The Attitude Adjustment

 

Donghae hated Hyukjae. Not all the time, no. In fact, there were a lot of things about the man he admired greatly. He was smart, personable, good looking, and everyone treated him with respect. He never seemed to work hard for anything, and people always took notice of his work, even when, sometimes, it wasn’t as good as it probably could have been. So, Donghae hated him. Sure, hate was a strong word, one his pastor at church was always saying they should remove from their vocabulary. And sure, maybe the reason he hated him so much was because he envied every single thing about the man. He also might have had a tiny bit of a crush on him, but that was another thing entirely. So what if Donghae’s heart pounded a little faster every time Hyukjae gave him that friendly, gummy smile as he said good morning? So what if Donghae sometimes dreamed about him in ways that he would never dare to tell anyone outloud? Stubbornly, he pretended he was unaffected and told himself he hated the man, because to do otherwise would be to give up his personal defenses and act like a fool. Donghae wasn’t good at hiding the truth. Even from himself.

 

***

 

Hyukjae found Donghae singularly irritating. The man walked around like a lost puppy most of the time and was almost as cute as one. Almost, because in reality he was freaking gorgeous, more than any human being had a right to be. Which, you know, wouldn’t be an issue if every single person in their division didn’t bend over backward showering the man with flattery and little gifts. It irked him. Especially because Donghae was one of those people who could never find the right notes when he needed them, was always forgetting to file his work on time, and honestly couldn’t put two words together. Seriously, Hyukjae had been saying hello to the man for months now, and all he normally got in return was the blank stare of someone who didn’t understand a word he was saying. Why everyone seemed to baby the man and his ego all the time was mystifying. Hyukjae worked twice as hard, was always the first to file his reports, and did it all totally by himself, since his coworkers would rather spend their time teasing him. Donghae was good looking, though. As much as he loathed complimenting the man on anything, there was no denying the obvious. Hyukjae wished that just once he could coast through life on his looks and not have to work so damn hard to stand out.

 

***

 

“We need this report investigated and filed, like, yesterday,” Ryeowook, their boss, informed the two men standing before his desk. “Someone on the fourth floor screwed up all the figures and corporate is going to make heads roll if we don’t fix it and get it back to them before the end of the week.”

The shorter of the two men stared at the ground, his hands twisting together at his waist as he studied the carpet. With his shaggy brown hair hanging a bit too low over his eyes, it was impossible to tell what expression he was making. But his posture indicated reluctance and perhaps even a bit of fear.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the taller man tilted his head to the side and asked, “Why does it have to be the two of us? Why not let the fourth floor fix it?”

“Because they’re a bunch of idiots, obviously,” Ryeowook tsked, shaking his head. “And neither of you has a heavy workload this week, so you’re the best ones for the job.”

The taller man rolled his eyes, earning him a scowl from their boss. He cleared his throat and straightened up, but it was difficult to miss the displeasure in his face as he glanced at the man standing beside him.

“Well?” Ryeowook demanded, placing one hand on his hip.

“Certainly, Sir,” the shorter said quietly. “Just let us know what needs to be done.”

The petite man behind the desk nodded, then shifted his gaze to the tallest.

“Anything you need, Sir,” he replied with a very phony smile.

“Great.” Their boss turned around and grabbed a massive armful of folders from the table behind him and practically slammed them down on his desk. “Here’s everything. Divide it up however you please, but remember, it needs to be corrected, rewritten, and ready to file by the end of the week. And that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your regular work, either. I’ll expect the daily reports as usual.”

The taller man groaned and let out a deep sigh, but the shorter gave their boss a nod and stepped over to the desk, grabbing up the armload of folders and giving a small nod. “Thank you, Sir. We’ll do our best.”

 

***

 

Why Donghae? Out of everyone in the office, why did it have to be the worst worker? Hyukjae hated disorganization. He kept to a strict routine and always had his work in proper order. They were barely out of the office when the folders began to shift, and if he hadn’t acted quickly, the entire pile would have slithered out of Donghae’s arms and landed in a jumbled heap.

“Be careful, will you?” he snapped, shoving everything back together.

“Sorry, it’s a lot,” Donghae apologized, flashing Hyukjae a look that would have melted a snowman’s heart.

“Yeah,” he capitulated grumpily. He wasn’t affected by those soft brown eyes. Not at all. This was probably how Donghae got away with it. Played at being sweet and innocent and convinced the people around him to take pity. “Well, let’s divide it in half. We can work on it around our other assignments and meet up at the end of the day to compare notes.”

“All right,” Donghae nodded eagerly, allowing Hyukjae to grab half the folders. Maybe a little less than half. Not that he expected Donghae to get it done, but he felt the need to prove a point. He could go to Ryeowook and complain if Donghae didn’t carry his weight. Then maybe, just maybe, for once, someone would realize the truth, and Donghae’s little act would be discovered.

Hyukjae returned to his cubicle and got to work. A bit of the special case here and there, in between his regular filings. If his gaze kept drifting over to Donghae’s cubicle, on the other side of the large room, he told himself it was to check the man’s progress.

But every time he looked, Donghae was either talking to someone at his desk, or missing from it completely. And as the hours ticked by, and the stack of folders sat on the corner of his filing cabinet, untouched, Hyukjae’s anger grew. Sometime after lunch, which he ate at his desk, working, while feeling more and more irritable gazing at the empty space where Donghae should be, Hyukjae snapped.

Stomping back to Ryeowook’s office, he knocked and barely waited for an answer before barging in.

“Ah, Hyukjae. How is the work coming?”

