean. You said you’d see this through, but...where will you go? You probably can’t go home.”

Yunho leans back in his chair, contemplation settling on his face. “Yeah. Can’t go back, I know that. Jihye figures it‘ll be best if I turned myself in after we get to the bottom of this. I figure she's right.”

“I’m sorry,” Changmin says.

“What for? Like I said, I’m over it. What’s done is done.”

“It seems...unfair.”

Yunho’s lips quirk, and he smiles at Changmin with shocking fondness.

“Seems just as unfair as a kid trying to do something great for humanity and ending up ruined.”

Changmin stops chewing and stares at Yunho. He blinks a few times, feeling something strange coming over himself, something he can’t describe. It’s the first time he’s been at a loss for words in years.

Yunho rubs his chin and sighs.

“I wonder how it would have been if we met earlier,” he says. “If I would’ve killed that man, if you would’ve stolen bodies.”

“No. I would have killed the man for you. And I would have taken care of the body. And most importantly, we wouldn’t have been caught.” Changmin’s not sure where this conviction is coming from, but it feels like it was settled in his ribcage all along, waiting to be voiced.

Yunho looks mildly unsettled.

“You’d kill someone for me?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Changmin flashes what he hopes is an encouraging smile. “I am rather fond of you.”

Yunho moves in a little closer, voice soft. “I’d keep you from doing anything like that ever again, especially on my account.”

Changmin sips his cordial after almost knocking over Yunho’s glass.

“Most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me,” he mumbles. His face feels a little warm. Yunho leans back again, all smiles.

Changmin wonders if this is okay.

Okay to pursue, okay for Yunho, okay for two convicts on the run.

What he wants from Yunho is sweet- simple. But what they’re running after is violent and bloody, and he’s not sure if they’ll end up with anything beyond bitter reality.

The hotel room Changmin arranges is comfortable, balanced with a restrained elegance and a well-stocked liquor cabinet. It’s all under Kyuhyun’s name anyways, so Changmin lets him treat them to a few drinks and entertains himself with the goal of getting Yunho drunk. Yunho is equally as determined to achieve that goal, and they clink glass after glass together, until Changmin’s feeling pretty wobbly himself.

“You know what your problem is, kid?” Yunho says from his spot on the floor. Changmin’s draped over a heavy couch. He gestures widely to Changmin’s entire body. “You...you’ve got a face.”

“Bloody hell, Jung, how long has it been there without you telling me,” Changmin says, slapping his cheek in mock surprise.

“Be quiet for a second. I mean, your face...is false advertising. You’re all, you’ve got all these mysterious smiles and these looks but in reality you’re such a little shit.”

“Thank you,” Changmin says with a nod.

“I feel bad for your future wife...or whatever you plan on marrying.”

“We’ve been over this. People like me do not get married, especially not to nice girls. I don’t care to pretend I’m interested in that.”

Yunho is quiet.

“Suppose I won’t need to pretend now, either,” he murmurs.

“Kind of nice not being the golden boy anymore, huh?”

Yunho’s eyes slide up to Changmin, and Changmin thinks maybe the light is wrong, here. It’s dim and it’s making everything seem secret and suggestive, and the way Yunho’s gaze falls somewhere around his collarbone where the top few buttons of his shirt are unbuttoned is definitely not helping. Neither is Yunho crawling closer, moving to cage Changmin against the couch, nor are Yunho’s lips following his eyes, descending on Changmin’s neck like it’s a religious experience.

“I hate what I become with you- like...someone who wants,” Yunho says, muffled by Changmin’s skin. Changmin grabs Yunho’s hair and decides to pay him back, nipping at his neck before Yunho shoots backwards and glares at him.

“Just...just don’t. I want to feel this out. Just for a second? If you do that then-”

“Then you can’t pretend it’s not happening, or that you’re not quite drunk enough to not regret it. Right. I’ve got it.” Changmin leans back against the couch’s plush curves, spreading his knees in invitation. “You can do whatever you want, as long as you mean it.”

Changmin wakes up to a sore neck and a cold, wet cheek. He’s drooled a bit, face mashed into the mohair couch cushions, and he carefully pushes himself off the wet spot and wipes his cheek and chin. Yunho is somewhere down around his stomach, arms warm around his hips. He’ll probably be achy later, half on the floor and half draped over Changmin’s lower half.

The clock shows half past ten, and Changmin takes a moment to gain his senses. His clothes are in disarray, shirt hanging around his elbows completely undone. He fastens his pants and ruffles Yunho’s hair.

