[fic] Minho/Key - SHINee - Never Say Goodbye - Chapter 1/7
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Author: fonulyn
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Warnings: mentions of violence (nothing very graphic) and prostitution. also I quite possibly made up half of the stuff when it comes to the police force so some factual inaccuracy.
Pairing: Minho/Key (plus ninjaing!Qmi)
Characters: Minho, Key, Ryeowook, Jonghyun, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Onew, Donghae, Heechul
Disclaimer: I own no one, only my dirty imagination.
Summary: It's been over two years since Minho lost Kibum, lost him without knowing why. He never expected to see him again. He definitely never expected to see him again like this. (aka Minho is a policeman and his job brings him much closer to his past than he ever thought possible.)
Comments: behold my drabble inspired by Minho in a uniform. the summary sucks since gdi I don’t know what to say without giving away everything that’ll happen, haha.
I’ve been working on this for months, but it still feels it took more effort to come up with a title and a summary than the 23k of fic. do enjoy~
Minho has a recurring dream.
It’s always the same. Minho is standing in the kitchen doorway, watching how sunlight filters through the shades and casts an alluring glow on the floorboards. There’s a scent of coffee lingering in the air that makes everything feel so real, unbearably so. He doesn’t really want to move but he’s drawn into the room anyway, until he stops in the middle, beside the large table.
Then there’s a man in front of him, clad in one of his shirts and nothing else, smiling up at him. Eyes sparkle underneath an overgrown fringe and a small smile tugs at the rosy lips that seem to beg to be kissed. There are words but Minho never hears them, no matter how much he tries to focus they flow past him like wisps of smoke. The man’s voice surrounds him on all sides and it sends a painful flash of familiarity in his chest.
Every time, Minho tries to resist, and every time he reaches out to touch anyway. He brushes his fingers over a smooth cheek, traces the protruding cheekbone and the sharp jaw. His eyes slide shut as he leans in, their hot breaths mixing.
At the exact moment his lips touch the other man’s, the room begins to spin around him. It’s like his hands only meet thin air now, like his eyes are fighting to see and his ears straining to hear. Minho does everything he can to hold on to the moment, his heartbeat as frantic as his breaths are shallow.
Every single time, he watches the man slip through his fingers and gradually fade from existence.
Then, he is alone.
The sound of footsteps echoing from the walls has always been oddly comforting, to Minho at least. It's the constant in his life that doesn't change, even when everything else does, it helps him to clear his mind and stop thinking. It’s an everyday routine, walking from the underground parking space up to the elevators, as natural and essential as the first cup of coffee in the morning, or brushing his teeth.
As soon as he steps into the office building the silence is broken and loud chatter surrounds him from all sides. He bows lightly at the first officer by the door and Donghae flashes him a quick smile in turn. Minho likes most of his colleagues but Donghae was the first one to welcome him to the station as a rookie, the first one to treat him like an actual cop instead of a kid that needed to be taught the right ways. That is something Minho is still grateful for.
It's like any other day at the station, down to the fact that his partner, Jonghyun, is sitting beside his desk with his feet propped up on the table, chatting with Sungmin. Wordlessly Minho grabs Jonghyun's ankle and lifts his legs up, letting them fall back on the floor with a thud. Jonghyun doesn't seem to be bothered by that in the slightest, though, he just grins and leans back in his chair, peering up at the other man. "Good morning! You seem to be in a sunny mood, man."
Sungmin snorts. "It's five in the afternoon, Jonghyun. You can't possibly call this morning anymore."
Jonghyun ignores him. "Did you hear where we're going today?" he asks instead, his grin even widening as he basks in Minho's confusion. "We're going to the third district! They need some special help, and we're the only ones who are free today!"
“Did you bribe the chief?” Minho asks, trying to feign nonchalance although his interest has been piqued. They have never worked on the third district. There have been some missions and projects there in the past that their station took part in, but Minho has never been included. It feels that his chief is going out of his way to keep him out of that part of town, although Minho can’t fathom why.
That earns happy laughter from Jonghyun. “No, I didn’t. The chief is still on holiday or some shit, and I just got the orders from Moustache. He says we go.”
Well that explains, Minho thinks. The man more or less lovingly labelled Moustache is the man in charge whenever their chief isn’t there, which thankfully happens rarely, and he wouldn’t be able to tell apart the different districts even with the help of a map.