“My work? Just fine, as always. But Donghae hasn’t even touched his half yet. You do realize the man spends the bulk of his day socializing, right? Why did you have to pair me with him anyway? He never gets his work done on time. I would have been able to do it myself, you know.”

For a moment, the dark eyes simply stared. “Are you lodging a complaint against your coworker? Because if you are, I suggest going to the HR department.”

“No, I’m not…” Hyukjae sputtered, taken off guard by the cold expression in the other man’s eyes. “You’re the manager of the team. I just wanted to say something, so if he doesn’t finish, I won’t take the blame. If I’m going to end up doing all the work anyway, you should have just given it all to me in the first place.”

“Corporate wanted two people assigned so that you can check each other’s work and safeguard against any more mistakes. If you have a problem with it, make it formal or get back to work.”

“Fine,” Hyukjae huffed, and stormed out of the office and back to his desk. For the rest of the afternoon, he carefully avoided looking in Donghae’s direction.

 

***

 

Donghae knew he was in trouble. But it wasn’t exactly his fault. Whenever people were nice to him, it was impossible to deny their favors. So in between doing his own work and trying to take a glance at the special project he was sharing with Hyukjae, he was also doing a hundred other things for his coworkers. And, as usual, even when he was totally swamped already, when Siwon came and offered to buy lunch so they could brainstorm about his latest project, Donghae wasn’t able to say no. Like, literally, one look from Siwon, and Donghae’s refusal died on his lips. Because Siwon was always so nice to him. Buying him lunch, bringing him coffee and snacks, even giving him a ride to work a few times when Donghae’s broken down car refused to start and Siwon drove by and saw him standing at the bus stop. So, he ate the meal and listened to Siwon’s problem, giving him some advice that would solve his issue, and even offering to help him write it up for filing when he was finished.

It made an intimidating situation even worse when Hyukjae came over near the end of the workday and asked to see his progress on their project, and he had to admit he hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the files yet.

Hyukjae was upset. Clearly. The anger was visible on his face and unmistakable in the chastising words that were thrown.

“Don’t worry, I promise I’ll have some progress for you in the morning. Maybe we can take a few minutes then and look things over.”

Fuming, Hyukjae let out a breath before grumbling, “I have my own schedule, you know. We agreed on this afternoon. But fine, just get it together, will you?”

“Sorry,” Donghae apologized meekly, trying very hard not to let his eyes well up with tears.

The first time he had ever worked this closely with Hyukjae and he was making a terrible impression. The taller man really had it all together. He was a total package. It made Donghae feel very small when Hyukjae dismissed him with a nod and strode off to the elevators. Oh, to be going home on time.

With a sigh, Donghae turned back to his computer and started in on his work. If he wanted to have something to show Hyukjae in the morning, this was going to be a late night.

 

***

 

“How’s the damage control coming?” asked the lanky, young man as he walked into Ryeowook’s office two days later, hands stuffed in the pockets of his expensive suit. “The CEO is starting to sweat. Is your team going to find what we need?”

“Ugh,” Ryeowook sat back in his seat and frowned. “I put my best people on it, but all they do is argue.”

“Why?” Kyuhyun asked negligently, before letting out a yawn. “I thought Hyukjae and Donghae were your top performers?”

“They are. Separately. But apparently, they can’t get along. Donghae’s been late with every report since Monday, and Hyukjae has been in here at least twice a day complaining that he would rather do everything himself than share the load. I want to smack them both. Why can’t they get their heads out of their asses and work together? The whole reason I paired them up is because they each have what the other lacks. I thought it was a brilliant idea and now I’m wondering if I screwed us all over.”

Kyuhyun let out a thoughtful hum. “So, they need a bit of an attitude adjustment?”

“Why?” Ryeowook asked, eyes narrowing. “What exactly did you have in mind? Because team bonding exercises won’t work with those two.”

“I may have a thing...,” Kyuhyun smirked.

“The last time you had a thing,” Ryeowook warned, a bit of apprehension on his face, “One of our friends thought he was a girl for a week.”

“Yes? And he never tried to harass another female again after that. He’s a perfect gentleman now, even steps in to protect women when some other guy is being a jerk.”

“An attitude adjustment, huh?”

“Sometimes all you need to do is walk a few miles in the other person’s shoes, Wook. It’ll be perfectly fine. Just trust me.”

“I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw you,” Ryeowook announced, crossing his arms. “But if it makes them work together and finish the project on time, I don’t care what you do as long as no one gets hurt.”

“What could possibly happen?” Kyuhyun grinned wickedly.

 

***

 

Hyukjae sat down on the edge of his bed and eyed the small bottle that his company VP had handed him that afternoon.

“You’re working so hard,” Kyuhyun had told him. “I just wanted to make sure you stay healthy and get a good rest. Take this before you sleep tonight. It’s great for your stamina and focus. We need you at your best for this one. I’m going to check in with you in the morning and see if you like it, okay?”

And Hyukjae knew he would. Even though the idea of imbibing the strange vitamin drink wasn’t exactly filling him with confidence, his CEO’s son wasn’t someone to be messed with. If Cho Kyuhyun wanted you to do something, you did it and didn’t ask questions.

Sighing, he twisted open the cap and sniffed of the substance, pleasantly surprised to find it smelled like strawberries. Perfect. He loved strawberries. Bottoms up, he told himself, and downed the drink. When nothing horrible happened after a few minutes, Hyukjae tossed the bottle in the trash and got under the covers, falling asleep almost instantly.