“Get off of me, Jung.”

Yunho’s arm slides against his side and the friction is enough to make Changmin groan, pushing his head back into the cushions. When he looks down again, Yunho’s awake, eyes sleepy but intent and hungry. He runs a lazy caress down the length of Changmin’s thigh, and yawns.

“Morning.”

Changmin hooks his leg over Yunho’s shoulder. “You’re in a good mood, hm? I was expecting you to start screaming or something.”

Yunho obliges him and scoots closer, tickling his fingers up the back of Changmin’s leg. Changmin squirms and sighs as Yunho escapes the hold and lays against him.

“I’m kind of inwardly pitching a fit,” Yunho admits with a sheepish grin.

Changmin kisses his jaw.

“Sounds unpleasant. Do you need some time to yourself?” he asks Yunho, trailing kisses towards his ear.

“I’ll think about it later. Don’t really feel like doing much heavy lifting right this minute.”

“Then, once you’re finished delaying your identity crisis, I’d love to have a bit of breakfast.”

Yunho’s handsome face is right in front of him, soft dark eyes and pink lips set in a killer smile. Changmin feels a flutter in his chest. This man is dangerous, in all the best ways.

“Maybe I’m getting greedy, but I thought you’d offer me something else to think about,” he says.

Changmin laughs and obliges him.

True to his word, Yunho does have a bit of a crisis in the suite later.

Changmin ignores him, busy reviewing and transcribing his notes from his abused notebook. The pages are crinkly with swamp water and almost illegible through the ink smears at points.

Yunho alternates between pacing around and sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Changmin lets him carry on. It’s only fair to give Yunho some space - they’ve definitely crossed a line, and Changmin doesn’t want to pressure Yunho or make him uncomfortable.

The relative peace is interrupted by a knock at the door. Changmin’s eyes snap to the entryway. Yunho is frozen in his peripheral vision. They both glance at each other. Yunho looks like he’s going to tackle whoever’s on the other side and rip them to shreds.

Changmin decides to save him the trouble and heads to the door first. He waves a hand at Yunho, and stands in front of the door, checking the peephole.

Whoever’s out there is a bit too short and a bit too close. All he can see is a shadowy figure, moving very erratically. They suddenly notice the peephole, and get right up in it.

“Changmin! Open the door!” they whisper harshly.

Ah.

Changmin rolls his eyes and opens the door.

Kyuhyun tries to barrel his way in, before taking in Changmin’s less than decent state of dress.

“For crying out loud, Changmin, I said it’s no use, you can’t seduce me, we’d never work out, we’re too alike.”

Changmin grins, but before he can say anything, Yunho is next to him with an icy glare leveled at Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun gapes at Yunho’s bare torso, before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, I ...don’t actually want to know, do I?”

“You know me too well,” Changmin says. He pats Yunho’s shoulder. “Yunho, this is the one and only Cho Kyuhyun.”

“He better know my name,” Kyuhyun mutters. “You guys have been borrowing it quite a bit, huh?”

“A necessary evil,” Changmin says.

“Nice to meet you. I’m forever in your debt,” Yunho says, bowing deeply.

Kyuhyun looks surprised. “Him, I like him. Where’s your bow, Chwang?”

“You’ll get it later when I have time to express my gratitude,” Changmin says. “Now get inside, before someone sees you.”

“Oh no, I can’t stay-” Kyuhyun protests as Changmin yanks him inside and slams the door.

“Tea’s on the sideboard,” Changmin says offhandedly, buttoning up his shirt. He grabs Yunho’s off the floor and tosses it to Yunho. “We won’t be staying, either. I have a bad feeling about all this. Best not to test fate and keep moving.”

“Listen, I wanted to tell you- I couldn’t wait. I went to talk to the professor this morning. Whatever you do, do not contact him. I think you might be right. I think this is a bit bigger than an epidemic.”

Yunho frowns. “What did he do?”

“I went to his office, but he was interrupted by another student. They moved into the hall to talk. So, you know, I was just looking around, when something on his desk caught my attention...it was your handwriting, Changmin. You gave him your notes, right?” Changmin nods, not quite sure where this is going.

“On top of them, there was this...well, I copied it as fast as I could.” Kyuhyun pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and shoves it at Changmin’s chest.

Changmin grabs it and picks it apart, Yunho leaning close.

