Author’s note:I’ve been writing this for so LONG AND IT TOOK SO MUCH FROM MY HEALTH♣️😩 (I tried to put a ‘keep reading’ but tumblr didn’t let me post the writing so I decided to take it off.sorry to everyone that has to scroll a lot to get to another fanfic)
Genre:tokyo ghoul au,drama,the slightest of romance(both of them are just being flirty dicks to each other)
Pair:Investigator!Bang Chan x Ghoul!Reader
Warnings:blood,gory,a lot of Hyunjin in store
‘Another body has been found near an old construction site, reportedly of a man in his 30s. The young adult, is said to have been seen earlier that week robbing a supermarket, holding the clerk and a couple of citizens at gunpoint. The man has a criminal record for carjacking, robbery and lewd conduct in public…’
‘The bastard had it coming.’ you say cheerfully, focusing on the newly announced piece of information from the walkie talkie attached to your belt.
You had stolen the old rusty communicator a couple of months ago from the local police station. Getting called in ‘as the last person who had seen the victim’, it was shortly explained to you that the bartender whose body was found limbless, chest wild open, was putting more than the needed stuff in the drinks.
And of course-you knew that. The moment you saw the man behind the bar spiking one of the women’s drinks, who was sitting at the bar, waiting for her beverage to get ready, and chatting in a happy-go-lucky way not suspecting a thing, you had become livid. Luring him outside in one of the dead-end streets near the bar, you listened to his screams and pleas with such satisfaction that you had gone overboard with your actions. Completely blinded by rage-the predator in you calling-you had opened him up, like a kid would do, a stuffed doll to see what’s hiding inside.
Hearing a muffled cry, your gaze finally falls to the woman under your slightly hovering figure. The tentacles of the red kagune - starting at the base of your back - are tightly wrapped around her mouth to silence the screams.
‘Oh, I almost forgot about you, miss ’ you giggle softly, hitting yourself on the head, acting as if you had just forgotten something from the grocery store and not that a fragile human being was lying under your form. Most of her white coat was soaked up in blood, two small daggers that the investigator tried to use against you in a close combat fight, sunken deeply in the flesh around her shoulder area.
Balanced on your tentacles-planted firmly to the ground-you shorten the proximity between your bodies by relaxing your kagune enough, almost able to feel her ragged breath on your face.
Still smiling slightly, you delicately envelop one of the bloody daggers in your hand. At this point there are tears running down the face of the dove, her eyes screwing shut when you turn the dagger sharply, the movement making the little knife sink in even deeper.
As soon as she opens her eyes again, your expression has changed, no trace left of your breezy attitude. Your red eyes are hooded, a frown plastered on your lips.
‘I’m not going to kill you as I’m already running late because of the little stunt you pulled earlier,’ you explain with a calm tone. ‘-and I need you to be my messenger of the day, okay?’
‘Tell the new chairman of the CCG that me and the former one have a long lasting deal,’ you twist the knife again making the clothed area redden even more.’- and that I will kill every single dove I see strolling around my district and I won’t be as generous as today, got it?’ you finish with a tilt of your head and a cynical smile.
Loosening the grip of your tentacles around her after she nods to show you that she had understood your requirements, you step back on the ground your kagune retracting from its previous spot, disappearing.
While she is trying to fix her breathing pattern, you kneel down next to her, stuffing your hand in the pocket of the white coat, fumbling a little inside. Taking out a phone you quickly send an SOS message with an exact location, throwing it once you are done, next to the dove.
‘Oh and also,’ you say while putting on your red hood, positioning the mask that strongly reminded the lying woman of a wolf face.’-tell your boss that the message is from the Little Red Riding Hood and that I’m the last person the organization wants to mess with.’
And with that you were gone, fading into the shadows.
‘Did you get here so late because you had to deliver some food to grandma’s house?’ the boy you were supposed to meet 20 minutes ago, teases the moment he spots your figure approaching the old abandoned building. Smoke filled the air from the cigarettes that some ghouls had come outside to light for a quick smoke. With a few fanning motions and a couple of greetings you break through the suffocating curtain that is between you and your friend, who is leaning against the wall. Instead of answering him, you slide out your hands from the pockets of your coat, pulling them up for him to see the dry blood all over your fingers and palms. His smirk falters, a worried look appearing on his face.
You found it cute when he got all worried for you in situations that weren’t even that serious, quickly coming to your aid when you got injured, even if it was a cut to the stomach or a bruised face that he knew was going to heal in a matter of minutes. But you were especially grateful for him when things got nastier, the ghoul always having your back, no questions asked.