When he woke in the morning, he thought he was having a kind of strange dream. Surely there wouldn’t be car horns making this much noise next to his bedroom. He lived on the tenth floor. And what was with the people talking so loudly? And that smell? Opening his eyes, he stared at the strange, slightly stained ceiling above him and tried not to freak out.

Where was he? Had he gone out the night before, gotten drunk, and gone home with a stranger? If so, he must have been faced, because no matter how good looking that stranger might have been, once he walked in the door of this rathole apartment, he was pretty sure he would have spun and walked back out.

Staring around him, he saw a disorganized jumble of clothes and books, with a few pictures he couldn’t quite make out. The room was small, like the tiny studios he’d lived in during university. There were two doors taking up the bulk of the main wall.

It wasn’t until he went to crawl from the saggy bed that he realized he was in a pair of worn pajamas with fish on them, and more importantly, his body wasn’t his own.

What. The. !

Scrambling onto his feet, wobbling a bit from the unfamiliar center of balance, he hurried into the bathroom and fumbled for the lightswitch so that he could stare into the cracked mirror and…

Holy !

That wasn’t his face. Because Hyukjae had never looked that amazing in his entire life, but especially not first thing in the morning before even washing up.

That was Donghae’s face staring back at him with wide brown eyes the color of chocolate. Donghae’s face, so tan and flawless, even with the mark of a wrinkled pillowcase etched on his cheek.

He was Donghae. And this was Donghae’s apartment.

Ok, he told himself. Try not to panic. It’s a simple mistake. It had to be. He would just call Donghae and… well, he had no idea what he would do.

But even when he found Donghae’s phone he wasn’t able to unlock it because the man’s phone was ancient, didn’t even have thumbprint access, and Hyukjae didn’t know the numerical password.

Sagging onto the bed he stared around him in disbelief. The only way he was going to be able to talk to Donghae was to find Donghae. Which meant he had to get this body dressed and find the man’s car, and somehow hope to end up at the same place Donghae, who must be in Hyukjae’s body, would be.

Did he wait here and hope Donghae came to look for himself? Or did he go to his own apartment? But what if they both went looking and neither found the other? And… ! It was a workday! Hyukjae had never called off work! He would ruin his perfect record at the company.

Or… not. Because he was Donghae. But he couldn’t do that to Donghae, either. And hopefully Donghae wasn’t sitting in a puddle of tears freaking out over this and had come to a similar conclusion.

Work it was. He would get Donghae’s body dressed, find his car, and make his way to the office, and hopefully once there they would find each other and be able to sort out just what the had happened!

It was only when he was stripping down for a quick shower in the questionably cleaned bathroom, that he realized that he would not be washing his own body. And as ed up and bizarre as it was, the very idea of running his hands all over Donghae’s body under the guise of showering was rather arousing. A little too arousing.

He had barely soaped up when he became painfully aware of how much he’d like to explore the tanned skin, and how pleasantly endowed Donghae was. . He cranked the water to cold, not much of a change since it was barely warm as it was, and tried to think of boring, ugly things.

 

***

 

Arriving at the office, Donghae tried to smile and nod pleasantly, saying good morning a few times, proud that his voice didn’t crack. Hyukjae’s voice. Since he was in Hyukjae’s body.

He scanned his surroundings nervously, hoping to see himself. Okay, very weird, but he had to find his own body because it would have to be Hyukjae, and they needed to try and reverse whatever weird spell had been put on them.

He hadn’t realized how early he’d managed to arrive, but once he sat down at Hyukjae’s desk, after a quick detour when he nearly went to his own, he glanced at the clock and marveled.

Waking up in the clean, well-decorated apartment this morning, he’d been sure he was dreaming. It was everything he had always wished for in an apartment. Spacious, quiet, centrally located so that when he did manage to find Hyukjae’s sensible car in the downstairs garage, it only took a short time to drive to work, unlike the commute from his own place.

In fact, as expected, everything was easier as Hyukjae. The man’s clothing had all been perfectly organized and clean. His bathroom was gorgeous. Donghae had been extremely tempted to take a shower in the beautifully decorated stall with the showerhead that had multiple massage settings. But then he remembered he was in someone else’s body. Hyukjae’s body. The man whose body Donghae had fantasized about one too many times.

And that felt far too weird and invasive. It was bad enough getting dressed and having to risk seeing the other man’s self. He’d done it as quickly as possible, not wanting to breach Hyukjae’s privacy without his permission. Now, if he did have permission, he’d love to do all kinds of things with Hyukjae’s body. But he thought he would prefer to be doing those things while he was in his own.

It was only when he was dressed and rummaging through the sparsely stocked kitchen for a snack, that he realized that if he was in Hyukjae’s body, then Hyukjae must be in his. Not that he didn’t have a nice body. He was proud of his muscles and he tried to eat healthy, unlike Hyukjae whose staple food item appeared to be instant ramen.

But Hyukjae might not be taking this whole situation as pragmatically as Donghae. And that meant they would need to meet up and try to solve it. So, he had located Hyukjae’s car and gone to work.

His eyes widened when he saw himself enter the office. So weird. This was all so weird. But Hyukjae-as-Donghae came hurrying over to Donghae-as-Hyukjae’s desk. And anyone that knew them would have realized immediately that something was wrong, as words poured out of the Donghae mouth that he couldn’t ever remember uttering aloud.

“What the is going on? What the hell did you do?”

“Me?” Donghae squeaked out in Hyukjae’s higher voice. “I woke up this way.”

A frown etched the familiar face staring at him. Like looking in a mirror, but the Donghae there wasn’t acting like himself.