“...what is this,” Changmin says blankly, but he already knows by the time he finds his voice and his stomach flip flops violently.

Yunho’s waiting on him for an answer now, and Changmin should say something but the slow rise of anger burning through his skin is giving him tunnel vision.

There’s not much on the paper. A location, with a family name and address and a list of events organized chronologically, beginning with ‘introduced vector with initial dosage’ and ending with ‘vector death’. Below that, there’s five more people listed. All the addresses are lower class tenements. All the names are familiar to Changmin, recent deaths he’d been drawn to in his own research of the epidemic. And underneath it all, like it’s an afterthought- ‘Initial run successful'.

“It’s a death list,” Changmin murmurs. “They...they’re introducing the disease to these people.”

There’s something about what Jaejoong told him in the cemetery- ‘if you haven’t figured out why they wanted you out of the way’. He remembers how the professor patted his shoulder, told him not to worry. Took his notes and put them aside. Probably checked them later to review the efficacy of the epidemic. His tracks had been clear as day.

His mind whirs. It’s stuck on the professor’s phrasing- ‘initial run’.

“They’re not done yet,” he says to himself. He hears Yunho ask Kyuhyun what they do now, who do they beat up, Kyuhyun’s nervous laugh, but Changmin’s frozen.

Hindsight is always flawless, and it’s rapidly becoming apparent- Changmin was asking to be taken out. They’ve stumbled on something much, much bigger than some rats spreading a disease.

They can only trust each other.

Kyuhyun leaves first. Changmin gives him the rather well-worn copy of his notes to read over. They agree to meet up that night at Kyuhyun’s dormitory on campus. The other students are well used to the reality of bodysnatching, and won’t snitch on Changmin if he’s spotted. Transporting the body might be a bit of an issue, but he figures it could be explained away under the guise of extra credit for an anatomy professor. Yunho and Changmin leave out a sidedoor, trotting down a rickety fire escape in the bright noon sun.

Changmin’s lost in thought, implications and snippets of past conversations with the professor, with Junsu, all slotting into and slipping out of context. He’s peripherally aware of Yunho leading him along to the streetcar, tugging him out of the path of a pothole, steering him away from gutters, but he can’t seem to stop his brain. A curse and a blessing. The professor, his professor, is a liar and a sociopath. Changmin’s faith is shaken.

“We’re going to stop this thing,” he had said. “We need to stop the professor.”

Kyuhyun had stared at him with wide eyes, before an excited grin grew across his face. The combination was terrifying.

“We need a cure?” he tried.

“We need a body,” Changmin said, biting his lip.

“We need a getaway car, apparently,” Yunho mutters.

As they board a streetcar, he runs through the facts. Twenty-nine deaths so far, according to Kyuhyun. A disease that becomes exponentially more contagious post-mortem, dangerous in the lower classes where the body is highly exposed to others. Artificial transmission to six initial victims, all residing by the river running through the city. The river that all of the waste from those bodies pours into. Much of it from Changmin’s own place of employment.

A bump to his shoulder jolts him out of his swirling thoughts. He looks to Yunho, who’s standing close, shoulder to shoulder. The smile he gives Yunho is half-hearted and quick, and he regrets how insincere it is.

Yunho moves a bit closer, and Changmin feels him wrap an arm around his back. He swivels so they’re eye to eye, noses nearly touching, and tries a smile one more time. This one is genuine, and Yunho smiles back with a squeeze to Changmin shoulder.

The small gesture melts Changmin’s worry and strengthens his resolve. He knows they can handle this- Kyuhyun’s a veritable genius, their key to the cure. Yunho’s strong and steady, a man unafraid to lose everything. He’s not sure what he contributes to their effort, but he thinks he’s willing to figure that out.

“Are you crazy? No, wait, that’s not even up for debate,” Junsu says, shoving a flower bulb into the dirt angrily. “Why on earth do you want our help? Changmin, we ratted you out. I know you’re up to some kind of revenge or something. Stop being weird.”

Junsu has a tendency to talk a lot when his curiosity is piqued.

“Oh, well, you know. I understand why you did it. Really. It was you or me, after all. This isn’t even about that,” Changmin says.

Junsu’s on his knees, putting flowers into a plot as he glares up at Changmin. Yunho is leaning up against a gazebo and generally being unhelpful. Changmin knows Jaejoong and Yoochun will probably pop up soon. He’d prefer to get what he needs before that happens.

