~ Taekwoon’s POV ~

Funerals were never meant to be spectacles. It seemed somehow both extremely irreverent and especially cold to the deceased. Taekwoon felt dirty just being there, in the grand space arranged to celebrate someone’s death more than their life it felt like. There were so many people there, Hakyeon had been right, all of the cast had shown up as well as quite a few of the staff from theatre. Cast from Woobin’s previous works, friends, family, and a horde of people Taekwoon wasn’t sure should be there as well, like the media.

At almost every gathered huddle of people the only words on their lips were of the murder. Even at the one he stood at, which would probably explain the look of disdain on his face that Jaehwan kept pointing out. Himself, Hakyeon, and Jaehwan stood together, listening as people would make toasts or share some shred of knowledge from Woobin’s life. Rather than a more formal event, it was made like party. Which meant crowd mingling, which for Taekwoon meant staying as near the wall and away from a microphone being passed around as possible.

Wonsik’s friend, Hyuk, had been quick to point out that the funeral would be the perfect time to scope out the other suspects. There had been a very long and detailed list regarding what to be looking for and questions he might ask if the chance arose. It made him feel like the most unclean one there. Others were there to be part of the spectacle but there he was trying to watch them all and look for faults. Well, if the killer really was there, it made him the second most unclean one.

It was still hard to imagine, hard to accept, that one of the people who he’d been working with tirelessly for months had done something so horrible. Motives. That was the keypoint Hyuk had tried to stress to him when they’d met the previous day to discuss the case, as it were. Someone had to have a motive to kill him, it was too planned out, too detailed for it to be a random occurrence. Especially with the revelation that the murder weapon had been at the theatre for at least a week if not longer. The model of gun they used as a prop wasn’t common,  and someone had to have found the exact same model.

Which also meant from the very start someone had been out to frame him for the deed. The gun left in his dressing room, found there after the murder, his normal prop having gone missing. Did the killer have a grudge against him as well as Woobin or had he just been a convenient pawn in it all? And while he wasn’t the most friendly person to work with, he’d be the first to admit that, he didn’t interact with anyone enough to give someone a reason to frame him.

None of it made sense, which only made it that much harder to try and observe. Taekwoon didn’t even know where to start looking for the clues everyone had spoke about. And he’d told them as much when they’d met. At the time, he’d tried to make a case for bringing Hongbin and Wonsik with him, but they’d both said it would be inappropriate for them to attend. Well it sure hadn’t stopped the rest of the city from showing up, he thought sourly. In the end it had been decided that he should just watch as much as he could and relay if anything of interest happened no matter how small it might be or who it was that did it.

So he watched, and listened, and wished he wasn’t there.

“If you keep glaring like that, people are really going to think you’re the killer, Leo-hyung.” Jaehwan nudged him in the ribs with an elbow and offered a quick smile, brows going up over his expressive eyes. “You’ve been out of it since you got here.” Worry tinged his friends voice, “Did they make you go to the police station again?” Taekwoon only shook his head. “Did they take your boyfriend again?” He really didn’t want to talk about it but nodded once.

“Hongbinnie got taken to the police station?” Hakyeon interrupted, leaning in to try and keep the conversation contained between the three of them. “What? When? Why didn’t you tell me? Oh, our poor Hongbinnie.”

“What?” Jaehwan quirked a brow and shook his head, “Why would Hongbin-ah be there? I’m talking about that guy from the coffee shop he started dating, the one with the blue hair. You remember, how he always ducked out of lunch? You started dating him, right?”

“Nuh uh, I have walked in on Taekwoonie and Hongbinnie kissing at the theatre. You’re dating Hongbinnie right?” Two pairs of eyes turned to him expectantly. He was not having this conversation. No, absolutely not.

“Both.” There, that was all, he wasn’t going to divulge more. “Hongbin-ah’s fine. Wonsik-ah was questioned again but released.” No one else needed to know anything else about his private life. Especially when he himself was still processing what all the feelings churning around inside him meant. And it was embarrassing enough that they were discussing it there of all places.

“Woah, bo--” Jaehwan cut himself off when Taekwoon turned his glare onto him, suddenly finding the opposite wall of particular interest to him. For good measure, he shot a glare at Hakyeon as well. This topic was not open for discussion. “Anyhow,” Jaehwan cleared his throat and glanced around the room for any other thing to talk about. “Have you said your respects to the family yet?”

The family was really just one person. Woobin’s mother stood at one end of the room, dressed in black with broken eyes. She was younger, or younger than Taekwoon had expected, trying to be strong but with so much on her he was surprised she hadn’t broke yet. “...poor woman, raised him all by herself.” Taekwoon made himself tune in as Hakyeon started talking, “We went out for drinks a couple of times, Woobinnie and I. We used to go to this card den, I lost so much money.” Hakyeon laughed but Taekwoon’s inner alarm sounded. Money. That was ‘one of the most common motives for murder’ as Hyuk put it. “When he had a little too much to drink Woobinnie would talk about how his mom raised him after his dad left them when he was a baby, not even a year old. There wasn’t anyone he loved more than his mom since it was just the two of them. Ahhh, he wanted to do so well to pay her back.”