“Why? How did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Donghae shrugged Hyuk’s broad shoulders, liking the way the suit moved around them. “But can you please try to take care of my body? I can’t eat so much ramen.”

“Eat…? You’re thinking about food? I want my body back!” Hyukjae had spoken loudly enough that Donghae’s voice brought a few heads turning in their direction.

“Ssh!” Donghae warned him. “Unless we want everyone to know, please watch what you say! We’ll figure it out, but until then, just pretend to be me and I’ll pretend to be you. Okay?”

Hyukjae rolled his eyes and gave a snort of displeasure. Something that was very familiar despite seeing it on Donghae’s own face. “Fine. But we need to figure this out fast. I can’t believe I have to go through my day as you.”

He might not have meant the words as harshly as he said them. Donghae tried to reassure himself that Hyukjae was just upset and he didn’t mean it. Still, it hurt to think that he was so awful that the very idea of inhabiting his body for a little while was that bad.

However, as the morning wore on and he worked on Hyukjae’s filings, blissfully free of the thousand normal interruptions, he thought it was a nice change of pace. He finished Hyukjae’s morning work well ahead of schedule. Far earlier than he would have ever dreamed of finishing his own, even on a good day. As he had time on his hands, he browsed through some of Hyukjae’s other work, including the project they were completing together, making a few minor changes, and noting some corrections or questionable items.

What he tried not to do was look at Hyukjae. Because every time he did, and saw his own face look up and scowl back at him, it made a little piece of him die inside. As much as he was enjoying the break from his normal routine, Hyukjae obviously hated it.

 

***

 

The first thing he noticed upon booting up Donghae’s computer was that as disorganized as he might seem on the outside, his work was very well documented. And there was a lot of it. A lot more than Hyukjae normally did. There were also a startling number of emails from colleagues asking him for suggestions, to review their work, to find some research, and more. Scrolling down the man’s sent mail, Hyukjae was appalled at the number of requests he had fulfilled just in the last few days. No wonder he was struggling to finish his own heavy workload. He was doing half the department’s work as well!

The second thing he noticed was that Donghae must have stayed late, again, because his half of the joint project, woefully underprepared when Hyukjae left the day before, was now almost finished.

The third thing he noticed was that Donghae was brilliant at what he did. Better, maybe, than Hyukjae. His reports were thorough and well prepared, his documentation was flawless, and even though Ryeowook was sending him even more files daily than probably anyone else in the office, he was finishing them all, along with everything else.

There really wasn’t much that Hyukjae needed to do, which was a good thing, since all day long people kept stopping by Donghae’s desk to ask questions and bribe him for favors. The free coffee and muffins dropped off by their coworkers were nice, especially since he’d skipped breakfast in his rush to find something decent to wear in the pile of clothes strewn around Donghae’s tiny bedroom and locate the man’s car. He shuddered, remembering how spooked he’d been when the dilapidated vehicle had started making strange popping and whining noises as he’d navigated traffic all the way from Donghae’s neighborhood.

It made no sense, really. They surely made the same salary. Donghae should have been able to afford an apartment as decent as Hyukjae’s. And a better car. Certainly, better than what he was living in and driving now.

The ping of another incoming email caught his attention, and he cringed as he pulled up the inbox, fearing another request for help smothered in phony compliments.

Instead, he saw his own name as the sender, and glanced up at Donghae with a frown. Having his own face stare back at him complete with apologetic puppy-dog eyes made him shiver uncomfortably. He didn’t think he’d ever used that expression in his life. At least not since he was a little kid asking his mom for another treat before bedtime.

“Hyukjae,

Siwon will probably be coming by soon. He’s going to ask to treat me for lunch so he can pick my brain about his latest project. Please don’t be rude to him. He’s very nice to me.

Donghae.

P.S. We should meet up in the conference room after lunch so we can talk.”

Lifting his head – Donghae’s head – he met his own eyes and nodded in agreement. The expression on his face seemed relieved.

Sure enough, as predicted, their officemate Siwon sidled up to Donghae’s desk just before lunch with a smile. And Hyukjae found himself biting back his anger as he spent his precious lunch hour being peppered with questions. It was a marvel that Siwon hadn’t been fired, as incompetent as he acted. Donghae might as well have been doing all the man’s work for him.

It took every bit of self-control he possessed not to snap at the handsome man and tell him where to shove his questions.

But as he returned to Donghae’s desk to grab the project folders and head to the conference room, he strangely felt sorry for the man whose body he was in. It wasn’t just Siwon taking advantage of him. Everyone was taking advantage of him. And he was a prince, really, for acquiescing to all their requests. For what? Because he was a nice guy? Hyukjae would have thought Donghae was a fool, but his work proved otherwise. Shaking his head, he headed off to their meeting determined to get some answers. And to get his own body, and life, back.

 

***

 

Donghae’s enchantment with Hyukjae’s life lasted about halfway through lunch. Since he hadn’t brought anything, he trailed after Siwon and the pretend-Donghae as they went down to the cafeteria. He told himself it was just to keep an eye on things. In case Hyukjae did or said something completely out of character and gave away their situation.

So far, living as Hyukjae had only proven that Donghae’s impression of the man was correct. He was handsome, self-possessed, and intelligent. He had everything Donghae lacked. It was so much easier to move through life as Hyukjae, and he envied that ease as he thought about how dreary it would be to wake up back in his own small, dingy apartment, dealing with all his mundane problems while still keeping a kind smile on his face.

His father had always told him to meet every action with kindness, even when it was difficult. And that was what he had done, always putting others ahead of himself. Even if he wasn’t always happy with where his life had brought him, at least he never had any regrets about not having lived as a good person.

