The medical centre was now second home to him. It was not in Jinki’s favour to return to his actual home today, all because of the floppy-haired, onyx-eyed boy trailing behind him like a hunter familiarising with the dwellings of its soon-to-be prey. 

It was just a few hours shy of dawn, and Jinki wondered if he would be able to sleep past the birdsongs at daybreak. He wasn’t so much of a light sleeper but had a morning routine to commit to. Taemin noticed that Jinki tossed the piece of P-tag case notes on his table like an afterthought - as though he hadn’t even noticed himself holding it. 

Jinki then raised his phone to his ear and spoke into it with one hand cupped over the receiver. The fact that the call seemed to connect right away made it clear that this person was likely on speed dial. Someone from home? Or a lover?

“Neh… I can’t come home tonight.” Jinki was heard saying. 

The dead silence of these wee hours seemed to enshroud them in a bubble where Taemin could hear everything even if he hesitated to. But who was he kidding. There wasn’t a better opportunity than this to openly access the Doctor’s private life and mine it for more blackmail material. Taemin noted that Jinki had sunk into a couch near the moonlit window and shaded his eyes with a wearily placed hand, elbow digging into the armrest.

“Mianhae… Go to sleep, I will be back in the morning.” The call quickly ended  before Taemin had a chance to feel guilty about how intrusive it felt to eavesdrop on the affection seeping through Jinki’s hushed tones. No honorifics and no terms of endearment were used, and yet there was something about Jinki’s soft demeanour and coaxing that gave away this was someone he was protective of and whom he went home to everyday. 

Taemin began to feel uncomfortable at this intimate glimpse at a person he had initially spawned much animosity with. Lee Jinki then finally observed Taemin's prying eyes trained on him as he slowly slid a hand over Jinki's table to withdraw the sheet of paper. Jinki smirked and launched himself from the sofa to stall the paper.

“If you want my attention, there are other ways to get it, Lee Taemin.” 

Jinki’s fingers glided across the paper engulfing Taemin’s, and the doctor stuck himself so close that Taemin felt a gust of air ruffling his fringe except it wasn’t the ventilation but Lee Jinki blowing raspberries at him. Taemin felt like he was losing his wits at this ostentatious behaviour. He slapped Jinki’s hand away.

“That’s not my intention!” Taemin screeched, unable to focus the conversation any further than plainly denying Jinki’s accusations. Jinki folded his arms and stuck his hip against the edge of the table haughtily with a glint in his eyes.

"You know what... You're not the first person in my line of work to either proposition or blackmail me..." 

Taemin gulped as Jinki sized him up like a precious pearl at a grand auction, harvested from the deepest seas and finally under open scrutiny of the proud owner bent on showing off his prized possession. 

"So tell me," Jinki's gaze softened a little, but rather than exuding sympathy it almost felt like he was wearily projecting his own problems onto Taemin. 

"What are you running from?" Jinki sighed, his gaze steady, feigning interest in another set of adolescent problems he would have encountered before with the numerous young men who pass through his psych clinic for issues ranging from suicidal thoughts to hormonal imbalance.

Taemin distinguished that Jinki’s tone became subdued but it was still pre-mature to let his guard down. He tried to summarise his needs simply, and avoid exacting any emotion altogether. There really wasn’t much point in getting the doctor to sympathise with him, because it seemed that Lee Jinki had already written him off as a mentally unstable individual.

"I need meds." 

"What for." Jinki's reply was snappy.

"Anti-depressants... for my sleepwalking."

A roll of eyes accompanied the doctor's flippant answer. "I already know that. Why else would I be stuck here now instead of home?” 

A sardonic 'thank you very much' was mouthed as Jinki activated his ‘night mode’ and bustled around the clinic picking up his toothbrush and gargling cup on the way to the bathroom, not forgetting to stop by his locker to draw out his slippers, joggers and bedtime hoodie. Taemin began to feel more and more unseen, like Homer Simpson backing up into the bushes. Jinki's precious sleep was far too strong a contender against any of his soft boy issues.

Taemin began to wonder if holding an entire file worth of confidential case notes hostage was enough to serve him when it comes to someone like Lee Jinki who seemed impervious to blackmail or maybe even bribery. What makes him tick? Should I just be honest?

“Can I sleep here tonight?” Taemin spoke so timidly that it was a wonder Jinki caught whiff of it.

Peeking his head out from the washroom with toothbrush perched precariously between his teeth, Jinki grinned like a child trying cotton candy for the first time. 

“Knock yourself out.”

Decidedly, this conversation was over and all that’s left to do was for both of them to turn in for the night. Jinki shuffled out of the washroom shortly after and plonked himself down on that same couch in his consult room. Barely two minutes later, he rose from his fetal position with a questioning sound like something was amiss, blinking sleep-hooded eyes in Taemin’s vague direction.

Taemin was settling into one of the couches in the clinic’s waiting area when he heard a mishmash of noises originating from Doctor Lee’s consult room that sounded like a bunch of furniture forming a barricade at the door. 

This struck Taemin as extremely odd anti-social behaviour, considering that Jinki could have locked the door if he wanted to. Was the message meant to be “Keep Out You Thief" or "Keep Out You ert"? There was really no telling what was going on in Lee Jinki's head. He didn't even comment on Taemin's stayover. Ordinary people would have kicked him out after a customary show of concern. 

Taemin found a corner of his lips turning up as he mused over the strange turn of tonight’s events, and the gentle intonation of Jinki’s voice on the phone clouded the recesses of his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Jinki wakes to find that Taemin had already made himself scarce.