Inwardly Minho’s thoughts are racing as he tries to figure out what it could be in the third district, but outwardly he remains impossibly calm. “Get your feet off the table and into the car if you don’t want to walk there.” He doesn’t even spare Jonghyun a glance before he walks off briskly.
Sungmin spends a moment watching Minho’s retreating back, a frown on his face. “What the hell is his problem…” he asks, although it’s not exactly even directed at anyone.
“C’mon,” Jonghyun shrugs, unbothered. “He’s always like that.”
“He wasn’t,” Sungmin insists and Jonghyun doesn’t waste time as he turns to look at him, curious. Sungmin is still gazing into the distance, his lips pursed disapprovingly. “Not before his partner disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” This is something Jonghyun hasn’t heard of before, and one can nearly see his ears perk up as he sits straighter in his chair and looks at Sungmin expectantly, ready to absorb every single word that follows.
The answer is a small shrug. “The case was… incredibly weird. Kibum simply disappeared into thin air one day and never came back. There were no traces left, no nothing. It’s like one day he decided this is it. Or maybe someone put a bullet through his skull, no one knows.”
Jonghyun listens silently, trying to complete the puzzle inside his mind.
Sungmin sighs. “Too bad. The two of them were totally attached at the hip. And you can see what Minho has become.”
Truth to be told, Jonghyun has no idea. This Minho is the only one he’s ever known: the one who speaks in short clipped sentences and looks like a warning before the storm; the one who never goes out to socialize with the others in the evening but who is always polite during office hours. He somehow suspects that if he’d run into Minho outside the job the man wouldn’t even pay him any attention.
Jonghyun has never minded that. He likes Minho as he is, and he thinks they work pretty well together. Still, he can’t help but wonder.
What is the real Minho like, underneath all that?
“If this coffee was any stronger you could stick the cup upside down and nothing would drop out!” Jonghyun groans, dropping his head backwards until it hits the seat. “Why were we asked to patrol here, again? Seriously man, there’s nothing here! It’s more lively in my grandmother’s backyard and I tell you, that place is dead as shit!”
“You were the one who got the orders,” Minho points out from the driver’s seat. That’s all he’s going to say to it and Jonghyun knows it, so instead of trying to make the conversation more two-sided he goes on blathering about his grandmother and her twelve cats. Not that Minho is listening anymore.
Raindrops are thrumming the windshield, and they had to switch off the wipers because the left one started scratching the glass in a way that got them both on edge. It seems to be getting less, though, and idly Minho watches as the traffic lights change colour and the cars start moving again. Jonghyun is still talking when Minho finally steers their car into the traffic and onto the silent side-alleys, the ones they were told to keep an eye on. Even if it now feels like waste of time.
Jonghyun has stopped talking about his grandmother and is now elaborating on the perks of different coffee flavours, when suddenly there’s a loud bang right beside them. It startles them both and they freeze for a second before another loud shot resonates in the air and Minho reacts on instinct. He parks the car, so haphazardly it’s a wonder it’s not in the middle of the road, and throws the door open to jump outside. There are loud shouting voices right behind a couple of turns and he runs, as fast as he can.
His boots splash water on the asphalt as he rounds a corner, coming face to face with the scenario he expected. There’s a body down on the ground, lying in a pool of blood, and a man pressed against the wall roughly by another, a gun to his head. A few steps away from them there are two more men, crouched against the opposing building as if seeking shelter from the bullets that are bound to follow.
Minho has no idea where Jonghyun is. He doesn’t have time for that. Instead of thinking he acts, raises his gun and yells at the top of his lungs. “Police! Freeze! Drop your weapons!”
The attacker spins around and the next thing Minho knows is that there’s a gun aimed at him and he knows he won’t be able to shoot fast enough to come out of this alive. Frantically he tries to come up with a way to survive when a bullet flies past him and scrapes the attacker’s arm enough to make him drop his weapon. The man curses and spins around to run, not paying any mind to Jonghyun’s shouts to stop and surrender.
It’s like all hell breaks loose around Minho, people running and screaming, but all he can do is stare.
One of the crouched figures has stood up and turned to face them and that is when Minho’s whole world plummets down to crash land on the ground. He would recognize the slant of those eyes anywhere, could trace every single eyelash from memory as he holds the piercing gaze. Two years ago, he used to know every scar, every dip, every curve of those features and right now it feels like life plays a cruel trick on him.
