Moo Chi tried not to feel guilty when the chief approached him after he had put the culprit in the holding cell, both of them wet and dirty from the chase.
"Detective Ko," the chief said dryly, and Moo Chi turned around.
"Hi chief, I was just" he said with a smile, but before he could say anything else the chief interrupted him.
"Prosecutor Ji wants to have a word," the chief said.
"Prosecutor Ji?" Moo Chi said, having seen the gigantic scowling man in the office before, but never having talked to him.
Seeing that he was new here, that wasn't anything weird. A detective could go quite a while without needing to enter that office. But of course, Moo Chi wasn't the kind of detective that avoided those things.
"You fucked up," his colleague said, almost sounding pleased, "come on, get it over with. As far as we know, Ji never really ate anyone,"
"Oh god, don't scare the rookie," another coworker said, "but boy, I'm sure glad it isn't me that needs to go,"
Moo Chi glared at the laughing men and decided that it was best to get it all over with. Ignoring the mud that was clinging to him, he walked to the office, and knocked on the door of the man.
"A moment," a deep voice said, and Moo Chi swallowed nervously before folding his face into somewhat less scared looking, and he thought he just managed it when the door opened, and he was staring straight at the prosecutor muscled chest.
"Ah, yes detective Ko," the prosecutor muttered, "come on in,"
Moo Chi followed the too large man, closing the door behind him and when he turned around the muscled body was leaning against his desk. Approaching, Moo Chi stood still about a meter away, trying not to stare at the prosecutor who was standing in front of him, glaring down at him. He shifted his legs, feeling a bit of mud slide down and knowing it dirtied the carpet.
The silence that formed was quickly working on his nerves, and Moo Chi put his hands in his pockets, to hide the shaking.
"So, what's up?" he asked, flippantly, seeing prosecutor Ji's nostrils flare open.
"What's up?" the man snarled, "you ask me what's up after you've disappeared for a whole day and night when you were giving chase to a known murderer. No message to your partner, no way of contacting you, no information,"
"Yeah, well, I got good reason..." Moo Chi tried, but he was interrupted.
"You could have been lying dead in a ditch somewhere, for all we knew," the prosecutor said, finally moving and sitting down behind his desk, making Moo Chi breathe a sigh of relief. To be honest, it did feel rather intimidating to have the man lean over him like that.
But perhaps not as intimidating as his colleagues made seem. All the anger was seemingly because something could have happened to Moo Chi, not because he ignored orders. He could work with that.
"But now I'm here," Moo Chi said, seeing the man stare at him, probably not used to having someone like him on the team. He had meant it as both a statement and a reassurance to the man, but for a moment he thought he had broken the prosecutor.
Hyuk was honestly surprised by the detective, who was managing to back talk even when he had put his scary face on. The last detective he had reprimanded had nearly fainted in fear, and the one before that hadn't been able to talk at all.
The fact that detective Ko was still talking to him, and rather cheekily at that, was weird, and showed that the man really didn't have any self-preservation, which was proven by the fact of why he was here, but still.
Hyuk was unsure if he actually liked it to not be feared.
"Yes, you are. But not for the next week. One week suspension. And before you'll come back, I'll have a test about the regulations ready, which you must ace," Hyuk said, seeing the eyes widen when the man learned about the consequences of his actions.
"What? A test? Oh come on," Moo Chi complained, suddenly looking indignant, and Hyuk had to hide a smile. He had expected an eked out 'okay,' or a terse nod. Not someone who sounded like a teenager that was told he had his chores still to do.
"Yes, a test," Hyuk said, still keeping his strict face on, "so, now enjoy your week off by trying to keep alive, and perhaps to go over the regulations,"
"Well, aren't you just the funniest prosecutor," Moo Chi muttered, before a smile appeared on his face, "well, at least we got him,"
"At least we got him," Hyuk agreed, "now go. I don't want to see your face for a week. Somehow I got a feeling you'll be a regular in here,"
"I think you might be right, prosecutor," Moo Chi said with a grin, "enjoy your week without me as well,"
"Out," Hyuk repeated, making Moo Chi grin again and step out of the office.
Hyuk looked at the closed door, shaking his head in amusement. He just knew that it was going to be a troublemaker. Somehow, he was both looking forward to it and not.
Arriving home, Ba Reum was surprised to see his aunt waiting for him and for a small moment he had hope in his heart, hope that she would do something special, hope that she would smile at him and be glad for his birthday.
But that hope was instantly crushed.
"You are late," the woman said, and Ba Reum instantly felt guilty for taking the detour and getting his ice cream.
He wouldn't have, if he had known she had been waiting for him. Normally the woman didn't pay him a lot of attention and often times she wasn't home at this hour at all. Ba Reum tried to pretend it wasn't because of him.
"I took a walk in the park," Ba Reum said shyly, somehow not wanting to reveal he had gone to get a treat, and neither wanting to tell her what exactly happened and how close to headspace he had almost gotten.
At least the big man had been nice to him, until he had to leave for his work, but it had brought Ba Reum down harder then he would have liked.
"Of course you did," the woman said with an annoyed sigh.
"Sorry," Ba Reum muttered, feeling guilty about not having warned his aunt, but he truly hadn't expected her to care.
"Whatever. Ba Reum, we need to talk," she said, her tone serious and the mild disgust in her face, like usual, not hidden.