During lunch, however, the first cracks began to surface. They were small things, really. A few innuendos about his looks, which took Donghae a while to make sense of. Were they saying Hyukjae was ugly? It didn’t even make sense. Hyukjae was beautiful. Donghae could only wish for such broad shoulders, such plump kissable lips, and such a confident demeanor. He laughed off the jokes, even when they confused him. But the teasing was everywhere, well-rehearsed quips that must have been said a thousand times. Thankfully, his frown of confusion must have given their coworkers enough of a reaction that they quit.

On his way back to Hyukjae’s desk, another one of their team flippantly told Hyukjae that the data he had said he would provide was missing, and, sorry, Hyukjae would have to redo it all if he needed it. And the other man didn’t even seem to care that research of that magnitude would take Hyukjae most of a workday to compile. He even laughed and gave a little smirk as he walked off. It wasn’t kind at all, and Donghae started to feel bad as he realized that maybe Hyukjae looked like he had it all together on the outside, but on the inside, he might be dealing with a lot of things on his own.

They ended up at the conference room at the same time.

There was a moment of silence before both men tried speaking at once. After pausing, Donghae nodded that Hyukjae should go first. He was shocked by the words.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you about the project.”

“Why?” It didn’t make sense. Hyukjae had been within his rights to be upset, as Donghae hadn’t been pulling his weight with all the other things he had to do at the same time.

“I never realized how hard you were working. I’ll be honest, the way people treat you around here, and how disorganized you can be, I thought you were a bit of a slacker. But really, I see now that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“Thanks, Hyukjae,” Donghae nearly whispered, a warm glow spreading through him. If he were in his own body, he knew he would be blushing. He wondered what Hyukjae would look like when he blushed.

“Yeah, well,” Hyukjae continued, and Donghae watched as the shoulders of his body shrugged. “After dealing with all those people bothering me all day thinking I was you, I’m about ready to snap. I don’t know how you can keep it up.”

“I’m just used to it, I guess,” he replied thoughtfully. “Really, I never knew it could be any other way until I was pretending to be you. You’re so well organized and it’s really peaceful to be able to work without constant interruptions.”

“People don’t bother me much,” Hyukjae admitted. “At least not for favors, like they do with you.”

“They aren’t very nice to you, are they?” Donghae asked compassionately. “Some of the things they said to me when they thought I was you…. I hope you don’t take those things to heart, Hyukjae. I thought they were joking at first, but after a while I realized they were saying them on purpose.”

“Hmm….” Hyukjae hummed noncommittally. “I just try to ignore it and do my work.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” Donghae insisted.

“Well, speaking of work, we still have the project to finish. I saw your half was almost done. Did you stay late last night to accomplish it? You shouldn’t overwork yourself like that.”

“I don’t mind,” Donghae said shyly. “You’ve seen my place. It’s not like I’m in any hurry to get back there.”

“Yeah.” Hyukjae looked like he was about to say something else but must have changed his mind. “At any rate, we should be able to finish this up today. As long as you – well, me right now – can stay away from our coworkers long enough to get some work done.”

Since they both agreed on the plan, they ended up spending the better part of the afternoon sequestered in the conference room. After double-checking each other’s work, they compiled all the information and emailed the finished file to Ryeowook for review. Neither said anything about their situation. Donghae assumed that after their workday finished, they would talk about it again. He hoped they would. Even as bizarre as it was to talk to Hyukjae while staring at his own face, he had learned that the other man was not only attractive, intelligent, and organized, he was also quite nice.

 

***

 

Hyukjae was finishing up the last of Donghae’s work, ignoring the growing number of emails from their coworkers, when Kyuhyun wandered over to Donghae’s desk with a smirk on his face.

“So, how did you like the vitamin drink I gave you yesterday? You drank it, right?”

Staring, the wheels in Hyukjae’s head started spinning faster and he came to a surreal but obviously likely explanation. Either Kyuhyun knew about the switch, or he had given both of them the same drink and was wondering what had happened.

“It was… okay, I guess,” Hyukjae answered evasively.

“Really? Because it seems like it’s affected your performance today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been watching you all day. The real Donghae has never scowled this much in his life. People are whispering about what might be wrong with him. And even though no one has really noticed, the real Hyukjae has never smiled so much or been so polite to the people around him. So? How did you like the drink?”

“Cho Kyuhyun, if you don’t tell me what you did, I’m going to kill you,” Hyukjae growled. “How do we get back to normal?”

“Not sure,” Kyuhyun shrugged with a grin.

“What?” Hyukjae heard Donghae’s voice crack as it emerged from his throat.

“It’s supposed to last a day or so.”

“A day? So, like, tonight sometime? Will we wake up ourselves again?”

“I assume that’s how it works. But maybe you’ll wake up in someone else’s body,” he shrugged wickedly and started walking away.

“Kyuhyun!” Hyukjae hissed after him, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. He was alarmed to find a few people glancing his way, including himself – Donghae – who looked confused and a bit worried.

Scrambling up from the desk, Hyukjae gestured at Donghae to follow him and chased after Kyuhyun, cornering him in the hallway just as Donghae walked up.

“What’s going on?” came the concerned question from Donghae wearing Hyukjae’s face, and Hyukjae had to admit that he had never sounded that nice about anything to anyone.

“Did he give you a drink yesterday?” Hyukjae jerked Donghae’s thumb toward Kyuhyun.

“Um….” Donghae-as-Hyukjae darted his eyes back and forth between the two men before admitting, “Yes?”