The spell is broken when suddenly someone bumps into Minho and makes him almost lose balance. Once he looks up all he sees are retreating backs, figures running into the distance. “WAIT!” Minho has never heard his own voice like that, so raw and ripped. He dashes down the alley, as fast as his feet carry him, and he doesn’t even realize he’s still screaming.
As he rounds a corner there’s no one there.
Later, much later, Minho has no idea how he found his way back to the car again, nor how they got reinforcement and handled the whole situation. Jonghyun instantly bans him from driving and almost violently pushes him into the front seat, throwing a white towel at him from the trunk. He gets behind the wheel himself and this time, there’s no endless flow of chatter as they drive off.
There’s silence.
Jonghyun grits his teeth and refuses to look at Minho, who in turn keeps his eyes closed and replays what happened in that alley, time and time again. No matter how often he thinks through it, none of it seems to make sense to him. None at all.
Suddenly Jonghyun hits the brakes, stops them on the roadside and spins around to look at Minho. “What the fuck was that all about!?”
Minho doesn’t even grace him with an answer, but when Jonghyun grabs his shoulder and forcibly twists him around to face him he at least opens his eyes to glare at his partner.
“Down that alley. What the hell were you thinking!? You could’ve gotten us both killed! First of all running out there like that and then just… standing there. What did you see?” The words simply burst out of Jonghyun and he rakes his fingers through his hair, releasing all air from his lungs in one go. “You looked like you saw a ghost.”
“I did,” Minho replies, silently. Jonghyun doesn’t push, and is rewarded a second later. “That man out there. He used to be my partner.”
“…what?” Jonghyun needs a moment to pick up his jaw from the floor. That much he hadn’t expected and it feels ridiculous, like a cheesy soap opera, that they end up talking about the man the same day they see him, for the first time in years, from what he gathered. “The one who disappeared? He was your partner?”
The last word makes Minho snort. “He was my partner in more ways than one.”
“What?” Jonghyun’s reply is less intelligent but it’ll have to do.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Minho says. He closes his eyes again and huffs as he turns to sit properly on his seat instead of facing the other man. “And if you have a problem with that you can kindly fuck off.”
“No, no!” Jonghyun shakes his head. He’s struggling for words and in the end, all he manages is a dumbfounded. “What happened?”
“I don’t fucking know what happened!” Minho raises his voice, hoarse from the screaming outside. Right now his tone is much more moderate and toned down, but it’s still loud enough to echo in the small confined space. “And what’s it to you!?”
“I am your goddamn partner, man!” Jonghyun matches the volume, his temper flaring up as well. “I need to trust you with my life out there. Don’t you think I deserve some trust in turn? Some honesty? I’m not asking you to bend over backwards for me.”
The silence is so thick one could easily cut it with a knife. It stretches on for long, so long neither of them really knows how to break it again.
Finally, Minho huffs. “Fine.”
His words start out slowly, hesitantly, as he recounts the happenings from over two years back. There isn’t much new information in what Minho says about the actual disappearance: he woke up one morning to find Kibum gone, disappeared without a word and without a trace. He didn’t take any of his belongings along, and it was like the earth opened up and swallowed him.
Minho tried searching for him first but only hit a brick wall wherever he went. The Special Forces started their own investigation but it wasn’t any more successful. There was absolutely nothing to be found.
Afterwards, Jonghyun starts the car again and they drive back to the station in silence. That is where they part ways with nothing more than a curt nod, both men lost deep in thought.
When Minho gets home he grabs a bottle of scotch to drown out the past few hours of his life. He might not have been shot down in that alley but it feels like every inch of his skin is scrubbed raw, like the old wounds have been ripped open and a few new ones torn parallel to them. It’s the kind of pain he can’t handle, the pain of losing someone as essential as a part of yourself.
He drinks to forget. Yet when he passes out in the early morning hours, he counts Kibum’s eyelashes in his sleep.
“Rise and shine, baby!” Jonghyun’s voice reaches octaves Minho never expected him to hit. Or maybe it’s the splitting headache that makes it feel like every syllable is underlined by a good bash of a hammer in the back of his skull. He rolls over with a groan, only to realize he’s still fully clothed and lying sideways on his double-bed. Every single muscle in his body hurts, and he kind of regrets opening that last bottle a few hours back.
Jonghyun is standing right there, glaring at him, with hands on his hips. The sight reminds Minho of something - someone - but he shakes the thought off as soon as it appears. “Now will you get up or do I have to make you?” Jonghyun demands. He waits for no answer though, and instead grabs Minho’s arm to forcibly drag him out of bed.
