Hongjoong chuckled nervously. His subtle pull on the chains to test their strength got regarded by a risen brow. The jingle had given him away. When Seonghwa said nothing and just waited, Hongjoong sheepishly ceased the resistance.

"I'm not the danger, in case you assume that," Hongjoong responded diplomatically. Their closeness had his poor heart go wild in his chest. Seonghwa had yet to stop smirking down on him with that supremacy.

"What are you, then? To sneak through my dreams?"

Surprised, Hongjoong halted his futile attempts to break free to look up at the man. Tall and handsome, Seonghwa remained unbothered by the heat. The sweat glistening on his cheekbones made him even more gorgeous.

He knew this was a dream? That hinted at lucid dreaming, which he had shown no signals of doing before.

Fascinated, Hongjoong tilted his head to the left. Seonghwa mirrored his gesture with eerie accuracy.

They stood only an arm's length away from each other. Hongjoong blamed his blush on the scorching sun as he tried to come up with a nonsensical answer quickly.

"I'm no more than a person you dreamt up. Like Yunho or Wooyoung would be."

"You know Yunho?"

For a moment, Hongjoong blanked entirely. Only emptiness wafted through his brain, he just waited for a tumbleweed to roll through. Seonghwa's eyes glinted as he watched him fumble for a reply.

The time it took for Hongjoong to remember when he had heard Seonghwa acknowledge Yunho gave him away.

"You mentioned him before! The day we met at San's place."

The hum that Seonghwa gave signalled Hongjoong that he didn't believe him. Sweat wetted the back of his shirt when Hongjoong clenched his eyes shut to concentrate for a moment. It was better as long as he didn't look at Seonghwa up close. The man's handsome features and watchful eyes made him lose all train of thought.

"I did, indeed. But why do I feel as if you have been sneaking through my dreams even before that? Are you watching me? Did a gang send you to keep an eye out? If I saw you in the shadows, it would explain the alarm I feel in the dreams including you."

Hongjoong hastily wanted to pull his hands up to show his defence. The steely grip Seonghwa had on him blocked his movement. He could only step back slightly in protection.

"You must have seen me on the streets before. We live in the same city, after all," Hongjoong mumbled nervously. His eyes flickered around, avoiding Seonghwa in his distress.

The officer followed the little step Hongjoong had made away from him. When Hongjoong dodged him again, his back collided with a tree. How convenient.

"Then what has you so fidgety? What are you hiding? Now, and back then in San's flat, too?" Seonghwa dipped his head as his voice dropped. He spoke near Hongjoong's ear, horribly intimate.

And this time Hongjoong couldn't hide behind the pretence of being Wooyoung and Seonghwa's dear friend. It was Hongjoong who got cornered. And whose pulse throbbed in his neck like a deadly poison. All of Seonghwa's attention on him, inspecting him like a school project, made him weak.

"I'm not-"

"I studied human behavioural tendencies for my job. You show not only great distress but also every lie you've been telling me right on your face." Seonghwa's unbusy hand came up. His index finger met Hongjoong's forehead to angle his head back. Hongjoong's gaze flinched between Seonghwa's eyes that were so near. If it weren't so hot, he might have felt the other man's breath brush his nose.

"You know things about me. I feel it isn't a coincidence you appear in my dreams." When Seonghwa inclined his head again, Hongjoong's breath flattened once more. All of his focus went into making sure that he didn't glance at the man's plush lips. His hands balled into fists.

Seonghwa's smirk grew mischievous.

"And the one I dreamt of the night we met at San's, that Hongjoong was different. Just as passive and fitting to my other dream figures. But you... You're an impostor."

Gaping blankness fogged up Hongjoong's head like a cloud of cotton candy once more.

"You dreamt of me?"

Seonghwa stood back up to his full height. His body loomed over Hongjoong, spending blissful shade and making him shrink into himself at the same time.

"I did. But you were not there. I couldn't get you out of my head." The corners of his mouth twitched when Hongjoong shivered. "For how strange you were. How suspicious."