“I knew it! That drink did this to us, and he knew about it!”

“But… why, Kyuhyun?” Donghae asked.

“Why not?”

“And,” Hyukjae continued, “even though he says it’s supposed to wear off in a day, he said maybe we won’t even go back to our own bodies!”

“Where would we go?” Hyukjae watched his body’s large eyes get even wider. Funny, he had seen that same apprehensive expression on Donghae many times, but never realized how much cuter it looked on the other man.

“Who knows?” Kyuhyun answered.

“But how can we make sure?”

“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun made a face. “Stick together until you change back, maybe? That way your bodies are the closest, so you’ll probably switch back without wandering anywhere else.”

As Donghae and Hyukjae stared, mouths hanging open in shock, Kyuhyun gave them a little wave and started walking down the hallway.

“Oh, thanks for the report, by the way. Excellent work. Good luck. And enjoy the weekend.”

With a wave, he was gone, and the two men slowly turned to each other.

“What do we do?” Donghae asked.

“Stick together. Like he said. Right?”

“But how?”

“You’ll just have to come back to my place with me,” Hyukjae stated, seeing his own eyes widen. “We’ll get dinner or something. And just… I dunno, hang out until it happens?”

“Okay,” Donghae replied rather quietly. “If it doesn’t bother you.”

“Bother me? Why would it?”

“No reason,” Donghae replied shyly.

“And tonight, you’re leaving work on time,” Hyukjae was firm. He wasn’t waiting around for Donghae to finish up any special requests or last-minute projects. His regular work was already done – Hyukjae had made sure of it – and he wasn’t about to tell Donghae about all the email he had ignored, especially not the one from Siwon inviting him out for drinks. Definitely not that one. “You can leave your car here. I’ll drive and take you home later.”

“Okay.” The smile that was on his familiar face was genuine and a little more sparkly than Hyukjae thought he, personally, was capable of. He did smile, it wasn’t like he was a total grouch, but he swore he could see Donghae’s personality coming through even though he was in someone else’s body.

And he thought maybe he understood now, why so many people fawned all over Donghae all the time. Not just for the favors he so readily did without asking for a single thing in return. Not because he was good looking. But just because he was a kind, caring person who had a habit of looking at you like you were the only person in his world.

Except, Hyukjae thought, as they headed back to each other’s desks to finish the day, he didn’t remember Donghae ever looking at someone else the way he had just looked at Hyukjae.

 

***

They returned to Hyukjae’s apartment after leaving work, picking up some takeout on the way. Even though he had been there before, Donghae felt shy as he trailed after the other man. It was still quite shocking to be staring at his own face whenever Hyukjae talked to him, but a part of his mind had accepted the fact that it was Hyukjae and was compartmentalizing the weird bits to deal with later, once this situation was sorted out.

Normally, Donghae would be changing out of his suit and into something casual before he even sat down to dinner. But since he had felt awkward enough that morning getting dressed as Hyukjae, he wasn’t about to bring up the subject. Instead, he carefully took off Hyukjae’s expensive jacket and laid it across a chair with his tie, and then ed his collar and rolled up the sleeves. It was enough to be comfortable.

Neither seemed able to start a conversation. As if they were just waiting for the moment when the magic, or whatever, would happen, and they would turn back into themselves. Donghae wondered if they would need to be asleep for it to work, and if so, just where exactly he would be sleeping if he was supposed to stay close to Hyukjae.

Finally, the silence was too much. Donghae was a social person. He thrived on interaction and talked too much when he was nervous. Right now, his nerves were on edge, for a number of reasons. So, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I really admire your apartment.”

“Oh,” Hyukjae took a break from stuffing food in his mouth – like a chipmunk, so cute! – and answered, “thanks.”

“You must have been shocked when you woke up in mine,” Donghae laughed a little, trying to mask his embarrassment at knowing Hyukjae had seen his messy little place.

“A bit,” Hyukjae nodded. “But I forgot about that pretty quick when I realized I wasn’t in my own skin.”

“Was it horrible?” Donghae asked apologetically. “Being me, I mean?”

“What?” Hyukjae seemed shocked. Well, it was hard to tell, but Donghae seemed to think his face looked like that when he was shocked. “No, it… it’s not like that. I didn’t mean to say those things this morning, I was just freaked out, you know?”

“But I think I definitely got the better end of the deal,” Donghae tried to smile. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to be you, Hyukjae?”

“If you asked around the office, I think you would find that the answer is everyone,” Hyukjae scoffed.

“Don’t say that,” Donghae protested. “They’re just jealous you’ve got it all together.”

“Why? Because I get my work done on time?”

“Of course not,” Donghae shook his head. “Because you’re handsome and smart and….”

“Did you say I was handsome?” Hyukjae stared at him in surprise.

“I… I don’t mean it in a weird way or anything. But yes, I think you’re really handsome. Those guys at the office could only wish to be as attractive as you.”

“That’s… wow,” Hyukjae frowned and stared at the table. “Thanks, Donghae. I mean, coming from you, that means a lot.”

“Why coming from me?”

“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Hyukjae couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t know if you’re just used to it, but you’re gorgeous, Donghae. I mean, your body is….”

Raising his brows – well, Hyukjae’s – Donghae felt his mouth ease open as the import of the other man’s words sank in. “Did you check me out?”

“Well,” Hyukjae had the decency to look a bit nervous. “I took a shower and… I mean it’s almost impossible not to look… and touch.”

“Oh,” Donghae breathed out, feeling all sorts of strange things at the idea of Hyukjae touching his body while Donghae wasn’t in it.