It’s still hard for Minho to even realize what just happened when he’s sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in front of him, changed in a fresh dress shirt to salvage a bit of his dignity, even with his uniform crumpled. He only barely managed to escape Jonghyun’s plan to wash his hair, convincing him that it’s plenty enough to scrub his face and brush his teeth.
Now, he feels like a teenager after the first time getting drunk, sitting in the kitchen with his mother. Except, Jonghyun isn’t exactly the motherly type, despite the strong coffee he makes. “So,” Minho begins, tentatively, “why are you here? How did you even get inside?”
Jonghyun laughs. “You left the door open, mister. You should be glad no one sneaked inside to steal all your belongings, or to take advantage of your passed out self. That would’ve been way too easy! Me, however, I’m here with pure intentions. Now eat up.” He slams a brown paper bag on the table, and closer inspection shows it has three bagels inside, all with different fillings.
They all taste equally heavenly though and Minho gobbles them up so fast he makes Jonghyun laugh. “You look like you never saw food in your life.” He stands up, depositing the coffee mugs in the sink. “Now let’s go. We’re late.”
“Late?” Minho raises both eyebrows.
“Yes,” Jonghyun answers with a smirk. “We have a meeting.”
The meeting turns out to be Kyuhyun from their IT department: a nice man with a knack for computers he had to pay for with slight social awkwardness. He’s a good friend, always up for helping despite the way he grumbles about it. Sungmin says he’s improved heaps and bounds thanks to the man he lives with, but it’s impossible to get rid of all the awkward.
“I looked up Kibum’s file for you. It was actually relatively easy to get to,” Kyuhyun informs them the first thing as they step into his little cubicle of an office. Sungmin is there, too, although no one really knows why. Perhaps he’s just nosy. “Maybe because there really isn’t much to be seen.”
“What do you mean?” Jonghyun asks as he leans in, looking over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Kyuhyun tries to swat him away but then there’s also Sungmin trying to peer at the screen and in the end he gives up with a groan.
“Look,” Kyuhyun says. “It’s weird. They did the routine interviews, asked the regular questions from family, friends, everyone he worked with… then, it’s marked that the Special Forces took over the operation, but that’s where everything stops. They did nothing! They didn’t even run his DNA and try to match it with the unsolved cases. They just let it die away.”
“Maybe they-” Minho begins, but Kyuhyun waves at him to shut up.
“That’s not everything,” he explains. “It’s like his file is wiped clean. The personal record? Gone. Not only personal information but also the cases he’s worked on, everything. There is one photo of him, from like ten years ago, and the basic record of where he was born and when. But after he entered the academy he stops existing.”
The faces around him are serious as they all take in the information. Minho sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, tugs on the overgrown strands and drops to sit down in the uncomfortable armchair. “When he disappeared, I tried to ask around. I figured I could try to find out something as well, you know.” The others nod, listening to his explanations silently.
“It felt like hitting my head against a wall,” Minho says, matter-of-fact. “No one knew anything, no one said anything. Shit, they all knew what he meant to me and…” he trails off. It’s easy to see the stiff set of his shoulders, the tense line of his jaw as he tries to bite his teeth together to keep calm. Even after two years it feels like the wounds are still fresh, like they never even started healing.
“Obviously someone wanted him to disappear,” Sungmin says.
Kyuhyun nods, his mouth set to a firm line. “Someone who knew what he was doing.”
“Hey guys,” Jonghyun speaks up, his eyes trained on the screen. “We could go ask the officer in charge of the investigations. He might not say much but maybe he’ll give us some kind of a hint, at least? Who is this man anyway? Choi Siwon?”
Both Sungmin and Kyuhyun turn to look at Minho, who seems surprised. Jonghyun frowns. “What?”
Minho swallows, taking a deep breath before he looks him in the eye. “Siwon is my brother.”
Next: Chapter 2
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(3454 words)
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be gentle okay this is a venture out of my usual box and I’m not really confident in how it turned out. it’s just something I really really wanted to write! and I’ve been working on it for ages now, so it’s a relief to finally have it finished, haha.
also, this was supposed to be a short drabble inspired by how hot Minho would look in an uniform. in the end it turned out to be a chaptered fic with 23k+ words… WHAT IS MY LIFE.
gonna try post the other chapters soonish but they still need editing work before. I felt like this one was presentable enough :3
in the end huge HUGE thanks to neezoy since without her I would’ve jumped off a cliff or burned this fic before I was halfway done~♥
@DW.