So, Hakyeon had lost money playing cards with Woobin. It was, potentially, motive, though he didn’t know how much was lost except ‘so much’ and that could mean anything. It didn’t feel like much but he filed away the information to share with the others later, maybe with the missing files one of them could come up with something more. “Oh, this should be interesting.” Jaehwan nudged him again, and gestured toward one of their co-stars, Yoona, approaching Woobin’s mother.

The starlet had fat pretty tears in her eyes, and Taekwoon couldn’t tell if they were for show or real. Like everyone else in attendance she’d dressed in the standard mourning black but that hadn’t stopped her from looking her best, hair and make up carefully done. The two women embraced and spoke quietly. “Did you know Yoona-yah and Woobin-ah were dating?” What? Taekwoon turned his eyes away from the tearful meeting to stare at Jaehwan hard. “For like, the entire time we’ve been in rehearsals, jeez don’t look so shocked. You really never noticed that they’d leave together most nights?” Taekwoon dragged his eyes back to his co-star, her face shining with tears as she accepted a small box from the grieving mother.

Lust or desire was also one of the motives he’d been set out to watch. Spurned lover? Then why did she look so sad? Taekwoon frowned and adjusted his stance, arms crossing over his chest. He wasn’t so good at being a detective, but he mentally noted the new fact as well. “She must have been in so much shock, the poor girl.” Hakyeon rested a hand on Taekwoon’s shoulder and glanced over in the girl’s direction in probably what he hoped was a casual manner. “It wasn’t until a day and a half after that she started crying.”

“I was shocked too though! I couldn’t believe it when you came backstage to announce it, Hakyeon-hyung.” Jaehwan scooted closer in until the three of them were merely three backs facing the rest of the room. “You never told us who found the body. Was it you?” It was a good question, and it had Taekwoon tipping his head to the side in interest. Why would anyone have gone to the roof during the middle of the performance? Maybe to smoke, he knew that both Woobin and Himchan did. Could the killer have been the one to report it? Why would they? Wouldn’t it have been better for them if it wasn’t found until later?

“Ahhhh, I’m not supposed to say, the police want it kept quiet.” Hakyeon just shrugged and shook his head. “I’ll tell you once it’s solved okay?” That seemed to placate Jaehwan but Taekwoon frowned. That could have been something important; he considered pressing the issue but Hakyeon had already moved on to another subject. “In better news, I’ve finally got the all clear to get the theatre back in shape. No more stupid guards at the door, ugh, it’s going to take even longer to get clean now because it’s been sitting for so long. We have to plan for re-opening.” Re-opening? Taekwoon hadn’t even thought that far ahead.

“Did they ever find my prop gun?” Taekwoon asked, the thought just hitting him. It was one of the biggest marks against him in the case, he knew. But after asking around a little, he’d found that all members of the staff and crew had been searched before they left the night of the crime, which meant that no one could have left with it. Hyuk had been certain that meant it was still in the theatre somehow, though if someone had removed the video file hard discs, maybe the gun had gone with them; Taekwoon watched Hakyeon intently looking for some reaction.

But Hakyeon just shook his head again and pouted, “Not that I’ve heard of, which is going to be a pain to replace.” Taekwoon thought darkly that it was going to be a pain to replace their lead when he was sent to jail for this, but didn’t mention it. Maybe the police had somehow missed it and it was still in the theatre, over the course of the show they’d all learned that the old building had many places to hide. But if the theatre was opening then that meant the killer would have time to go and retrieve it as well.

“When are you going back in?” Taekwoon tried to ask without giving away his interest in the matter.

“Tomorrow probably, I’ll have to assess the needs and then hire cleaning staff.” Hakyeon offered a dramatic sigh. “We probably won’t have a cast gathering for another week, I’m sure you must be eager to start again.” Not really, but he didn’t want to say it.

“Hongbin-ah wanted to take pictures of the theatre before it was cleaned.” It was a lie, he didn’t know why he said it. But it felt important that they at least have the chance to look before other people had the chance to come in a remove the gun. “For his pictorial project.”

“Ohhhhh,” luck was on his side because Hakyeon seemed pleased with the idea. “Tell him to text me, we’ll figure out a time for him to come by in the next day or two or whenever he has time. Ahhh we can put a whole short article about it on our site, what a good idea, Hakyeon.”