“I mean, you did the same, right?”

“I didn’t take a shower,” Donghae admitted. “Sorry. I thought that would be an invasion of your privacy. I had a hard enough time getting dressed without accidentally touching anything.”

“Oh,” Hyukjae echoed Donghae’s word, but his face seemed guilty.

Just how much and what parts had Hyukjae touched? The conflicting emotions made him careless as he replied, “Next time you feel like touching my body, though, I’d prefer if I was in it.”

The deep silence alerted him and after a quick mental review he looked up and met Hyukjae’s gaze. A smile appeared on Donghae’s face as Hyukjae nodded slowly. “Duly noted.”

“Anyway,” Donghae needed to change the subject, like right now, before he started imagining he and Hyukjae touching and got a in the other man’s body. That would be the ultimate embarrassment. “What do you like to do in your free time? We should find a way to pass the time until this spell or whatever reverses itself. Should we watch a movie or something? Play a game?”

“Uh… I don’t really do much. Music sometimes. Or yoga. But I have a game system and Netflix. Whatever you want to do.”

What Donghae wanted to do was far too wicked to be said out loud. “Games are good. Let’s do that?”

They cleared away the remains of dinner and Hyukjae pulled out his gaming console and controllers. And for the next few hours, Donghae could honestly say he had one of the best times of his life. Hyukjae was fun. He was silly. And if they didn’t look at each other, it was easy to pretend that they were themselves, just two friends hanging out and goofing around. Donghae could get competitive when he played, and he worried that Hyukjae might be offended, but as it turned out, the other man was just as fierce about winning as he was.

With petty shoves and elbows in the side, they battled it out, trying to distract each other as much as possible. And when Donghae did finally manage to thoroughly crush Hyukjae in Mario Cart, he was so excited he jumped to his feet to punch the air and shout.

And almost immediately staggered as a wave of nausea and dizziness swept through him, making him sway dangerously.

“Hey!” Hyukjae shouted, “Are you…?”

Before his eyes rolled back, Donghae saw Hyukjae starting to stand up, but then the familiar brown eyes of his own body quivered as well, and they ended up collapsing into a pile on the couch. Then he passed out.

 

***

 

Hyukjae blinked his eyes and tried to figure out why he was staring at his living room ceiling, and why his back hurt and what the heavy weight on top of him might be. But then he saw a familiar head of tousled brown hair in front of his nose.

A groan rumbled through Donghae, the sound making Hyukjae’s chest vibrate where they were pressed together.

“Hyukjae?” came the worried query, and then the head lifted and Donghae was staring at him with wide eyes. “Are you okay?”

He had always thought Donghae was attractive. But he had never thought he would be this close to him, in this position, with the man in question asking him if he was okay before even thinking about himself.

“I’m me again,” he answered dumbly, stating the obvious.

“That’s a relief,” Donghae smiled.

What a beautiful smile, he thought, and smiled back with a happiness he hadn’t felt for a long time.

A dreamy, distracted expression came over Donghae’s face. There might have been sparkles in his eyes as he whispered, “Hyukjae, you’re really pretty.”

“Am I?”

“I’m glad we’re back in our own bodies. I’d much rather look at you than myself when I talk to you.”

And that was pretty much the moment where Hyukjae realized that whatever else was going on in their lives, he really wanted Donghae to be a part of his. Sweet, funny, always attentive to everything Hyukjae said and did, and gorgeous. Damn, he was gorgeous.

“Donghae?”

“Yes?”

“I’d really like to kiss you.”

The blush that crept up his cheeks was cute enough, but the bashful smile that accompanied it, in addition to the hot and heavy weight of the man lying on top of him, was doing all sorts of naughty things to Hyukjae’s body. And damn, he had never been so happy to be inside his own skin.

“I’d like that, too,” Donghae whispered, and leaned even closer.

 

***

 

Much later that evening, as they lay together in Hyukjae’s bed cuddling, he asked something that had been on his mind since he woke up that morning.

“Donghae? Why do you live in that tiny apartment? Don’t we make the same amount of money?”

“Mmm…” Donghae murmured, rubbing his cheek against Hyukjae’s shoulder. “Family stuff.”

“Is your family in trouble financially?”

“Not now. But my Dad died when I was still in school, and I’ve had to help support my mom and my little brother. He’s done with school now, though, and she’s doing good. I guess I could probably afford something better, but I’m so used to giving everything to them that I just didn’t think about it.”

Kind and generous, and a good son and brother as well. Hyukjae sighed, hugging the sleepy man next to him a bit tighter. “You need to start taking care of yourself. As hard as you work, you deserve to treat yourself once in a while.”

There was a moment of silence before Donghae let out a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure I just did.”

“Brat,” Hyukjae chuckled back, giving a light slap to Donghae’s chest. “You do too much for other people. Why do you do that? Helping everyone at work on top of everything else. You’ll work yourself to death and where will that leave me?”

“What?” Donghae lifted his head and stared at Hyukjae. “What about you?”

“Well, aside from being my main competition for the next promotion, you’re also a very nice distraction to stare at when I need a break from work.”

“Hyukjae,” Donghae frowned and gave him a pout.

“And,” he hesitated a moment, hoping he was doing the right thing, “I was kind of hoping to spend more time with you.”

“Really?” The smile returned.

“Like, a lot more time. Like, all the time.”

“Are you asking me out?”

“I’m asking you to be my boyfriend. If you want to.”

“I’d love to, Hyuk,” Donghae graced him with a mega-watt smile before pressing kisses all over his face.

