Kim Himchan loved Iced Americano possibly more than life. It was his go to drink at a cafe and nothing made him happier than the perfect brew. It was no secret that for a cup of Americano he'd be a decent roommate and Yoo Youngjae took advantage of that on days when he wanted something to go his way. Today was clearly one of those days because Himchan had even received a delicious blueberry muffin as well as his coffee. The additional incentive of the muffin made Himchan suspicious but it didn't stop him from going along with Youngjae. After all free breakfast.

"I need you to run all the weekly errands. We need groceries because I don't want to eat my lousy ramen for dinner again so we better get fresh ingredients so you can make dinner again. Don't even start on my lousy ramen, I know it's bad. Buy more cleaning supplies and clean the apartment. Do the laundry, it's your turn this week no excuses, and don't 'lose' some of my clothes. Also we have bills to pay so make sure to add up all the expenses so I can give you the necessary checks to pay for them." Youngjae rattled off without pause and Himchan simply stared at him.

Did the younger man seriously expect him to finish all of that in time for dinner? Because Himchan wasn't even certain he'd have the time for both shopping and cleaning. Buying quality ingredients for dinners took time. You couldn't just grab the first thing off the shelf. You had to choose the right vegetables and fruits, cooking is art. How could Youngjae expect all that to be done in a day?

"I bought you coffee and a muffin. I might potentially be late to work for doing all this but it's the only way to get you to do all of it. Please do it. You're not doing anything else anyway. I checked." Youngjae finished snidely and Himchan glared. He checked? Himchan was sure there'd be something on the white board turned calendar. He glanced at the whiteboard by the kitchen and saw no pink writing anywhere near today's day. Youngjae had caught him out. Far too easily.

“Fine. Go to work you brat. If I have time I’ll drop by and leave you some lunch.” Himchan said before sipping his coffee and pointedly looking in the direction of the door. The younger man grinned while grabbing his briefcase and heading towards the door.

“Bye honey!” Youngjae called over his shoulder sarcastically as the door closed behind him. Himchan huffed annoyed but then took another sip of his precious Americano and felt himself settle down once more.

It was going to be an extremely long day.

~~

One hour of adding up expenses, rechecking the figures, and four loads of laundry later Himchan was out of Americano and the will to go on. He’d gotten half of the things the younger wanted done but that didn’t mean he wanted to do the rest of it. The chime of the clock striking eleven o’clock broke the daze he’d fallen into post laundry and he groaned. He’d promised the younger lunch and considering Youngjae basically let him live with him for free he could afford to do the younger the favor of lunch. Of course this would also be a one-time thing; he didn’t want the other to become accustomed to lunches delivered at work. With that in mind he rose from his sprawl on the floor and grabbed his keys and wallet to go shop for groceries.

Thankfully the market was rather empty at this time of day because Himchan could never really deal with the overly sweet grandmas who fawned over him and his cute cheeks. It brought up issues that he would much rather not remember. He went down the aisles efficiently, checking off items on his mental checklist as he filled up his shopping cart. A bag of rice, a couple packs of seaweed, greens, beef, miscellaneous items he’d find a use for, and all the cleaning supplies they’d run out of weeks ago. By the time he was sliding his card at the register it was a quarter to twelve and he still had to start on lunch.

Oh but this lunch was going to be worth Iced Americano for a week.

~~

Youngjae worked for a huge corporation that paid enough to support both Himchan and himself and have some money left over for the occasional night out. It was entirely too posh for Himchan, someone who prided himself on living a rather posh life, the whole living with Yoo Youngjae thing aside, and he made a habit of not visiting the place unless he absolutely had to. Bang Corporations reeked of greed with its business men and women who had given up on their dreams to become richer than god.  

Those men and women with their brand name suits and busy schedules were never given the opportunity to see Himchan as anything less than perfect. He’d cleaned himself up from his causal clothes of earlier and slipped into slacks and a comfortable vest and button down; an overall classy look that would make it easier for him to slip in and out of Bang Corporations to drop off the lunch. Today however was not Himchan’s day as a young woman practically fell on him while following after her boss and typing rapidly on her tablet.  He saved the food and the young woman just barely, and the young woman blushed bright red as she looked up into his eyes embarrassed.

“I’m sorry sir. I didn’t mean to run into you. My boss is very busy and I made a mistake earlier and I was trying to rectify—“ She was cut off by the sound of a loud voice that was entirely too commanding to ignore.

“Seulgi! We’re already late because you messed up. Now you’re flirting with delivery boys? Come on lets go.” The man said coming back into the building in search of his wayward secretary. Himchan let go of Seulgi and she gave him a nod of thanks, face still bright red, before following after her boss. With that over Himchan went to the front desk, leant against it, smiled down at Chorong, one of the only people who was tolerable here, and asked for a pass to see Youngjae.