‘Did someone attack you?’ he asks while hanging you a wrinkled napkin from the back pocket of his jeans.
‘They sure tried to. Too bad she was all alone, trying to fight with twin daggers.’ you laugh bitterly, starting to clean the blood off with the help of the napkin. ‘Can you believe it, Hyunjin? The old man resigns from his position and all of a sudden doves start flying in trying to hunt in our district.’
‘Maybe things would have been different if he didn’t die’ you finish off, the scenario you voice out, stopping at just that- a plot which will never unfold.
Hyunjin nods thoughtfully, stroking his chin with narrowed eyebrows. After a few seconds with no response from him he suddenly swings his arm tightly around your shoulder, pressing your hair uncomfortably under it. With that you know the boy is done worrying for the day, the big smile that appears on his handsome face, lifting up your mood a little. Trying to shake his heavy hand off your shoulder, but to not avail, you jab the tall boy right under the ribs with two fingers rapidly, which makes him shriek and laugh, letting you out of his bear-like grip. After a couple of minutes of messing around, you decide to get inside the building.
At first glance the building looks close to collapsing. No front door separated the inside of it from the dark street, the closest source of light being the street lamp at the end of the alley-almost useless considering the distance from the building and the constant flickering that it did. Inside there was no paint on the walls, the elevator that had once worked gone out of service, no electricity, no -nothing. The only thing left in the creepy place were the bad smell, tag murals all over the blank walls and of course the bar.
The underground venue was a save hang out place for a lot of the ghouls who were on the run or just wanted to relax from the craziness of the outside world. You found the description, your friend and the owner of the place-Minho, had used to introduce his new bar to you, ironic, considering that most of the chaos that he was talking about going down in the city, came from the actions of the ghouls and their habits.
‘Honestly, I’ve always wondered why Minho chose this miserable lot to start his business.’ the boy next to you points out while descending the stairs towards the basement.
With every passing step the darkness, surrounding both of you becomes less. ‘I mean, have you seen that guy? He would do anything to save money. Of course he would pick a creepy building like this that looks like it came straight out of a crime movie. The last time he paid for electricity, was the last time the electrician that got the guts to come here, saw the outside world.’
A loud cackle comes from Hyunjin. ’Lino has some serious problems as a ghoul and a citizen of this town.’
‘Tell me about it’ you say mimicking the wide smile that is plastered on the boy’s lips.
The energetic song, coming from the end of the small corridor that the stairs lead to, begins to create a giddiness in your belly. The corridor in front of you is illuminated by lamps, all in different colors, littering the polished floor like a small galaxy with its stars. The muffled beat finds its way through your ribs, the piano that is softly playing a cheerful melody in the background and the thought of all the sounds mixing together and then mercilessly crashing with your body once you have passed the bouncer, keeping you away from your final goal-makes you even more ecstatic to get in and enjoy yourself. At the door the bouncer barely looks towards your direction nodding, gesturing with his hand for you to put away your IDs that you had prepared to show, in case it was a different person at the door. With a small greeting from Hyunjin and a smile in return from the other boy, you finally enter the lounge.
The music and the soft colors that are mingling with the dark surround you, at last. Hyunjin quickly hooks his pinky with yours leading the way towards your usual spot, close to the small stage, where on most days, the hired band performed until the early hours of the day. Almost at the end of the crowd that is gathered around the bar and the round tables Hyunjin stops without a warning-causing you to crash into him and accidentally step on the back of his shoe. He turns around and swiftly wraps his hands around your waist, leaning down towards your ear to whisper something you don’t hear at first.
‘WHAT’ you raise your voice slightly trying to talk over the strong music beat and the voices of all the ghouls. You put my hands around his neck, bringing him even closer to your ear that way showing for him to repeat what he had said.
'I said that I forgot to tell you that there is a new pianist. I heard from Jisung that the guy with the neck tattoo moved to another bar. 'He said loudly into your ear, moving away from you and silently pointing behind him. A slight pout forms on your face, your eyebrows subconsciously scrunching to show your disgust. The tall boy stifles a laugh, masking it with a big smile that shows his pearly white teeth perfectly. With the same sceptic expression on your face, you continue towards the table.
The small round table close to one of the brick-patterned walls, completing the whole “bar” look, always had on Friday nights-a silver plate with the word ‘RESERVED’, placed on top. Both you and Hyunjin were regular visitors of the venue on Fridays-the table close to the stage being a constant pick from the two of you, wanting to jam to the live music as much as possible.
Sitting down, you order a cosmo to Hyunjin, whose turn it was to go to the bar and order the drinks.