When Hongjoong couldn't get a single word out, Seonghwa laughed at his dumbfounded expression.

"I bet you're curious what kind of dream it was."

Oh yes, Hongjoong was curious. He wanted to know what Seonghwa's version of him had looked like, how he had perceived him. How they had interacted with each other.

"How long have you been following me? Are you a detective? Or a gang member?"

Hongjoong had to think.

Whichever answer he gave Seonghwa, he wouldn't be able to regard it as real once he woke up. In his understanding of dreams, every conversation here was made up by his own mind. The possibility of an actual person infiltrating his dreams would be hard to believe.

So Hongjoong had an advantage. He just had to act wisely. To protect his job and real-life Seonghwa's sanity. If he thought he was being stalked in his private time, then he would only get even more stressed.

"I'm a benevolent ghost. Here to help you."

"And in real life?"

Hongjoong stumbled over his train of thought. Seonghwa was smart, tricking him right back even though he likely wouldn't recall this in the morning.

"A regular person. You just decided to find me suspicious for being awkward. Shouldn't you work on that paranoia?" The question came out less bitter and biting than Hongjoong had wanted it to be. Instead, it sounded like an insecure intern guessing the answer.

Damn it.

"Then tell me, ghost Hongjoong, how long have you been my helpful follower and how long are you planning to hold this up?"

Seonghwa played his game. He didn't believe it, but he played it. And that was most important.

"Not long. And I will keep it up until I know you safe. My motives are never to hurt or trouble you..." Hongjoong's voice got quieter and quieter around the last words. Embarrassment crept under his skin to itch at it from below.

Hongjoong reminded himself to breathe. Seonghwa would most likely not behead him for some mess-ups at his introduction.

For a while, they were silent. Seonghwa eyed Hongjoong full of distrust, and Hongjoong stared at his feet.

"I think you need to be arrested," Seonghwa concluded ultimately.

Hongjoong gasped, halfway offended. He had done nothing to deserve that.

"No, please-"

Around Hongjoong's sight, the dream glitched. Fading into nothingness. When Seonghwa noticed him glancing around, he doubtfully cast his eyes over the unsuspecting desert, too.

"I'm only a fragment of your subconscious. Nothing you need to worry about. You will have forgotten this in the morning."

Hongjoong just hoped that all of this was confusing and webbed enough that Seonghwa wouldn't waste too many thoughts on it. The last thing their office needed was the police showing up to arrest them for stalking.

Amused, Seonghwa leaned in again. Hongjoong had nowhere to go. His hands were trapped in front, and his back behind him. Blushing, he averted his eyes when Seonghwa tried to stare at him from up close.

Those pretty lips mumbled again, forming words with so much depth and danger hidden behind them ever so softly.

"Since you are a fragment of my subconscious meant to spill wisdom, the real Hongjoong has nothing to do with this, yes? And he was just conveniently just as responsive to me as you are?"

"Yes," Hongjoong squeaked out.

Seonghwa's shoe tips brushed against Hongjoong's sports shoes. The smaller man yanked at his chains, unable to escape Seonghwa's gaze that pinned him right against the wood in his back.

"So if I were to approach him about this conversation he couldn't possibly react the same, right?"

"Of course not. How would he know what you dream of?"

Seonghwa hummed. He wasn't convinced. He knew it was a dream full of nonsense and yet Hongjoong couldn't convince him.

Hongjoong closed his eyes, praying that he would be gone soon. They were barely in a nightmare anymore, just shy of waking up.

"In that case, I can say what I want. Do what I want. Whatever this version of you is, he still won't know."

Their chests brushed together. Hongjoong's skin burnt up underneath his shirt.

Petrified, Hongjoong stared at the buttons of Seonghwa's vest, unable to move anywhere else.

Since one of his hands was still busy holding onto the shackles, Seonghwa used his teeth to pull the glove off his right hand. He held it between his lips, his eyes never leaving Hongjoong's.

