Warnings for mentions of murder and gore

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It was only a matter of time before Seonghwa and Hongjoong inevitably had to be close with each other again because of another soiree. Hongjoong dreaded the day, and when Jongho finally informed him to get ready for it, Hongjoong considered faking his death. He hadn't heard from Yeosang yet, and he couldn't evade Seonghwa forever. Their game had to stop for them to uphold their charade, and Seonghwa's ignorance had to be their method of how to overcome the floods of embarrassment.

Hongjoong kept forgetting that Seonghwa shared his repulsion. And that it was in both of their interest to pretend the kiss never happened.

Dressed in an apricot-coloured dress, Hongjoong rested in the sitting room and waited for Seonghwa to arrive. His leg bounced under his skirt as nervosity got the better of him. He prayed the motion was hidden from any judgmental eyes.

It took the house a moment to get into motion, and all the while Hongjoong wondered about the evening. How he should bear being alone with Seonghwa, whether the earl would mention the kiss, whether Wooyoung and San would be there to relieve Hongjoong of his stress, and so on. His mind buzzed with thoughts, and most of them had his stomach coil with dread.

By the time a door slammed upstairs, Hongjoong stiffened.

Seonghwa was in a rush when he descended the steps. His fingers still buttoned up his vest as he arrived and snatched his hat out of Jongho's hand, where the butler had been about to ask Hongjoong if he wanted some cookies while he waited. The earl's frenzy urged Hongjoong to his feet.

"You, hurry. We are late."

Hongjoong didn't point out that Seonghwa was the one who had been tardy. When he glanced at Jongho, both of them rolled their eyes at Seonghwa's antics.

Hongjoong hastened outside to follow Seonghwa. The coacher held the door for them and Seonghwa ordered him to travel swiftly as well as he clambered into the carriage. The vehicle swayed on its tall wheels for a moment. Seonghwa dropped into his seat with a huff and took his hat off again to brush his hair out of his forehead.

When the coacher offered Hongjoong his hand for help, Hongjoong declined with a smile to climb in on his own. He shut the door while the other man mounted on the box and directed the horses at a brisk pace.

"Are we required to be on time for tonight's party?" Hongjoong made casual small talk when the silence in the carriage became too stifling for him. Seonghwa's eyes swiped over him, but they didn't halt at Hongjoong's tense features or his fingers clutched into the soft fabric of his dress.

"Yes, punctuality is significant. More so for me than for you. San and Wooyoung will be there, so you may spend your time with them while I coordinate my meeting."

Nothing about him gave away their incident. Seonghwa was as composed as ever, and his steely ignorance both comforted and infuriated Hongjoong. Would the man not lose a word over sending Hongjoong a poisonous flower?

Hongjoong wanted to brush it off, but he knew he wouldn't be able to talk with Seonghwa about the stars or to admire him playing the piano while the despicable earl's kiss floated through his mind.

Perhaps next time they quarrelled, Hongjoong could loosen up. Though he wouldn't initiate a fight on the ride to a soiree.

Their last fight had ended in a kiss...

Hongjoong juddered his head to get rid of the imagination of the other man leaning above him. While sure that he hadn't studied the earl in too much detail, Hongjoong remembered too much about his unreadable gaze and the way his hair had fallen into his forehead so elegantly.

When Seonghwa eyed him mockingly for his spasms, Hongjoong ducked his head.

He was a mess.

"Then I hope you will succeed with whatever objective you have this evening," Hongjoong said. His intuitive politeness felt wrong between the two of them, but Seonghwa brushed it off as one of the strange female traits he didn't understand in Hongjoong.

They arrived at the party still on time and Seonghwa dashed off to the upper floor of the building while Hongjoong got left in the lower area to mingle with the other guests who hadn't come for a special reason that required participation in a private session with the host.

Hongjoong was glad to find Wooyoung lounging with San by his side on a couch. When he joined them, he got received with delight and they spent a nice time drinking and discussing nonsensical topics, like the weather in winter and how it affected indoor heating. Since he was with friends, Hongjoong didn't get bored, and he much preferred this setting over being with Seonghwa.

Hongjoong was pleasantly warmed by the alcohol in his veins, but far from drunk when Seonghwa returned hours later to pick him up. One moment, Hongjoong giggled with Wooyoung about heels and how they had never been made for walking in the first place and only for men of the dark ages to look taller in paintings, the next a hand came to lie on the armrest Hongjoong was propped against. Seonghwa elegantly leaned against the back of the furniture.

Once he had lowered his glass carefully, Hongjoong turned to look up at him. Seonghwa was entirely sober and his poised smile aimed at their round that included a couple of San's friends.

"Did you have a pleasant evening, dear? It has got late, so perhaps we should return home. Unless you need to finish your discussion?"

Hongjoong emptied his drink and put his glass down. The smile he gave Seonghwa was dazzling because Hongjoong was in a favourable mood and too relaxed to care about Seonghwa.

"Let's retreat," he agreed. Seonghwa grinned and offered Hongjoong his hand to stand. They said their farewells to the group and some jealous gazes accompanied the wishes for a good night they received back.

Seonghwa stuck close to Hongjoong while they beelined for the door. Despite the short distance they had to walk, his steps were slow, and his arm rested around Hongjoong's waist instead of linking with Hongjoong's arm, as he usually would.

"Have you finished your business, mylord?"

"I did." Seonghwa waved away the butler, who wanted to help Hongjoong into his coat. With gentle hands, Seonghwa tugged it around Hongjoong's shoulders and shut it in the front. Pleasantly surprised at the kind treatment, Hongjoong allowed him.