Hakyeon’s praise of himself was interrupted though by a sudden outburst of sobbing that drew everyone in the room’s attention to the grieving mother and increasingly distressed looking Himchan, eyes darting back and forth in embarrassment as he quietly let go of the woman’s hand. Quickly, he bowed to the woman before making a fast exit, head dropped low. But that was hardly enough to deter the wrath of Cha Hakyeon, who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to their group.

“What did you do?” Hakyeon hissed quietly keeping a good grip on the other man’s arm lest he try and flee. “Himchannie, what did you say to her?”

“I’m sorry!” Himchan was quick to apologize and tried to tug his arm free to no avail. Hakyeon was actually a lot stronger than he looked. “I just offered my condolences I swear!” But he withered somewhat under the stares he was given. “I just told her that I lost my dad really recently too and that I was sorry for her loss, I don’t know why that set her off.” Another round of frowns but he held up his hands and nodded, “Honest, maybe it was because Woobin-hyung didn’t have a dad, I don’t know.”

“Aish,” Hakyeon sighed but released his arm, “think about what you’re saying before you say it. Now you look like a bad guy, is that what you wanted?” But he finally freed the other man from his grasp. Himchan ducked his head in an apology again before scurrying off, Hakyeon shaking his head after him. “That kid.”

~ Ravi’s POV ~

It was weird being home, it was weird waking up, it was weird going through the day, it was weird going to work, it was weird being him. After he’d left the police station, after he’d got the texts from all of the rap underground, after he’d told Hyuk what had gone down. It felt like he was living inside some sort of dream or bubble. Was it good luck or bad luck that he’d been seen getting escorted by the police? He couldn’t tell. All he knew was that his name had suddenly blown up on the underground rap scene, and that he’d had to go do damage control the moment he left the station. Killer, maestro murderer, things he’d never wanted associated with his name suddenly were going hand in hand with ‘Ravi’.

Everyone was so quick to make him something he wasn’t. Even if a majority of them did believe that he was innocent, which he was grateful for, they all seemed to look at him differently. Was that what he was supposed to rap about now? the police and like that? That wasn’t him, that wasn’t what he wanted. But it was also his chance, maybe the one he’d been waiting for. Do a few tracks like that to get the people into him before moving to what he really wanted to do. It seemed so hollow and false but what if he missed his shot by not doing it?

Plus they still had the murder to clear up. It tore him up inside knowing that the evidence that made him look innocent only served to tighten the noose around Taekwoon’s neck. The police had all but dropped to the ground when they figured out the murder weapon had been in Taekwoon’s dressing room. It almost made him regret saying it, but what else was he supposed to say? At least it had also offered a reason why Taekwoon’s prints would also be on the gun. He felt like that along with the evidence Hongbin had turned over regarding the two props was all that was stopping the police from making a formal arrest of Taekwoon.

It made him sick.

For once, if possible, it felt like their small apartment was almost too large. Only two days of having it filled by not only himself and Hongbin but Taekwoon and Hyuk as well had made him miss the constant presence. Having the space to himself felt a little empty. Hongbin would be home soon, he reminded himself looking at the note his roommate had left him, with groceries. Which probably meant no more ordering out.

It felt almost mundane to worry about the little stuff like he used to. Things like money for rent and food seemed so inconsequential when compared to being accused of murder. Though of course that didn’t change the fact that they still needed that money and even though Eunchan was being the most kind boss he could, Ravi still needed to get back to work so he could get paid. The world didn’t stop turning because his slice of it was falling apart.

And it wasn’t just him, that was the tiest part, he could probably deal with it if it were just him. Probably wouldn’t have liked it all that much of course, but dealt with it sure. But seeing Taekwoon and, by extension through him and Ravi himself, Hongbin get pulled into the mess as well made it so much worse. And there was no one to fight, no one to zero in on except a faceless killer.

These were two people he… loved? It felt weird to admit, at least about Taekwoon. , he’d known he was in love with his Hongbin for years, but how could he be in love with a guy he’d only really met a little over a week ago? Hongbin had admitted, rather awkwardly, that he and Taekwoon had finally ed, and that hadn’t surprised Ravi at all. (He’d even congratulated his friend and received the biggest pillow fight in history because of it.) Where it did surprise him was when Hongbin had cautiously said that he loved Taekwoon. His first reaction had been that it was too soon, but who the hell was he to judge what was and wasn’t too soon? And when he really thought about it, he thought maybe he loved Taekwoon too, and maybe it didn’t need a reason.

Hongbin’s arrival was announced by their lock chime, and Ravi got up to go help with what he was sure were way too many grocery bags for one Hongbin to carry. “Did you buy the entire store, Bin-ah?” Ravi laughed and started plucking bags out of his friends hands even before he could get his shoes off.

“I didn’t want us to run out again.” Hongbin followed Ravi into the apartment to pile food bags on the small amount of counter space they had. “Sorry, I’m late getting back, there is a lot of foot traffic out there. I think because of the funeral? I had a hard time getting through everyone with all the bags.”