A loud whine leaves his mouth followed by a couple of accusatory words about how he was the one who got the drinks for the last two weeks and that it was your turn.
Without saying a word you fixate your eyes on his, the stare that you constantly used on him when you wanted for something to go your way making the boy ‘tsk’ after a couple of seconds, seeing that you won’t budge. Swiftly turning around he pushes through the busy place, leaving you behind with a pleased smile.
Drumming your fingers lightly on the empty table to the beat of the music, you look around the little lounge. On some of the tables scattered around the place, were sitting faces familiar to you and on others there were ghouls that you were seeing for the first time. Customers change regularly, the life of a creature like you, being a constant problem. If you didn’t have a formed group, someone to have your back or you were one of the weaker ghouls, the chance of being hunted down was given at any moment. That’s how it has always been.
Once your eyes have travelled around the whole place, they finally stop on the figure, with its back on display, from where you are sitting. Trying to take a small peak of the new musician’s face you raise from your chair, tilting to the right to attempt and get a look at the strangers’ face.
‘Hey what are you looking at?’
The voice startles you making you retreat from your position, turning your head in its direction.
‘Jesus, Jinnie you scared me.’ You pant, bringing your hand up to your heart.
The boy, with two drinks in his hands is looking amused by the little scare he gave you, averting his eyes to the stage, where you were looking just now. Bringing his gaze back to you, with an even more amused face-he raises his eyebrows teasingly.
‘Someone caught your eye already, Red?’
‘Shhhhh ’, you try to silence the loud boy, a finger in front of your lips to indicate that he should shut up.
Instead of taking a seat, Hyunjin puts the drinks down, flashing you a final glance. Before you can even ask him what the hell he is planning, he has already taken four big steps and is up on the little stage, starting a conversation with the new pianist.
‘Oh my god’ you breath out, quickly sitting down at the table, lowering as much as possible in your seat. Putting your hand over your face in embarrassment, shielding yourself from the situation happening in front of you.
Deciding to take a glance after a moment, you peak from under your hand and you are met with two eyes staring at you.
The first thought you get is ‘shit, he is pretty’
His dark curls are falling into his eyes and his expression is neutral-eyes hooded-but holy fuck you don’t think you have ever seen a boy more attractive than this one.
And his smell, almost makes you sigh, the strong fragrance coming from him, almost clouding your mind.
But then another thought appears in your head:
And suddenly, Hyunjin is back, smiling as brightly as ever, this time taking his place next to you.
‘What did you tell him?’ you ask, your whole attention on the boy next to you.
‘Not that much,’ he shrugs, bringing his straw up to his mouth to take a sip of the mixed beverage. ’I told him that you’ve got a little crush on him’
‘You want to die?’ you tell him with your most threating tone, punching him in the upper arm-the boy almost spilling the substance of the glass, from your sudden action. ’I don’t even know him, now he is going to think I’m all weird.’ You groan, covering your face with both hands.
A laugh erupts from the guilty boy, slightly nudging your side. ’Don’t worry, I think he was kind of amused’
At his words you remove your hands, squinting suspiciously at him.
‘I think I heard him mutter a little ‘cute’ ,while I was telling him how madly in love you were with him.’
‘You are a liar, Hwang Hyunjin’ you voice out, pointing a finger at him.
‘Am not’ he says in return.
‘Are’ you answer back, this kind of bickering being a usual thing in your friendship.
The first tunes of a jazzy melody start replacing the beats of the music-now turned off, the little thing going on between you and the boy, stopping immediately, both of your attention shifting to the performers standing on the grey stage- a pianist, saxophonist, bassist and a drummer.
The live music, draws a content sigh from your lips, finally feeling relaxed. Quietly chatting with Hyunjin, now and then, wanting to enjoy the music as much as possible. At one point, you are discussing the new pianist, whose name Hyunjin forgot to ask about. His style was definitely different from the man with the neck tattoo that you were used to listening to. This guy’s technique was way cleaner, regulating the sound better and there was the needed emotion put into the playing to make the whole thing almost perfect.
After 30 minutes of non-stop playing, the saxophonist announces that they will have a quick break after one more song. The piece is lively, the energy of the performers-contagious. Hyunjin is dancing around in his seat, you joining him in the process. But at one point something doesn’t feel right, the feeling of someone watching you making you snap your head towards the still playing pianist. His profile is visible and even if he isn’t technically watching you, your gut feeling is going crazy, his presence all of a sudden feeling heavy. And the uneasiness doesn’t stop.
The song ends and you feel even worse, completely losing yourself in your thoughts, now that nothing was distracting you from the bad feeling in your stomach.