Author: fonulyn
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Warnings: mentions of violence (nothing very graphic) and prostitution. also I quite possibly made up half of the stuff when it comes to the police force so some factual inaccuracy.
Pairing: Minho/Key (plus ninjaing!Qmi)
Characters: Minho, Key, Ryeowook, Jonghyun, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Onew, Donghae, Heechul
Disclaimer: I own no one, only my dirty imagination.
Summary: It's been over two years since Minho lost Kibum, lost him without knowing why. He never expected to see him again. He definitely never expected to see him again like this. (aka Minho is a policeman and his job brings him much closer to his past than he ever thought possible.)
Comments: behold my drabble inspired by Minho in a uniform. the summary sucks since gdi I don’t know what to say without giving away everything that’ll happen, haha.
I’ve been working on this for months, but it still feels it took more effort to come up with a title and a summary than the 23k of fic. do enjoy~
Minho has a recurring dream.
It’s always the same. Minho is standing in the kitchen doorway, watching how sunlight filters through the shades and casts an alluring glow on the floorboards. There’s a scent of coffee lingering in the air that makes everything feel so real, unbearably so. He doesn’t really want to move but he’s drawn into the room anyway, until he stops in the middle, beside the large table.
Then there’s a man in front of him, clad in one of his shirts and nothing else, smiling up at him. Eyes sparkle underneath an overgrown fringe and a small smile tugs at the rosy lips that seem to beg to be kissed. There are words but Minho never hears them, no matter how much he tries to focus they flow past him like wisps of smoke. The man’s voice surrounds him on all sides and it sends a painful flash of familiarity in his chest.
Every time, Minho tries to resist, and every time he reaches out to touch anyway. He brushes his fingers over a smooth cheek, traces the protruding cheekbone and the sharp jaw. His eyes slide shut as he leans in, their hot breaths mixing.
At the exact moment his lips touch the other man’s, the room begins to spin around him. It’s like his hands only meet thin air now, like his eyes are fighting to see and his ears straining to hear. Minho does everything he can to hold on to the moment, his heartbeat as frantic as his breaths are shallow.
Every single time, he watches the man slip through his fingers and gradually fade from existence.
Then, he is alone.
The sound of footsteps echoing from the walls has always been oddly comforting, to Minho at least. It's the constant in his life that doesn't change, even when everything else does, it helps him to clear his mind and stop thinking. It’s an everyday routine, walking from the underground parking space up to the elevators, as natural and essential as the first cup of coffee in the morning, or brushing his teeth.
As soon as he steps into the office building the silence is broken and loud chatter surrounds him from all sides. He bows lightly at the first officer by the door and Donghae flashes him a quick smile in turn. Minho likes most of his colleagues but Donghae was the first one to welcome him to the station as a rookie, the first one to treat him like an actual cop instead of a kid that needed to be taught the right ways. That is something Minho is still grateful for.
It's like any other day at the station, down to the fact that his partner, Jonghyun, is sitting beside his desk with his feet propped up on the table, chatting with Sungmin. Wordlessly Minho grabs Jonghyun's ankle and lifts his legs up, letting them fall back on the floor with a thud. Jonghyun doesn't seem to be bothered by that in the slightest, though, he just grins and leans back in his chair, peering up at the other man. "Good morning! You seem to be in a sunny mood, man."
Sungmin snorts. "It's five in the afternoon, Jonghyun. You can't possibly call this morning anymore."
Jonghyun ignores him. "Did you hear where we're going today?" he asks instead, his grin even widening as he basks in Minho's confusion. "We're going to the third district! They need some special help, and we're the only ones who are free today!"
“Did you bribe the chief?” Minho asks, trying to feign nonchalance although his interest has been piqued. They have never worked on the third district. There have been some missions and projects there in the past that their station took part in, but Minho has never been included. It feels that his chief is going out of his way to keep him out of that part of town, although Minho can’t fathom why.
That earns happy laughter from Jonghyun. “No, I didn’t. The chief is still on holiday or some shit, and I just got the orders from Moustache. He says we go.”
Well that explains, Minho thinks. The man more or less lovingly labelled Moustache is the man in charge whenever their chief isn’t there, which thankfully happens rarely, and he wouldn’t be able to tell apart the different districts even with the help of a map.
Inwardly Minho’s thoughts are racing as he tries to figure out what it could be in the third district, but outwardly he remains impossibly calm. “Get your feet off the table and into the car if you don’t want to walk there.” He doesn’t even spare Jonghyun a glance before he walks off briskly.
