part 2 of a double update

cute chapter

it's 12:30 in the middle of the night

i think i'm going to dye my hair

Forward to the present

           “Orange chicken! My favourite! Thanks J – Suho I owe you one.” He almost called Joonmyun by his real name. He would ask Joonmyun why he introduced himself to Kris as such later.

           Joonmyun was very good at reading people, it got him in and out of trouble as a kid and later on it got him the contracts that got him the promotion at work. If he introduced himself as Suho, it meant he was uncomfortable with Kris for some reason. That was the name the weird professor was looking for.

           “So, Kris. What do you do?” Chanyeol bit into a piece of chicken, “Like for work.”

           “I work behind the scenes, so to speak, at the natural history museum.”

           “His job is to travel the world and collect artifacts.” Jongdae said almost proudly. “We used to actually go on excavations, but there was an accident, and now we tend not to go on digs as often.” The two men looked really solemn for a moment and nobody wanted to ask.

          “Sounds kinda like my job. My old job…” Baekhyun said, “I retrieved stolen museum pieces for insurance purposes.”

           “I originally thought he sounded like a spy.” Chanyeol said. “How ‘bout you, Jongdae?”

           “I’m… between jobs at the moment. Y – Kris has been kind enough to let me stay with him until I can get back on my feet, but I may have to look for a new place soon…” He absently poked at his noodles with a small frown.

           “Don’t be silly.” Kris said dismissively, “We’ll talk about it later. What do you do, Chanyeol?” Kris asked while nonchalantly picking up some meat.

           “I’m an author and illustrator of children’s picture books.” Baekhyun almost choked on a noodle.

           “I thought you were like... a wedding photographer, or something.”

           “I do that when I want a little extra money.”

           “You should see his burlesque photos.” Joonmyun said as he waved his chopsticks around.  Baekhyun spit out his drink.

           “You ok, love?” Chanyeol asked as he tried to wipe off Baekhyun’s face. The smaller man snatched the napkin from the tall man and did it himself.

           “Burlesque? Like ladies?” Baekhyun asked incredulously through a small coughing fit.

           “Not really . Apparently I have a really good eye for it…” Chanyeol sounded bored, “Sometimes I have to pick out their lingerie and pasties too.” He shrugged, not catching on to the fact that his lover was getting more upset with everything he said.

           Tao threw a piece of chicken at Chanyeol’s head. “The ?” The raven-haired man wiped the orange sauce off of his forehead while glaring across the table.

           “I should have never mentioned it.” Joonmyun said quietly.

           “Where are they?” Baekhyun snarled.

           “Where are what?” Chanyeol asked, “The girls or the photos?”

           “The photos– the girls– either” He sounded really angry.

           “No idea where the girls are, I usually do location shots.”

           “Where the hell are the photos?” Baekhyun’s voice was dangerously low.

           “I don’t keep them. I give the negatives, the files and the photos to my customers.” He said just as low as if he was challenging the other man. Baekhyun stood up and left the table followed by Chanyeol.

           “.” Joonmyun said as he ran after the other two that started screaming behind the door.

           There was a moment of silence between the three at the table as Joonmyun was trying to calm the shouting couple down. “So…” Jongdae started. “Uhh, been in the country long?”

           “What makes you think I’m from another country?” Tao asked.

           “You have a bit of an... accent?” He waved his hands trying to think of a delicate way to put it.

           “I must’ve been here maybe, five years,” Tao said, trying to recall the last time he had been summoned. The professor never once rubbed his lamp. Almost as if he had been waiting to give the lamp to Joonmyun. “Before that I was in Italy for a while, then Turkey before that.” He ticked off locations on his fingers. “Bhutan… Nepal… All over China.”

           “Where are you from originally?” Kris asked.

           “Qingdao.” Tao said after a moment, trying to remember the current name of the place.

           “Nice city,” Kris replied. He turned to Jongdae, “I went there with you, didn’t I?”

           “… Yeah.” He sighed softly before collecting the dishes.

           “You don’t have to do that.” Tao said as he put his hand on Jongdae’s arm. “I’ll clean up. Do you want dessert?”

           “I think we have things to discuss…” Kris stood up. “We seem to have caused enough trouble as it is.”

           “Oh, there was no trouble at all.” Tao said, wincing as he heard Joonmyun start to raise his voice. “I’ll walk you out.”

           “Thank you for dinner.” Jongdae said politely.

           Kris and Jongdae walked across the street in silence. Once they were inside and Jongdae had closed the door, Kris turned around and glared at him.

           “You were really content just to stay by me and not say anything?” Kris asked with a frown.

           “As long as I still got to see you... yes.” Jongdae said sadly.

           “You didn’t think to ask me how I feel? Dammit Jongdae, I thought you liked girls.” He paced in front of the shorter man.

           “In your entire time knowing me, how many women have you seen me go out with? Have you ever seen me date anyone?”

           “I… no.” Kris said lamely.

           Jongdae leaned against a bookshelf and waited for Kris to put two and two together. Kris looked up when he finally realized and rushed over to Jongdae. He grabbed the other man’s face and pressed their lips together.