Something was just not right. You were sure that you had seen the new pianist somewhere around town. But you passed hundreds of people every day if not even more. You would surely remember a boy with such an intoxicating smell like his if you had passed him down the streets of the big town. And if you didn’t know any better, you would have almost mistaken his smell for that of a human.
But that can’t be, right?
Human in the bar which only the creatures of the underworld knew about.
Stirring your drink, your gaze shift towards the little stage, feeling someone’s eyes on you once again. The boy you were just thinking about has turned his head away from the keys of the piano, in the direction towards the small table where you and Hyunjin are sitting, a bottle of water in his hands. When he catches you starring back a shameless smirk appears on his face, followed by a quick wink, dimples prominent.
And then it hits you. The dimples.
‘I managed to collect as much information as possible on the new members of the agency that were at the latest conference. Had the chance to snap a couple of pictures outside the building.’ the text on your phone said followed by a list of names and five images of men and women all dressed up in fancy suits.
‘You should have heard the speech that the son of the new chairman presented. I almost spilled coffee all over one lady, trying to hold in my laughter. The speech was full of over political bullshit about the differences between the ghouls and the humans. Talking about good and evil as if he knows what those two concepts mean in the situation we are in. On top of that he got appointed for a leader of a new squad.’
Snorting loudly at the text, you scroll down to the provided images. There is a picture of a young boy, under which, the name ‘Bang Chan’ is written, followed by the title ‘The chairman’s son’.
The first thing that catches your attention are the dimples. He looks naïve, the cheerfulness that oozes from him, a strong contrast to the others around him, making you believe that he wouldn’t be that much of a threat to anyone.
Your phone dings again, the new message catching your attention.
‘I also heard that he is an artificial. Guess daddy doesn’t love his son that much.’
Of course. How dumb can you be? That’s why his fragrance was so alluring.
‘We have to leave’ you say out of nowhere, unintentionally locking eyes with the suspect.
The ‘what’ that comes from Hyunjin’s lips, sounds as if you are in a tunnel, his voice coming from somewhere far away from you. Your mind is swerving with thoughts about the situation you are in.
How had you forgotten about him? You shouldn’t have underestimated the chairman’s son with just one look at a picture. You were so far from the truth. The fact that he had found the underground bar just in a month when high class investigators have been suspicious, trying to grasp on even the smallest evidence that a place like this, where ghouls gathered, existed, made a shiver run down your body.
‘Someone snitched the place out. God, when I find the snitch, I’m going to pull all the vocal chords out of their throat.’
Suddenly the ghoul sitting next to you, stands abruptly, the panic prominent in his body language.
‘Sit down, Hwang’ you command, lightly tugging at the silver chain hanging from his jeans. ’We shouldn’t attract any attention.’
‘I don’t think that would be a problem’ he says pointing slightly towards the stage.
An intense classical melody had started playing, the unusual genre for this place, drawing all the attention towards the pianist, producing the sound with his fingers. The music grows hectic with every note, the switching between the threatening octaves with quick chattering treble figures, reminding you of a constant chase between a predator and a prey.
Predator and a prey. Isn’t that familiar?
‘I think I was right, about him being interested in you’ Hyunjin laughs lightly, without taking his off the pianist.
‘The piece he is playing? It’s Rachmaninoff’s Little Red Riding Hood.’
At this point the music sounds out of control.
And then the screams come.
The first thing that stands out to you the most in all the havoc that is created, once the door is kicked down is the whip-like quinque that comes through the wall.
You recognize the rattling sound that it makes the moment it slices through a girl that was seated opposite the wooden door.
‘Fuck, why is Woojin here?’ Hyunjin says in a panicky voice, squeezing your arm tightly, shaking it a bit.
You were feeling as if you were watching a movie, the scene in front of you unfolding slowly, every sound around you completely dull.
Good question? Why was he here? Why were one of the most dangerous investigators, at the venue that was kept a secret for such a long time?
At that moment something inside of you switches.
Finally, turning towards the boy with the strong grip on your arm, you smile.
Before he can finish his question, you cut him off, placing both of your arms on his shoulders.
‘Take the emergency stairs, you hear me? Call Minho and tell him what’s happening.’
The emergency stairs were something that Minho had come up with for exactly situations like this one. You remember him telling you about it one day, puzzled by the hatch that was in the corner of the girl’s restroom. He had explained that the stairs that were under the hatch lead to some tunnels that he found about, when looking at old plans of the building. The tunnels were connected to a couple of streets down the venue.
‘And you want me to leave you behind?’ he asks in disbelief.