Sungmin spends a moment watching Minho’s retreating back, a frown on his face. “What the hell is his problem…” he asks, although it’s not exactly even directed at anyone.
“C’mon,” Jonghyun shrugs, unbothered. “He’s always like that.”
“He wasn’t,” Sungmin insists and Jonghyun doesn’t waste time as he turns to look at him, curious. Sungmin is still gazing into the distance, his lips pursed disapprovingly. “Not before his partner disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” This is something Jonghyun hasn’t heard of before, and one can nearly see his ears perk up as he sits straighter in his chair and looks at Sungmin expectantly, ready to absorb every single word that follows.
The answer is a small shrug. “The case was… incredibly weird. Kibum simply disappeared into thin air one day and never came back. There were no traces left, no nothing. It’s like one day he decided this is it. Or maybe someone put a bullet through his skull, no one knows.”
Jonghyun listens silently, trying to complete the puzzle inside his mind.
Sungmin sighs. “Too bad. The two of them were totally attached at the hip. And you can see what Minho has become.”
Truth to be told, Jonghyun has no idea. This Minho is the only one he’s ever known: the one who speaks in short clipped sentences and looks like a warning before the storm; the one who never goes out to socialize with the others in the evening but who is always polite during office hours. He somehow suspects that if he’d run into Minho outside the job the man wouldn’t even pay him any attention.
Jonghyun has never minded that. He likes Minho as he is, and he thinks they work pretty well together. Still, he can’t help but wonder.
What is the real Minho like, underneath all that?
“If this coffee was any stronger you could stick the cup upside down and nothing would drop out!” Jonghyun groans, dropping his head backwards until it hits the seat. “Why were we asked to patrol here, again? Seriously man, there’s nothing here! It’s more lively in my grandmother’s backyard and I tell you, that place is dead as shit!”
“You were the one who got the orders,” Minho points out from the driver’s seat. That’s all he’s going to say to it and Jonghyun knows it, so instead of trying to make the conversation more two-sided he goes on blathering about his grandmother and her twelve cats. Not that Minho is listening anymore.
Raindrops are thrumming the windshield, and they had to switch off the wipers because the left one started scratching the glass in a way that got them both on edge. It seems to be getting less, though, and idly Minho watches as the traffic lights change colour and the cars start moving again. Jonghyun is still talking when Minho finally steers their car into the traffic and onto the silent side-alleys, the ones they were told to keep an eye on. Even if it now feels like waste of time.
Jonghyun has stopped talking about his grandmother and is now elaborating on the perks of different coffee flavours, when suddenly there’s a loud bang right beside them. It startles them both and they freeze for a second before another loud shot resonates in the air and Minho reacts on instinct. He parks the car, so haphazardly it’s a wonder it’s not in the middle of the road, and throws the door open to jump outside. There are loud shouting voices right behind a couple of turns and he runs, as fast as he can.
His boots splash water on the asphalt as he rounds a corner, coming face to face with the scenario he expected. There’s a body down on the ground, lying in a pool of blood, and a man pressed against the wall roughly by another, a gun to his head. A few steps away from them there are two more men, crouched against the opposing building as if seeking shelter from the bullets that are bound to follow.
Minho has no idea where Jonghyun is. He doesn’t have time for that. Instead of thinking he acts, raises his gun and yells at the top of his lungs. “Police! Freeze! Drop your weapons!”
The attacker spins around and the next thing Minho knows is that there’s a gun aimed at him and he knows he won’t be able to shoot fast enough to come out of this alive. Frantically he tries to come up with a way to survive when a bullet flies past him and scrapes the attacker’s arm enough to make him drop his weapon. The man curses and spins around to run, not paying any mind to Jonghyun’s shouts to stop and surrender.
It’s like all hell breaks loose around Minho, people running and screaming, but all he can do is stare.
One of the crouched figures has stood up and turned to face them and that is when Minho’s whole world plummets down to crash land on the ground. He would recognize the slant of those eyes anywhere, could trace every single eyelash from memory as he holds the piercing gaze. Two years ago, he used to know every scar, every dip, every curve of those features and right now it feels like life plays a cruel trick on him.
The spell is broken when suddenly someone bumps into Minho and makes him almost lose balance. Once he looks up all he sees are retreating backs, figures running into the distance. “WAIT!” Minho has never heard his own voice like that, so raw and ripped. He dashes down the alley, as fast as his feet carry him, and he doesn’t even realize he’s still screaming.