~~

"And frankly if I have to do chores like that again I'm going to die. I'm just not cut out to be a housewife. Who is? It's so hard." Himchan complained while Youngjae ate his lunch entirely too amused by his hyung.

The way Himchan talked made it seem as if he didn't maintain the apartment on a daily basis. Which was a complete and total lie considering he kept the apartment clean mainly due to the fact he found Youngjae terribly disorganized. That apartment wouldn't have visible floors if it weren't for him with the way Youngjae threw things everywhere and didn't pick up after himself. Whatever would he do without Himchan?

"Well if you did them over the course of the week instead of all in one day then maybe you'd have an easier time of it." Youngjae suggested knowing full well it was going to be ignored.

"You do it and tell me it's easy. I get so distracted with maintaining myself and my talents. I don't have time for that kind of thing. It's too much." Himchan muttered and snatched a rice ball from Youngjae's lunch.

"We agreed hyung. You clean the apartment and do the other things I don't have time for and I pay the bills. You get time to practice your instruments and I get a roommate who can cook and clean."

"Yeah yeah. I know. But can't I just complain about how terrible it is and how tired I am?" The older said as he snatched another rice ball.

"May as well go ahead. You're going to do it regardless." With grudging acceptance Youngjae focused on eating and let his hyung continue complaining about being the "housewife" of their friendship.

"Well you know what? I'm too tired to complain. I'm just going to sit here and steal your food."

"May as well help me finish this. I'm lunch is almost over and you made me a lot. Just let me get you your own chopsticks." The younger said while pushing the lunch into the middle of their small table within the break room. A set of disposable chopsticks were slid over and then the roommates were sharing lunch completely unaware of the eyes watching them.
~~
A couple days later found Himchan once again at Youngjae’s work place with a packed lunch, that perhaps had enough food for both of them, and much like the last time a quick moving man went past him with a stumbling assistant following behind as best as she could. And much like last time the poor girl, Seulgi if he remembered correctly, ran into him. He kept her from embarrassing herself even further and gave her a small encouraging smile.

"You should look up a bit more often. I know your boss keeps you busy but it wouldn't do for you to get hurt Seulgi-yah."

"Oh...thank you for catching me again and for the advice Mr...?"

"Kim Himchan."

"Ah. Well thank you Mr. Kim. I need to go before--"

"Seulgi! Again with the delivery boys! The same delivery boy too." Came the voice of Seulgi's boss and Himchan frowned. That was rather rude of the man, his assistant was simply trying to follow after him while no doubt doing work he'd expected without telling her until the last minute. All high and mighty executives acted the same way.

"Don't you think it's a bit unfair to yell at your assistant? She's constantly chasing after you from the looks of it." Himchan said to the immaculately dressed man before him and Seulgi. The young woman turned bright red at Himchan's reprimand of her boss but that didn't deter him.

"Well seeing as how she does her job rather poorly a bit too often I can't help it. There's a certain expectation for the assistant of the CFO and Seulgi here, well she doesn't meet it often enough. But that's irrelevant, what are you doing here so often delivery boy?" The CFO asked, more like demanded of Himchan and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. God but Himchan hated the high and mighty executives for their expectant attitudes.

"I'm not a delivery boy. I'm just dropping off lunch for a friend in the finance department. Two very different things and if you're so incredibly busy maybe you should get going instead of talking to me and wasting your precious time." Himchan answered before turning away from the CFO. He smiled at Seulgi and headed for Chorong to get the pass she was already holding out to him.

The encounter didn't cross Himchan’s mind again until Youngjae brought it up a couple days later during dinner.

"By any chance do you know a Jung Daehyun?" Youngjae asked rather casually and the tone made Himchan look up immediately from his dinner. Youngjae had two usual tones: irritated or sarcastic. There was no in between unless he wanted something.

"No I don't. Why?"

"Oh I don't know maybe because he's my boss and you kinda pissed him off enough for him to send Seulgi on a search for anyone who knows you in the entire finance department. It's a really big department. It took her days."

"Oh...I see." Himchan bit his lip. Had the man really sent Seulgi on a quest to find out about him? The poor girl had enough on her plate as it was from what he'd seen.

"Yeah. So anyway...after I answered yes to Seulgi's question, and I really shouldn't have, I talked to Mr. Jung. It was...not surprising because it was you we were talking about. Way to be rude to the guy who runs my side of the business."

"It's not my fault he's a jerk interested in making money and not at all concerned about the people trying to make it possible. That's rude, me calling him out is a favor. Frankly he should be thankful." Himchan scoffed while picking up his chopsticks to continue eating dinner.

"Right...well your favor got me quite the warning. He agreed to leave my pay and position alone as long as you went back and apologized for your behavior. Otherwise...we're going to be looking for a smaller and less nicer apartment in a couple months." Youngjae sounded entirely too uninterested to seem bothered but Himchan knew better. The younger was definitely worried and that was a problem.