‘I’ll be fine, Jinnie. And when all of this ends I’m going to explain everything.’ you say already pushing him in the direction of the toilet.
‘Hey, no let me stay here and prote-‘you cut him off for the nth time tonight, stopping your pushing motion, turning him around. Cradling his face with one of your hands, you peck his cheek softly.
‘I can’t risk losing you.’
With those last words you turn around, slowly starting to approach the fight scene.
‘Oh, Red Riding Hood, long time no see.’ Woojin say the moment he finally catches the glimpse of your red coat, sending his rattling weapon, swinging towards you.
With a jump to the side you avoid the flying blades, gracefully.
Woojin was one of the high-rated investigators, whose face never matched his true scary nature.
If there was someone that you avoided as much as possible from the whole organizations, it was definitely Woojin.
‘I missed you too, Wojinnie. I’m surprised to see you working under the orders of a newbie.’ you pout in fake sympathy, delighted once you see his expression falter for a moment. But he is back to normal in a second, him closing on you, ready to strike once again.
With another jump in the air you are on the other side of the man, a laugh escaping your throat.
‘Would be delighted to continue this between us, but I have a new target to hunt down.’ You tell the young man while scanning quickly the room for the boy who was sitting at the piano, but he wasn’t there.
Taking in your surroundings on the way to the stairs, slashing with your kagune through some doves, you can’t help but fill the scorching rage inside of you. Dozens of bodies were laying on the ground, some still alive and some ghouls still up trying to fight off the enemy. Taking two steps at a time you are finally out of the basement, feeling the light breeze of the night hitting your face once you are outside.
You don’t get the chance to even take one step before you are pined to the wall.
And in that moment two red eyes, meet one.
Your arms and legs are painfully getting forced by the kagune of the boy standing in front of you, his hand pressing down on your throat, to keep you in place.
So he isn’t an artificial. He is a real one-eyed ghoul. Born like that.
‘I knew that there was something fishy going on, the moment Lee Felix-one of the ‘assistants’ almost spilled coffee all over one of the women in the conference room. He started acting all uneasy when I shared my plans for ghoul termination. And from there it was quite easy getting the information I needed,’ he says calmly, a lazy smile on his face. ’Maybe next time try to implement someone in the organization, who doesn’t squirm when we talk about gory stuff?’
‘If you did something to Felix, I swear I’m going to make you regret it’ a growl like sound leaves you at his words, trying to reach him, your head almost overpowering his tight grip on your throat, but it’s once again pushed harshly against the wall making you groan.
A loud giggle emits from the boy, seeing you struggle greatly, his suffocating choke-hold, automatically making your hands wrap around his, to try to pry them away
‘You know, everyone talks about you, amongst my squad. All of them are telling me what a pain in the ass you were before you made that cowardly deal with the former chairman. But all I see is a dumb puppy who walks around thinking that she is the Big Bad Wolf.’ He puts a strand of your hair behind your ear with his free hand, gazing in your eyes. ‘But, let me tell you something,’ he says leaning to whisper the next thing in your ear. ‘There is a new Big Bad Wolf in the game and you have nothing against me, love’
He was definitely something else. He had his way with words, goosebumps travelling all around your body while listening to his monologue. But that was all there it was to him, just talk.
‘You are, you are,’ you try to question with great difficulty. ‘-definitely new aren’t you?’ ‘Let me..let me give you an advice for future references. Cut the talk because,’ he sees the tentacles too late feeling the pierce in his abdomen, his kagune loosening around your limbs and his hand around your throat. ’because it takes your focus away from your surroundings.’
With a kick to his chest, Chan is sent back flying, falling to the ground with a loud thud, followed by
groans and incoherent curses.
You place your hands on your knees, coughing loudly, while messaging your throat, marks present on your neck, left by his fingers. Once your breathing is back to normal, you finally look at the lying figure, engulfed by the dark.
Humming to yourself, a slight sway in your hips, you approach his body, Chan’s arms pressed against the gash on his lower body that had yet to start healing. Kneeling down next to him you softly trace your fingers from his neck up to his chin, taking it between your fingers. Tilting his head up, for him to look in your still red eyes, you smile softly; the words leaving your mouth next, not matching your cute demeanor.
‘You still have a long way to go, before you can call yourself the Big Bad Wolf. For now, you are going to be my Little Red Riding Hood, Channie.’
Standing up from your place you put your hood up, taking your mask out for the second time that night. Before you put on the mask, you blow a kiss to the injured boy saying your last words of the night.
‘And if you don’t behave correctly, I will eat you up and no one will be able to save you’
