July had rolled past unnervingly fast, with the latter quarter being where the two men first met. The end of July was the last time Jongin saw Baekhyun for a month.. That being two days. The slender male had quietly slipped out of the apartment, bleary-eyed, in the somewhat early hours of the morning, whereas Jongin slept until 2pm. Not atypical for him. He rolled out of bed and found himself slightly disappointed to see the spare room empty, considering he had fell asleep to the daunting worry that he only had 3 eggs for his morning omlette and planned out an excuse to give it to Baekhyun instead. But alas, he wasn't required to hand over his breakfast as the older male had left without a trace. Jongin smiled at the neatly made bed and drawn curtains; it was as if there had been no-one there. And Jongin could have momentarily thought so, if it wasn't for the empty packet of hangover medicine left on the desk table.

The weekend was pretty bland, with August tumbling in and Jongin frequenting the local coffee shop to treat his headache with americano's. "Five bottles.." he mumbled to himself, a small laugh at his lips, "I've lost my tolerance." he noted, thinking back to his years as a high school senior where he would empty his friends coolers in minutes. Back in his apartment on Sunday evening, fragments of his bosses visit began to slip back into his mind. He brought an index finger up to his lips, ghosting it over them; for, momentarily, he let his mind go where it was heading towards on Saturday morning, to closing that gap between the males lips. But Jongin knew the reality, that did not happen. He wondered why, though. For he wasn't nervous, and he certainly wasn't one to hesitate in getting physical with people in the past. Perhaps it was his uncertainty of his elders uality, or his general wariness of the other's intentions, for he still didn't know whether Baekhyun was flirting or being a fun boss. Quickly, he shook off the strange thoughts. It was entirely and unarguably innappropriate for him to have a crush on his boss of one week.

Monday came. Jongin arrived a little early to his desk, alone once again, where he began inputting the weekend figures that had built up. Every time the elevator whirred, his ears pricked and gaze shifted, but it was just a constant stream of lifeless coworkers. They looked exactly how Jongin had felt waking up hungover on Saturday. Lunchtime came and his phone buzzed, and despite attempting to fight the childish urge, he grabbed it immediately.

[KakaoTalk Notification!] (1.03pm) ByunBaek: Jongin, seventh floor

No emoji, no cute "~" symbol, no cursing. "." Jongin thought. His mind was racing. Was Friday night a test of his professionalism? Had he pushed it too far? Was this boss, too, a devout religious man and noticed Jongin's ual leaning? He didn't know, and he wasn't too sure whether he wanted to. But of course, he went to the elevator and up to exactly where he was told. The elevator announced the seventh floor and Jongin stepped out, somewhat likened to a lost puppy with his deep round eyes searching the office space desperately. He walked a few steps before getting to Baekhyun's office. "Mr. Byun" was adorned on the door, and Jongin knocked a few times before stepping inside. Baekhyun sat there, eyes wandering over the tall males toned stature as Jongin sat opposite him.

"I think we should talk." Baekhyun stated, almost as coldly as he had fired questions during their interview. Jongin nodded, his hands cupped awkwardly on his lap and eyes saucer-wide with genuine curiosity. "Well, as you know I stayed over at your place on Friday. It was my first time sleeping in a bed that wasn't mine for about 4 years." Jongin continued his gentle nods as Baekhyun carefully trawled through each painfully suspenseful sentence, "And as, again, I'm sure you know... That's unprofessional of a boss... So, to be honest Kim, I don't do this often but I'd like to apologise." he finished somewhat nonchalantly, the relief of his apology taking an almost-visible weight off his shoulders as he slouched back into his chair, proud of his own maturity and professionalism. He'd even picked up formalities in his speech all of a sudden. "You what? Baekhyun, , I thought I was getting fired." Jongin scoffed, childishly kicking his foot out of his otherwise staut posture, eyebrows furrowed despite the relief etched on his face. "Fired? You think we could find someone else who wants to replace you?" Baekhyun cooly stated, his previous formalities dropped, "No, but I'm serious, I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable... I never push my coworker boundaries, but it's not like I planned to get drunk enough to let myself want you." he finished, a slight roll of his eyes bringing a grin to Jongin's face. "You wanted me?" Jongin asked, teasingly, arms now crossed over his torso. "Note the drunk factor in that statement. And the ing past tense. Get out of my office, bastard." Baekhyun mumbled, teeth clasping his lower lip to contain the threatening laugh as Jongin's pride swelled in his chest. The younger said no more, satisfied with the ridiculousness of his bosses apology and the clarification that on that Saturday dawn, they wanted each other equally.

"You work too hard" Baekhyun murmured over the rim of his beer glass on Friday night. All coworkers were gathered for a post-monthly meeting as August had arrived. A meeting, of course, turned into drinking, and Jongin was starting to see how Baekhyun knew all the wild stories about the office workers. After a few beers they were comparing past wives and teasing each others high school photo's. Jongin and Baekhyun were at the end of the table, observing. "Not too hard, just harder than you damn slackers." Jongin retorted with a grin, his palm reaching Baekhyun's arm to give it a knowing squeeze as one guy divulged a story that Baekhyun had pre-warned Jongin about. The atmosphere was hazy and loud, and the light weights had already left to vomit and stumble home, so there were around 15 people left at the large table. Through hushed conversation, Baekhyun and Jongin could barely be heard by the lewd older drunks.

"So you're telling me you didn't have any girlfriends in high school?" Baekhyun scoffed, halfway into a reminiscent story shared between the two. Jongin nodded slowly, and side-eyed the rest of the workers before quietly suggesting he and Baekhyun go out for a smoke to continue the conversation away from prying eyes. After promising to return, they snook out to a back alley and Jongin lit up a cigarette before offering one to the other male. "I told you, I'm sick.. I had to quit" Baekhyun muttered, before retaining the past musings, "So not one girl? Or maybe you just didn't date them and you're a player." he teased playfully, eyes glinting under the dim streetlights. Jongin breathed in a couple of puffs of smoke, absorbing the gentle silence before cooly slipping in the secret which he'd been keeping, if perhaps not too successfully; "I like guys.". "Oh..." Baekhyun replied, his soft lips forming a small circle for a few lingering minutes as he drunkenly processed the information, "then I guess I better tell the receptionist she's out of luck." he sneered, a smile now playing at his lips. Again, they were swallowed with empty white noise, wherein Baekhyun took the opportunity to move his hand to the younger boys shoulder, applying slight pressure with his fingers. Jongin wasn't sure what that meant, but he had no idea whether he'd just destroyed or enhanced their relationship. "Guys.." Baekhyun muttered, before his nose scrunched up slightly, kissed with the glow of redness from the alcohol, ", why plural? I knew you were a player. From now on, Kim, like just one guy." he finished, rolling his eyes. "Always with the ing word play, Byun. Then which guy... Desk 20 Lee?!" the younger asked, feigning shock and disgust at the suggestion of concentrating his affections on the much-older, four time married alcoholic. But Baekhyun just laughed, used the hand on the taller males shoulder as leverage to shove him slightly before stepping back and motioning that they should return inside. Jongin's gut wrenched slightly with his insatiable desire for an answer.

Though the night ended fairly quickly, it still left a pleasant impact on both boys. No real business was discussed aside from the sober ten minutes of mumbling about summer numbers and stock markets, but the only exchange that Jongin pondered over that night was the small hand on his shoulder at 2am.