"How about you? I imagine you will miss San and lady Wooyoung lots?" Seonghwa's sugary care was alarming. Since they probably got watched and this was an important opportunity for Seonghwa, Hongjoong played along without missing a beat.

"I always do. I shall exchange many more letters with her," Hongjoong beamed.

"Very well. Are you ready to go?" Seonghwa's fingers freed Hongjoong's hair from his collar and brushed his neck. Once the long curls spilt over Hongjoong's coat, Seonghwa dipped to leave a sweet kiss on his forehead. His lips lingered for just long enough to make it look doting instead of fleeting.

Hongjoong shuddered.

"I am, dearest Seonghwa," Hongjoong smiled. He saw how the term of endearment had Seonghwa's eyes cloud over as he missed a beat. Then, he held the door open for Hongjoong to slip through first.

Outside on the street, Seonghwa linked their arms together. Neither of them glanced back, but Hongjoong believed to feel the eyes of a person on the second story penetrating their backs as they left.

They rounded the corner of the street before Seonghwa subtly let go of his breath.

"What was that all about?" Hongjoong whispered, unsure if they were being followed.

"Pardon my sudden affections. The weight of my arrangement with the host lasts upon the authenticity of this relationship, so I didn't want to leave any doubt about it where the lord's eyes are. If you allow, may we still stick close together like this? I am paranoid about his attention."

Hongjoong nodded. Seonghwa spread warmth that he could leech off from.

"I don't mind it."

Relieved, Seonghwa muttered a thanks. Once he wanted something, he was effortlessly polite.

They wandered down the street towards the rendezvous point with the coacher. The backstreets had been too small for the carriage to take, so Seonghwa and Hongjoong had hastened a few metres along the Thames and down a street earlier. This time, as they reached the river that smelt of the combined dirt of thousands of houses that connected to the sewers feeding into the Thames, they found themselves barricaded shut from passing. Several police officers wandered around nearby and shooed off any nosy passersby that lingered too long.

Confused by the sudden stop in the road that hadn't been there before, Hongjoong stretched his neck while also trying not to breathe in the river air that smelt of decay and faeces.

Seonghwa addressed the bobby closest to them.

"Excuse me? What happened here?"

"There was an accident; please move on, sir." The officer gestured for them to take the parallel street down to the square. His stony face was cast in darkness under his hat. The lights flickering around behind him illuminated only the spot where most people huddled.

"I am a partner of Choi San, the detective. I just came back from a party with him as a guest. Shall I alert him?"

Hongjoong's eyes got stuck on a piece of fabric on the ground. It was tattered and stained with blood, but once had been a piece of a pretty woollen coat.

The officer bowed his head stiffly.

"Excuse my rudeness, sir. We already sent out for someone to fetch the detective. Another body got discovered under the bridge."

"The Ripper again?" Seonghwa asked, his voice getting sharper. When Hongjoong shivered, Seonghwa's hold on him tightened.

"Yes. I will spare you of the details as to not scare your companion, but you should hurry home. We will alert the detective so he may relay any information of worth to you."

Seonghwa nodded at the man with a grim expression. When he dragged Hongjoong away, Hongjoong desperately tried to peek at where the light collected. The body had to be there. The dark shadow between the surveilling people's feet might as well have been shiny blood.

A wall took his sight from him. Seonghwa had quickened his pace as he brought Hongjoong along.

"Seonghwa-"

The earl glanced at him only sparingly, uncaring how Hongjoong's heel caught between the cobblestones and he lumbered along with difficulties.

"I think it was no lady of the night this time. I saw a piece of expensive fabric there."

Seonghwa's face darkened as they emerged on the other side of the street and the incident. People stood at the houses and windows to peer over, and the police were everywhere for questioning and keeping them at bay. Seonghwa wove between them to get them out of the wintry night.

"Do you think he targets the upper class now, too? Hasn't he picked only the poor so far? What does he do to people?"

Seonghwa sighed. When he looked at Hongjoong, his eyes were understanding of the rush of nervous inquiries.

"You ask a lot of scary questions for someone who would be his prey." He said it without malice, but his voice carried a distinct threat to it. A warning not to dig deeper than what Hongjoong could bear.

"I feel I need to know to realise the danger," Hongjoong whispered.

Eyes set on their carriage in the distance, Seonghwa spurred them on once more. The harsh voices of the officers commanding people behind them rang in their ears. The lights of their lanterns eerily splashed over the grey buildings.

"We linked five murders to the Ripper. All of them prostitutes, and most murdered on the streets during their nightly business. Most of them had some organs removed or hacked to pieces, and all of them suffered genital mutilations. The killer is notably interested in everything female of their anatomy. He targets the uterus, and he seems to use knives to extract and damage the surrounding organs. The victims' faces were also disfigured; cutting off lips, lids, ears or noses."

They arrived at the carriage, and Seonghwa opened the door for Hongjoong without a word. He crawled in with shaky limbs. Once they sat and the freight rolled, Seonghwa continued.

"The most recently found victim was called Mary Jane Kelly. She was found with her throat slit in a manner fitting the other fatalities. She was murdered in her room, and her uterus, as well as one of her breasts, were found on the mattress beside her. Some other parts of her body got cut off in chunks. They didn't find her heart."

Hongjoong stared at his feet in shock. These murders sounded so invasive. It wasn't like getting hit over the head with a cub to bleed out in some corner of the street or dying of hunger. The gruesome purpose behind it made his skin crawl.

"That sounds horrible..."

"That's why we are trying to put a stop to it."

For a moment, both of them sunk into silence. Hongjoong was cold, and even his cosy coat couldn't warm him.

"Waterloo isn't far from Whitechapel. Perhaps he has broadened his radius," Seonghwa concluded. His dark voice had Hongjoong shiver as he looked out of the window.