Junsu throws a flower down and groans. “Okay fine! What do you want, so I can tell you no and get you to go away?”

Changmin kneels next to Junsu, giving him his best impression of a sad baby deer.

“I need a dead body, hyung.”

Yunho snorts behind them.

Junsu’s face scrunches in disgust. “You’re so fucking disturbing. No.”

“Why?” Yoochun’s smooth voice asks from around the gazebo. He and Jaejoong come up on each side of Yunho, looking inquisitive.

Yunho frowns and Changmin rocks back to his feet.

“It’s kind of weird seeing you all in the daylight,” Changmin says, before patting the dirt off of his knees.

“Likewise. Why do you need a body, Changmin? That’s a bit of a role reversal...can’t you just go grab one from your job? I mean, you already got the gavel for it, one more couldn’t hurt,” Yoochun says. He seems pleasantly unconcerned, as usual.

Changmin smiles.

“Not just any body. I need an unusual body. Any that decomposed at an abnormal rate, by chance?”

A flutter of realization flashes in Jaejoong’s eyes.

“Taken a liking to prying into things you shouldn’t, hm? Didn’t I warn you,” he murmurs.

“Haven’t I always? Can you deliver it tonight? The university operation theater, please,” Changmin says. “Your last favor to me, I promise.”

Yunho pushes up off the gazebo and scuffs his toe in the dirt.

“I’m sure you know this, but don’t bother bringing the authorities or anything. I already got the gavel for murder, a few more wouldn’t hurt,” he says, in that sweetly cordial tone he favors.

All three of them seem wary of Yunho, now. Jaejoong is biting his lip and there’s a smile on Yoochun’s face, betraying his distaste. Changmin used to admire that about Yoochun, the ability to take his feelings and turn them into something entirely different, but now it feels manipulative and misleading.

Junsu has been quiet, messing with his trowel. He eyes Yunho, then stabs the trowel into the dirt and stands up.

“So now you’re in with murderers, huh? Okay, all that aside, Jung, was it? Listen. Since my idiotic ex-associate won’t listen to common sense...I’ll try you out. Get out of the city. You’re both in way over your heads. This is the city, not some little holler where you can just kill whoever did wrong. There’s money behind everything, including this. The police will find you whether we tell them or not, and they’ve been paid real well to make sure the information you seem to be hunting down is kept quiet. Changmin’s a lunatic- you can’t stop whatever’s happening. Trust me. You might as well lay low and stay alive.”

Yunho’s jaw tenses, and he steps forward. Changmin considers stopping him, but something like anticipation holds him back. Yunho’s riled, it’s obvious in the veins pulling on his forearms. The anger is tangible, and it forces a silence to hang over all their heads. Changmin’s been waiting for this since they met, and now he’s a little breathless he might finally hear it - hear Yunho’s resentment, his animus, all that bad blood he’s been washing away. His validation.

“What was your name?” Yunho asks, his tone still light. “Junsu, right? What do you live for, Junsu?”

Junsu frowns, visibly thrown. “What?”

“What keeps you up at night?” Yunho says. “What is the most important thing in your life?”

Yoochun and Jaejoong glance at each other. Junsu’s head almost imperceptibly turns in their direction. Changmin wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t looking for it.

“It’s none of your business, honestly,” he says.

“If it’s really worth it, I should already know. You should be screaming it with every movement you make. I don’t hear any of that, though. You hide it all. That’s why you call me a murderer. You probably wouldn’t understand- when you’d kill for something. When something’s so important to you, you’d kill anything that threatened it. ‘Lay low and stay alive’? And you’re calling Changmin crazy? I can see what he lives for. He steals and fights for it, and I know he'd kill for it. It might make us bad men, but if bad men is what saving good people will take, I will gladly consider myself one. If you want to get in our way, if you can’t see why we’re doing this, I’ll push you aside. You’ve let death get between you and the living. In that case, you have a long, hard night coming to you. Not my trouble to deal with.”

Changmin’s pulse thrums, and can’t help but think Yunho will never disappoint him. Even as Junsu rolls his eyes, or Yoochun smirks and rubs a hand over his face, Yunho’s looking at Changmin like he’s making sure it’s right, and Changmin can only look back at him helplessly. This...this thing between them might be bad, much worse than any epidemic, but Changmin couldn’t care less.

Their ending will be dreadful.

Jaejoong tells them a body will be delivered that night.

next

just one more chapter after this one...stay tuned for lots of drinking, the volatile dead, and minho!