"Talk?" Ba Reum asked sitting down opposite of her. Barely seated, he felt his watch buzz. He knew she heard it and heard the annoyed sigh she gave, shaking her head while she looked at him.
"Go on, I'll wait. No use in you ruining the chair," she said, and Ba Reum flushed.
"Be right back," Ba Reum said softly, getting up and hurrying to the bathroom. He really didn't want to make his aunt wait too long, but having an accident would be much worse than a few minutes delay.
Sitting down on the toilet, he pressed hard with his fist on his bladder while he tensed all his muscles, feeling some liquid escape him.
It wasn't a lot, it never was seeing that he went every two hours, but he knew that if he started to skip these alarms, it could result in big wettings, and he couldn't have those.
Pulling up his slightly damp underpants, he shuddered at the cold temperature, feeling a slight irritation on his genitals already, but he didn't want to take the time to change them, not when his aunt wanted to talk to him.
"I'm back," Ba Reum said, keeping his voice soft, as if what he did was normal.
"Sit down then," the woman said, waiting until Ba Reum was seated.
For a few moments it was silent, the sound of a ticking clock filling the room and making Ba Reum nervous, and for a moment he felt something fuzzy almost overcome his thinking, but he pushed it away. At least now he was eighteen, he could buy suppressors without any prescriptions.
His aunt had made sure he had a small supply, for when he had a headspace moment when it was school time, but no doctor wanted to prescribe a permanent suppressed headspace, especially not to a minor.
"Now that you are eighteen, it's time to find your own place to life," the woman said, completely blind-siding Ba Reum.
"What?" the little said, blinking at his aunt, unable to truly process the words. The woman gave a sound of annoyance, and Ba Reum flinched at the look he received, "excuse me, I just...can you explain, please?"
"I sold the house. I'm leaving tomorrow and at the end of the month the new people are coming to life here. You have your parent's inheritance, I'm sure you'll find something," the woman said, and Ba Reum blinked slowly at her, trying to process the sudden information.
"But it's the 25th," he said, feeling his stomach clench at the small amount of time, "are you coming too? With me?"
"You're an adult now," the woman snapped, "there is no use to pretend we'll have anything to do with each other after this. I have no legal obligation anymore to make sure you are taken care off,"
"But..," Ba Reum said, but the woman was getting up, too annoyed at the conversation and wanting to be rid of him.
"Be glad you can still life here for the next couple of days. Rent something if you haven't gotten a place yet, life on the streets for all I care," the woman snapped, "I'm leaving tomorrow,"
Ba Reum watched her go, sitting in shock on his chair, his heart hammering in his chest. He had thought he had it bad, but now that he was put in this situation, he realised that it had been okay. His aunt might not have cared, but at least he had a room above his head, and she had been there when he really needed it.
He guessed it was his own fault that he was in this situation. He expected more, and he shouldn't have. He should have seen this coming and prepared for it instead of ignoring all the signs and pretending he was worth caring for.
A sniffle escaped him, and he felt the fuzziness press down on him that told him his mind wasn't keeping up with being big.
"Stupid," Ba Reum said to himself, tugging on his hair and wincing at the pain, but it helped him stay focused. It would figure that the first day he was legally an adult, he would slip into his headspace.
Feeling that the fuzziness wasn't going away, he fled to his bedroom, hiding in the futon, underneath the blankets. Tears welled up in his eyes when he realises that he would once again be uprooted in his life.
Grabbing his pillow close, he started to cry, at first trying to stay silent, but the sobs came out unbidden. Stuffing his fist in his mouth, Ba Reum bit down, trying to keep as silent as he could, eventually falling asleep, the despair in his mind still present.
And when he woke up the next morning, he felt the wet sheets cling to him. Making a distressed sound, he turned around and only noticed his aunt standing in his doorway, staring at him.
"Auntie?" Ba Reum asked, a finger still in his mouth and still in his headspace.
"Seriously? I tell you to be the adult you should be, and this is what you do?" the woman said, sneering at him in disgust, "well, figure it out yourself, but if you're still here by the first of June, I'm calling the cops for trespassing,"
With that message the woman left, and Ba Reum felt new tears well up, and couldn't help but start sobbing again, left now in his wet bed with no one to help him.
And his mind slipped lower and lower in his headspace, where the pain was just one big block and he just wanted anyone to come and take it away.
"Ba Reum is late," Chi Kook said, looking anxiously out of the window while Dong Koo sat looking through his video games. The base looked at his watch and frowned.
"This isn't like him," Dong Koo said, looking worried, "you think something happened.
"I don't know," Chi Kook said, "he was looking forward to coming, and he's always on time,"
"Oh, I do hope he's alright," Chi kook's mom said, looking at the pair, "you know his aunt isn't going to help him with anything,"
"No, she won't," Dong Koo agreed with a frown.
"We should check it out," Chi kook decided, Dong Koo nodding and getting up, "even if it's nothing, it's better to be sure,"
"Just wait, I'll get your father to drive you," Chi Kook's mom said, a moment later shouting at her husband to come down to bring them to Ba Reum.
"Your mom has a good set of lungs," Dong Koo said, wincing at her volume.
"Yeah, well, dad has bad hearing," Chi Kook said, smiling for a moment before concern took over again.
Why the hell isn't Ba Reum here?