As he rounds a corner there’s no one there.
Later, much later, Minho has no idea how he found his way back to the car again, nor how they got reinforcement and handled the whole situation. Jonghyun instantly bans him from driving and almost violently pushes him into the front seat, throwing a white towel at him from the trunk. He gets behind the wheel himself and this time, there’s no endless flow of chatter as they drive off.
There’s silence.
Jonghyun grits his teeth and refuses to look at Minho, who in turn keeps his eyes closed and replays what happened in that alley, time and time again. No matter how often he thinks through it, none of it seems to make sense to him. None at all.
Suddenly Jonghyun hits the brakes, stops them on the roadside and spins around to look at Minho. “What the fuck was that all about!?”
Minho doesn’t even grace him with an answer, but when Jonghyun grabs his shoulder and forcibly twists him around to face him he at least opens his eyes to glare at his partner.
“Down that alley. What the hell were you thinking!? You could’ve gotten us both killed! First of all running out there like that and then just… standing there. What did you see?” The words simply burst out of Jonghyun and he rakes his fingers through his hair, releasing all air from his lungs in one go. “You looked like you saw a ghost.”
“I did,” Minho replies, silently. Jonghyun doesn’t push, and is rewarded a second later. “That man out there. He used to be my partner.”
“…what?” Jonghyun needs a moment to pick up his jaw from the floor. That much he hadn’t expected and it feels ridiculous, like a cheesy soap opera, that they end up talking about the man the same day they see him, for the first time in years, from what he gathered. “The one who disappeared? He was your partner?”
The last word makes Minho snort. “He was my partner in more ways than one.”
“What?” Jonghyun’s reply is less intelligent but it’ll have to do.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Minho says. He closes his eyes again and huffs as he turns to sit properly on his seat instead of facing the other man. “And if you have a problem with that you can kindly fuck off.”
“No, no!” Jonghyun shakes his head. He’s struggling for words and in the end, all he manages is a dumbfounded. “What happened?”
“I don’t fucking know what happened!” Minho raises his voice, hoarse from the screaming outside. Right now his tone is much more moderate and toned down, but it’s still loud enough to echo in the small confined space. “And what’s it to you!?”
“I am your goddamn partner, man!” Jonghyun matches the volume, his temper flaring up as well. “I need to trust you with my life out there. Don’t you think I deserve some trust in turn? Some honesty? I’m not asking you to bend over backwards for me.”
The silence is so thick one could easily cut it with a knife. It stretches on for long, so long neither of them really knows how to break it again.
Finally, Minho huffs. “Fine.”
His words start out slowly, hesitantly, as he recounts the happenings from over two years back. There isn’t much new information in what Minho says about the actual disappearance: he woke up one morning to find Kibum gone, disappeared without a word and without a trace. He didn’t take any of his belongings along, and it was like the earth opened up and swallowed him.
Minho tried searching for him first but only hit a brick wall wherever he went. The Special Forces started their own investigation but it wasn’t any more successful. There was absolutely nothing to be found.
Afterwards, Jonghyun starts the car again and they drive back to the station in silence. That is where they part ways with nothing more than a curt nod, both men lost deep in thought.
When Minho gets home he grabs a bottle of scotch to drown out the past few hours of his life. He might not have been shot down in that alley but it feels like every inch of his skin is scrubbed raw, like the old wounds have been ripped open and a few new ones torn parallel to them. It’s the kind of pain he can’t handle, the pain of losing someone as essential as a part of yourself.
He drinks to forget. Yet when he passes out in the early morning hours, he counts Kibum’s eyelashes in his sleep.
“Rise and shine, baby!” Jonghyun’s voice reaches octaves Minho never expected him to hit. Or maybe it’s the splitting headache that makes it feel like every syllable is underlined by a good bash of a hammer in the back of his skull. He rolls over with a groan, only to realize he’s still fully clothed and lying sideways on his double-bed. Every single muscle in his body hurts, and he kind of regrets opening that last bottle a few hours back.
Jonghyun is standing right there, glaring at him, with hands on his hips. The sight reminds Minho of something - someone - but he shakes the thought off as soon as it appears. “Now will you get up or do I have to make you?” Jonghyun demands. He waits for no answer though, and instead grabs Minho’s arm to forcibly drag him out of bed.