Yoo Youngjae hardly ever worried about things. There was a reason he was so successful at such a young age. He'd planned things out since their primary school days. He'd known when, where, and how he was going to accomplish his goals and what they were. So for the younger to be worried about something was rare, worry only came when it was something out of his control, and he went out of his way to keep this from happening often. And Himchan had been about to say he wouldn't apologized to the egotistical CFO but he knew better, that wouldn't be what Youngjae wanted. And all things aside Youngjae was his best friend and he didn't want to disappoint the younger.

"Fine. I'll apologize to him. I'll do it tomorrow after I drop off your lunch since you're quite liable to forget it in the morning."

"Thank you."
~~

Himchan had lingered for as long as he'd been able to while eating lunch with Youngjae. He'd done everything he could possibly do to delay the inevitable but alas Yoo Youngjae would not be deterred. He'd reminded his hyung of what he had to do and Himchan had no choice but to nod and accept he couldn't delay it anymore. So Youngjae had given him directions to the CFO's office and that was that.

The walk down the halls of the incredibly large finance department gave him time to both critique the interior design and come up with a direction for his apology. Himchan never apologized unless he believed he was in the wrong, and he generally wasn't, so apologies weren't a habit. He'd have to be convincing enough for the CFO to believe him while maintaining that the apology was entirely empty because he didn't believe he was wrong. The balance was very precarious.

As he continued down the polished mahogany floors he couldn't help but look at the occasional art work on the walls with distaste. The designer clearly had only put in the minimal effort to make the office stylish and professional, it was quite lazy, a disappointment really. He expected better for such a large and important company. Then again...when you spent all your time trying to figure out how to ruin others lives for the benefit of your own what else could be expected?

His angle for the meeting with the CFO decided and his critique of the interior design taken care of left him with time to think. Truly the floor was entirely too large, how was it even possible? Had it really been a good idea to call someone out in a place like this? Himchan held no power here and yet he hadn't been able to help himself from saying something. His mouth had always been what got him in trouble growing up, much to Youngjae’s pleasure, and here he was a grown man and still getting into trouble.

But the idea of holding his tongue when he had something to say was just so foreign, so wrong. It had never sat right with him to not say something when there was clearly something wrong with the situation. Himchan would gladly stand up for others because generally people just never spoke up. They let others just take what they wanted and let themselves be walked all over, especially in the corporate business world.

And now as he finally reached the CFO's office he could see the young woman he'd spoken up for. Seulgi was hard at work typing rapidly on a computer while constantly glancing over at her familiar tablet. He wondered if anyone had ever spoken up against her boss, given that the look in her eyes that day had been incredibly shocked. The likely answer was that no one spoke up against Jung Daehyun.

"Ahh Seulgi-yah pleasure to see you again. I came to see your boss. Don't have an appointment but given how adamant he was with my friend I'm sure he won't mind giving me a few minutes of his precious time." Himchan said with ease once he was within hearing distance of the assistant.

"Oh Mr. Kim! Yes yes of course. I'll let him know you're here. He's been waiting to hear from you since he spoke with Youngjae. It's been a couple days you know." Seulgi said before picking up the phone on her desk and speaking with her boss. A few seconds later she was standing up, smoothing down her dress, and signaling for him to follow her. She led him a little ways away from her desk and then held open a pristine oak door open for him.

He nodded to her as he entered the clearly lavish office. The heavy door closed behind him with a thud and he focused his attention on the man sitting with his feet up behind the regal desk. Nevermind that everything in the office was more expensive than what Youngjae made in a month.

"So good to see you Kim Himchan. Glad you decided to come visit me after our last meeting. Could've gone a whole lot better right?" The man was pleasant, too pleasant for Himchan to be even slightly at ease. These people were all the same. Predators who captured their prey by putting on a facade of pleasantry. He'd have to be vigilant not to fall for it.

"Yeah. It's been far too long. How you been? Business booming? Stocks shooting through the roof as always?" Himchan asked with a sweet smile on his lips. Two could play at that game.

"Oh but of course. We're always climbing here at Bang Corporations. Success is inevitable when you know what you're doing. How's the music business? Making millions yet?" The CFO  shot back and Himchan just barely kept himself from snapping at the man. He really was like the rest of them, he'd done the background check to look for ammunition. Completely typical but still entirely too annoying.

"On my way. Takes time. Practice. Honest hard work. Especially in such a lucrative industry as the music one. I'm sure you understand what with being an upstanding and righteous business man Mr. CFO."

"Oh cut the crap. We both know why you're here. Give me my apology." Jung snapped and Himchan took it as the victory it was. He wouldn't be outplayed by some greedy businessman.

"I don't think you deserve one. I was perfectly justified and you know it."

"Is that so? I suggest you apologize before something terrible happens."