Then, all of a sudden, his now bare hand grabbed onto Hongjoong's hip. And he tickled him mercilessly.

Hongjoong instantly squirmed away, super ticklish. His yelps had Seonghwa grin around the leather between his lips as he ruthlessly didn't let go of Hongjoong. The metal dug into Hongjoong's wrists, biting at his skin.

Hongjoong clenched his eyes shut, uncontrollable laughter tumbling from him.

Then Seonghwa was gone.

For a moment, his touch remained on Hongjoong's skin, tingling and warm. The heat of the desert still clung to him, and his eyes still felt sandy and raw.

Dumbfounded, Hongjoong sat on the ground of the psycho room.

Dream Seonghwa had been all over the place. His actions had been abrupt, cut off, his mood constantly shifting. But that was normal. His awareness that he was in a dream and that Hongjoong seemed out of place not so much.

When Hongjoong emerged from the chamber, he caught sight of San seated at the table. He was monitoring the second PC, his hand buried in a bag of chips. When their eyes met, San rose the brow above the injured one. Right away, he flinched in regret.

"You look as if you have seen a ghost. This attic's getting stuffy, hm?"

Hongjoong dropped on the chair opposite of him heavily and drowned his sorrows in water.

"I just had Seonghwa tell me he finds me odd. Both in his dream and actual life. San, we have to make sure he never meets me again."

Interested in his distress, San crossed his fingers and directed all of his attention at Hongjoong. Some crumbs tumbled from his hands to the floor, disappearing discreetly. Hongjoong knew why the ground was the perfect hiding spot for them.

"Did he make the connection that you influence his dreams?"

"He didn't. But after he met me that evening in your flat he thought I knew him too well. And then presumed I got that knowledge from stalking him."

San hissed, some sympathy crossing his gaze.

"We might have to report that to Jongho. Even if Seonghwa probably wouldn't believe you if you told him who you were in his sleep."

"It's not bad if he knows, right? We are an official institution, after all," Hongjoong asked timidly. San shrugged, ever so casual and cool.

"I have no idea. Generally, we aren't supposed to tell. Dream catcher secrets and all that. It's not meant to be public. Maybe if he becomes a long-term client or establishes a trustworthy relationship. We don't have those cases, usually." San winked at Hongjoong. The man worried his lips between his teeth.

"Likely he won't remember, especially if nothing bad happened. And if he does, then you just have to play the part. You can easily push the weird accusations on him if he tries to sue you or something."

Hongjoong glanced at Seonghwa's monitor. The man had awakened early, two hours before his usual alarm. The fact that he was up and about fuelled Hongjoong's anxiety even more.

Over the table, San handed him his chips as a form of emotional support. Hongjoong stress-munched on a handful.

"I can subtly ask Wooyoung to keep an eye on him, too. And hey, if his hunt for answers wards his nightmares off, all the better. The less often he sees you, the less he'll feel strengthened in his theory."

San's kind support pulled a weak smile from Hongjoong. Then, his heart jumped right up into his throat again when he remembered how close Seonghwa had been, how well Hongjoong had seen the line of his jaw under his tanned skin.

Like a wet dog, Hongjoong shook the thoughts off. His fingers typed away distractedly. On muscle memory alone, he pulled up a report for tonight. He doubted Seonghwa would go back to sleep.

"So, what dreams are you protecting tonight?" He practically begged for distraction from San. Grinning, the man took his chips back.

"It's this anxious teen with a love for horror movies. I might see her a few times more depending on how dire the situation is."

"Jongho lets you do fieldwork again?"

"I feel like he wanted to scare me as a punishment for all my very important and entertaining comments. Ah, he also told me to ask you if you suspect sleep paralysis in Seonghwa. If yes, you can take Mingi some time."

The rest of Hongjoong's shift passed fast with the help of his friend. But he couldn't figure out the mess of emotions in his chest for the rest of the day.