It’s still hard for Minho to even realize what just happened when he’s sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in front of him, changed in a fresh dress shirt to salvage a bit of his dignity, even with his uniform crumpled. He only barely managed to escape Jonghyun’s plan to wash his hair, convincing him that it’s plenty enough to scrub his face and brush his teeth.
Now, he feels like a teenager after the first time getting drunk, sitting in the kitchen with his mother. Except, Jonghyun isn’t exactly the motherly type, despite the strong coffee he makes. “So,” Minho begins, tentatively, “why are you here? How did you even get inside?”
Jonghyun laughs. “You left the door open, mister. You should be glad no one sneaked inside to steal all your belongings, or to take advantage of your passed out self. That would’ve been way too easy! Me, however, I’m here with pure intentions. Now eat up.” He slams a brown paper bag on the table, and closer inspection shows it has three bagels inside, all with different fillings.
They all taste equally heavenly though and Minho gobbles them up so fast he makes Jonghyun laugh. “You look like you never saw food in your life.” He stands up, depositing the coffee mugs in the sink. “Now let’s go. We’re late.”
“Late?” Minho raises both eyebrows.
“Yes,” Jonghyun answers with a smirk. “We have a meeting.”
The meeting turns out to be Kyuhyun from their IT department: a nice man with a knack for computers he had to pay for with slight social awkwardness. He’s a good friend, always up for helping despite the way he grumbles about it. Sungmin says he’s improved heaps and bounds thanks to the man he lives with, but it’s impossible to get rid of all the awkward.
“I looked up Kibum’s file for you. It was actually relatively easy to get to,” Kyuhyun informs them the first thing as they step into his little cubicle of an office. Sungmin is there, too, although no one really knows why. Perhaps he’s just nosy. “Maybe because there really isn’t much to be seen.”
“What do you mean?” Jonghyun asks as he leans in, looking over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Kyuhyun tries to swat him away but then there’s also Sungmin trying to peer at the screen and in the end he gives up with a groan.
“Look,” Kyuhyun says. “It’s weird. They did the routine interviews, asked the regular questions from family, friends, everyone he worked with… then, it’s marked that the Special Forces took over the operation, but that’s where everything stops. They did nothing! They didn’t even run his DNA and try to match it with the unsolved cases. They just let it die away.”
“Maybe they-” Minho begins, but Kyuhyun waves at him to shut up.
“That’s not everything,” he explains. “It’s like his file is wiped clean. The personal record? Gone. Not only personal information but also the cases he’s worked on, everything. There is one photo of him, from like ten years ago, and the basic record of where he was born and when. But after he entered the academy he stops existing.”
The faces around him are serious as they all take in the information. Minho sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, tugs on the overgrown strands and drops to sit down in the uncomfortable armchair. “When he disappeared, I tried to ask around. I figured I could try to find out something as well, you know.” The others nod, listening to his explanations silently.
“It felt like hitting my head against a wall,” Minho says, matter-of-fact. “No one knew anything, no one said anything. Shit, they all knew what he meant to me and…” he trails off. It’s easy to see the stiff set of his shoulders, the tense line of his jaw as he tries to bite his teeth together to keep calm. Even after two years it feels like the wounds are still fresh, like they never even started healing.
“Obviously someone wanted him to disappear,” Sungmin says.
Kyuhyun nods, his mouth set to a firm line. “Someone who knew what he was doing.”
“Hey guys,” Jonghyun speaks up, his eyes trained on the screen. “We could go ask the officer in charge of the investigations. He might not say much but maybe he’ll give us some kind of a hint, at least? Who is this man anyway? Choi Siwon?”
Both Sungmin and Kyuhyun turn to look at Minho, who seems surprised. Jonghyun frowns. “What?”
Minho swallows, taking a deep breath before he looks him in the eye. “Siwon is my brother.”
Next: Chapter 2
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(3454 words)
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be gentle okay this is a venture out of my usual box and I’m not really confident in how it turned out. it’s just something I really really wanted to write! and I’ve been working on it for ages now, so it’s a relief to finally have it finished, haha.
also, this was supposed to be a short drabble inspired by how hot Minho would look in an uniform. in the end it turned out to be a chaptered fic with 23k+ words… WHAT IS MY LIFE.
gonna try post the other chapters soonish but they still need editing work before. I felt like this one was presentable enough :3
in the end huge HUGE thanks to neezoy since without her I would’ve jumped off a cliff or burned this fic before I was halfway done~♥
@DW.