That was right, the funeral. Taekwoon was there, had to be there, but was also there to try and collect clues and information. Hyuk had told them all the previous day that if they were going to move forward with the investigation they needed more information on the rest of the suspects. They’d all found it a little suspect that the video files had been deleted and the hard copies were missing too. Hakyeon had seemed like a really nice guy though, and Ravi hoped there was another explanation for it.

Motives was the name of the game, according to Hyuk, someone had to have a reason to kill him. It all kind of made Ravi’s brain hurt. Who wanted to kill someone anyhow? That seemed ed up. He was kind of glad that he wasn’t there trying to look at people and see their reason for murder, though sad that Taekwoon had to do it all on his own. It probably would have looked strange if either he or Hongbin had gone though.

Still, a funeral. It made it seem even more final. Sometimes he was too caught up in the fact that his life had been swept up in the investigation that he didn’t realize that someone had died. A life had ended, and that was the saddest part of all.

He moved away from the kitchen, picking up his pack off the floor to pull out his notebook and settled in on the couch. The words were already flowing out of his head before he had a new page open. Maybe it was an ode for the dead, or a celebration of life, he wasn’t sure. But this was what he did, what he could do, because knowing he’d forgot about someone’s life like that made him feel unworthy. He knew, on the inside, that the words were meant to be a comfort to the living, the dead didn’t need them, but it felt right. And nothing had felt right in a while.

By the time he’d come out of his writer’s trance, Hongbin had already started cooking dinner. He was already so used to Ravi slipping into lyricist mode that it hadn’t surprised him to hear the sudden quiet and occasional scratching of a pen. Something was smelling good and Ravi glanced over to his friend with a sad look in his eye. “Hongbin-ah?”

“Dinner won’t be done for another twenty minutes.” Hongbin answered without even looking, puttering around their tiny space to make sure everything was organized to his liking.

Ravi huffed out a short laugh, any other day and that response probably would have been spot on. “Bin-ah…” he knew what he wanted to say, but getting it out was a lot harder than he’d expected. “Promise me something?” That must have sounded strange because it finally got his roommate to turn around and look at him. “At my funeral, tell them about who I was okay? Who I really was, no matter what sort of name ‘Ravi’ gets, tell them about ‘Wonsik’ alright? Maybe say something nice? I don’t know.”

Hongbin’s face grew dark, lips twisting down into a frown and his eyebrows scrunching together. “That’s not funny, Wonsikie.” He wiped his hands on the kitchen towel before coming over to sit opposite of Ravi on the couch. “Don’t even talk like that. You’re not allowed to die, not on my watch. You’ll be old and bald and fat before it happens.” Hongbin pouted at him and Ravi was pretty sure that wasn’t playing fair.

“Fat?” Ravi reached over and poked at Hongbin’s belly but was only met with muscle, the bastard. “I’m not getting fat ever!” But the fact remained, he… he wanted to be remembered, and he wanted to have no regrets. “Still, if something does happen, and I’m not saying it will, but if it does, you’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?”

“No.” He could feel his jaw hit the floor at the automatic and passive response. “I won’t. Because you’re not going to die. And when we’re ninety and still sitting on this same stupid couch, I’m going to reach over with my cane and hit you for even saying something like that. You can’t die, it’s that simple.” Ravi rolled his eyes, Hongbin was being ridiculous.

“Bin-ah,” his voice was sombre and he reached over to grab his friends hand before he could flee to the kitchen, “look at me.” He waited until his roommate’s near petulant glare was on him. “I’m serious. No one knows me like you, and I want… I need to know that I won’t be forgotten or tied up in a neat prepackaged image that isn’t me.”

There were cracks starting to form in Hongbin’s eyes and he could see the annoyance falling away to sadness. “Okay,” his voice was soft, “I will. I won’t let anyone forget the real you ever. I’m only saying this once, now, so don’t talk to me about it again. I can’t live with thinking about not having you around. Wonsikie, you better not die. I mean it.”

His words tore something inside him, Ravi could feel it tearing, shifting, changing. Without thinking he tightened his hold on Hongbin’s hand when the other tried to get up and return to cooking. “Bin-ah.”

“I told you I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Hongbin snapped and tried to tug his hand free.

“It’s not that,” the grip on Hongbin’s hand wouldn’t let go, “well, not entirely. Do you ever think about the things you’d regret if you died today?” The frown that Hongbin gave him was the only answer he received. “I don’t want to have a lot of regrets.”

“So, don’t.” Hongbin’s eyes darted from looking at him to the floor. “Live with no regrets for a very long time, Wonsikie. Just live okay, no dying allowed.”

“I won’t die.” Or he hoped not, “Bin-ah, just listen to me for a second okay? I love you.”