"What? You can't do anything to me. I'm not afraid of you."

"You maybe not but your friend? The one who pays the bills and makes it possible for you to laze about the way you do. Well he is a different case. I can ruin him as a substitute for you."

"You wouldn't dare." Himchan hissed and didn't move from his spot in the middle of the room. Their pleasant conversation had kept him from moving closer to the desk and for that he was incredibly thankful.

"Oh I think you know quite well that I would dare. You seem to be aware of how the game works so do yourself a favor and fold. You can't win with a bad hand." Jung drawled will leaning further back into his leather seat.

"You don't know me. Don't make assumptions."

"Let me be clear since you don't seem to get it. Give in and do as I say or watch your friend lose half his wages. Hell, watch your friend get fired. I don't care. There are plenty of other accountants waiting for an opportunity to work here. It won't be a hassle to hire one of them to replace him."

That brought Himchan to a roaring halt. He was all too willing to fight the CFO as long as the consequences fell on him. He was by no means willing to fight if Youngjae was the one on the line. The younger would never forgive him for that and Himchan wouldn't forgive himself either. The CFO knew all too well where this was going, the man had probably been thinking about this for days now, and Himchan found himself powerless. The victorious feeling of just a few minutes ago had worn off and been replaced by an impossible to ignore concern.

"That got your attention. I did well then to find out who your friend was. It's truly a pity about Yoo Youngjae. He was quite possibly the best accountant we had. He was going to be up for a raise soon enough. Mores the pity." Jung continued speaking without any care for the shocked look that was now gracing Himchan's face.

"What do you mean?" Himchan asked with a sinking feeling in his gut. He had an idea of where Jung was going with this. He knew exactly where this was going to end. He'd messed up. Played right into the other man's hand.

"I've just decided, that since you don't seem to know when to back down I should teach you a lesson in deferring to your superiors. You should know your place. So here we go." Jung said with a pleasantly fake smile on his face as he leant forward in his seat to grab the phone on his desk, a few buttons presses later to he phone was ringing in the otherwise silent office.

"Hello?" A quiet voice answered.

"Jongup-ah, it's Daehyun hyung. I need a favor." And the look in the CFO's eyes was putting Himchan on edge.

"Yes hyung?"

"Terminate Yoo Youngjae’s employment immediately. Let's be nice and give him next month's paycheck too. He's going to need it." As if that was going to help them much in the long run. Himchan wanted to protest but that's what had gotten them in the first place.

"Alright. The reason for termination?" Jongup asked.

"Lacking work ethic. Make note in his file that he is very disobedient. That'll make things harder for him in future."

"Are you certain hyung?"

And Himchan couldn't take it anymore. Youngjae’s entire career was about to destroyed because he couldn't give an apology even an insincere one. He took a deep breath before moving across the office to stand right in front of the desk, upon which the CFO was now resting his elbows, and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry." He muttered and the man hummed.

"Oh hold on a second Jongup. What was that Kim? Speak up." The last bit was an undeniable order, steel edged and biting.

"I said I'm sorry. Are you happy now?"

"Ooh...now now. You're the one with the losing hand remember? At least you folded. Now follow through and lose. Be sincere and apologize again and I'll consider giving him his job back."

Himchan refused to be toyed with, it was something that made him want to throw a punch, but this situation was weighted with too much. It was absolutely critical he didn't screw up now. Too much was at stake.

"I'm very sorry Mr. Jung. Please accept my most sincerest apology." The humbleness Himchan forced into his voice physically pained him. Not even in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined getting himself into this sort of situation.

"Hmmm...I'm still not convinced." The CFO's mocking tone had Himchan gritting his teeth in frustration. He kept his head bowed however, he wouldn't give the man the pleasure of seeing his frustration, and waited. "Tell you what, let me solve our entire problem and we'll all benefit from it."

"What do you want?" Himchan asked and slowly looked up. The CFO grinned at him before raising a finger to make him wait while he told the man on the phone he'd call him back about the termination.

"You seem to know something or other about the corporate world. You're very defensive about people like Seulgi and Youngjae. So step up and take their place since you're their freedom fighter anyway. You'll take over Seulgi's job and I'll have her assigned to an easier boss for the same pay so win win. Youngjae will keep his job with everything intact and you'll actually contribute to your little arrangement. Fair?" Jung's tone was definite, the question more of a statement than anything else.

"Is there anything else?"

"I can call Jongup and have him file the termin--"

"Alright alright! Fine. I'll do it." Himchan cut in quickly and the smile on the other man's lip was devilish.

"Fantastic. You start tomorrow. Go tell Seulgi the good news. She'll train you today. Now run along."

And with a wave of Jung Daehyun's hand Himchan's entire life had just been altered. He wasn't looking forward to this change. It promised to be horrible with a boss like Jung Daehyun.