“Good. Then as your boyfriend, I want to make a request that you please start taking some time out of your busy life to spend on you. And us.”

“Don’t worry,” Donghae grinned. “I’ll definitely make time for you.”

“And please stop doing everyone else’s work at the office? Let those slackers earn their own paychecks. I love that you’re so kind to everyone, but you’ll never be able to focus on your own job if you’re always doing stuff for other people. Especially Siwon.”

“But he’s so nice to me,” Donghae complained.

“Donghae, I’m pretty sure Siwon would like to ask you for a lot of favors that have nothing to do with work.”

“What does that mean?” the other man asked innocently.

“, you really have no idea, do you?” Hyukjae chided fondly. “He’s got the hots for you. Lots of people do. And they’re taking advantage of your kindness. You need to learn how to say no.”

“My father always told me, above all else, be kind to people.”

“You can be kind and still say no,” Hyukjae pointed out. “But no matter if you do or not, I’m still glad you took the time for me.”

“That’s because I like you the best,” Donghae vowed with a kiss.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Hyukjae smiled.

“Good, because you deserve to hear all the compliments I can come up with.”

“Ah… well then, how about you start with a few about my most recent performance?” Hyukjae asked, rocking his hips a little.

Donghae let out a hum of pleasure and rolled his body into Hyukjae’s. “I might need to get a second demonstration to deliver the most accurate review.”

They grinned at one another before diving into another kiss. And Hyukjae did his best to deliver.

 

***

 

“Ryeowook!” Kyuhyun shouted down the hall, catching sight of his fiery little subordinate stalking toward the conference room. At the call of his name, the smaller man stopped and turned to face him, lips twisted into a scowl.

“This is all your fault!” Ryeowook scolded, stomping over to him.

“What is?”

“Donghae and Hyukjae. You gave them that drink and now they’re driving me crazy!”

Kyuhyun blinked in surprise. He had assumed everything went well. The two men had started getting along and seemed to have survived the switch with no harm done. And their project had come out perfect. His father was so pleased with the results that he’d bought lunch for the entire department.

“Why? What happened now? I thought they were your best workers?”

“Oh, their work isn’t the problem. That’s better than ever, especially since Donghae started standing up for himself and teaching people how to do their work instead of just doing it for them. And Hyukjae’s been much easier to get along with. He hasn’t come to my office to complain even once this week.”

“Then what’s wrong with them?”

“What’s wrong?” Ryeowook’s eye started twitching. “What’s wrong is that every time I try to find them, they’re never around!”

“Where are they?”

“Well!” Ryeowook snorted, “I’d say the conference room, probably. But why not come and see for yourself?”

Feeling a bit confused, Kyuhyun trailed after the smaller man, wondering what the other two workers were doing in the conference room, since they had no special projects at the moment.

Without knocking, Ryeowook twisted the knob and gestured for Kyuhyun to precede him, but not before turning his eyes away. Stepping inside, Kyuhyun felt his mouth drop open as his footsteps halted in place.

“I knew you would be in here!” Ryeowook snapped. “This is the fourth time this week! I swear I’m going to fire you both!”

It was unmistakably clear what the two had been doing. And while they did have their clothes on, the bulges in their pants were something Kyuhyun wished he had never seen. God, he’d have to wash his eyes with bleach. Too bad he couldn’t do the same to his brain.

“We’re on a break,” Hyukjae complained, standing up and straightening his suit, using his body to shield Donghae who was the more disheveled of the pair. And the smaller man seemed relieved to be able to hide behind Hyukjae, even though there was a smile on his flushed face.

“You’re always taking breaks!” Ryeowook shouted in a strangled voice.

“We get four ten-minute breaks a day. It’s in our contract. Just because we never used them before doesn’t mean we can’t take them now.”

“Hyukjae….” Ryeowook warned.

“Has our work performance gone down?” came a timid, but surprising question from Donghae.

Kyuhyun turned to Ryeowook, who looked like smoke was going to start coming out of his ears. Taking pity on the man, he answered, “Your work is fine. But maybe tone it down in the office?”

“Sure,” Hyukjae smirked. “We’ll try. But really, Kyuhyun, you only have yourself to blame. You were the one who wanted us to get along.”

“Actually, it was Ryeowook who wanted you to get along. I just thought it would be funny to see what happened.”

“I did want you to get along better,” Ryeowook admitted tightly, “but I didn’t think it would end up like this!”

“Is there a rule against office romance?” Hyukjae asked smartly, resting his hand on his cocked hip. He glanced back and forth between his two superiors, waiting for an answer.

“No,” both men begrudgingly sighed.

“Perfect.”

“Just…” Kyuhyun frowned, “try to keep it in your pants when someone might walk in on you?”

All parties nodded in agreement, and Kyuhyun turned around to step out of the room, when suddenly Donghae piped up again.

“Oh, Kyuhyun?”

“Yes?”

“Just out of curiosity, do you have any more of that drink?”

“Maybe,” he answered, tipping his head, “why?”

“Well, you know, we didn’t spend much time as each other, but it was kind of interesting to be someone else. Now that we’re dating, I was just thinking….”

Donghae trailed off, biting his lip in embarrassment as Hyukjae helplessly hid his smile behind his hand.

“Please don’t tell me you want to have in each other’s bodies?”

“That’s it! I’m putting in my resignation! I do not get paid enough to have to deal with this !” Ryeowook snapped, spinning around to storm out of the room.

“You two….” Kyuhyun spluttered.

“Well?” Hyukjae pressed, his gummy smile sparkling and mischief in his eyes. “Do you?”

“Aish!” Kyuhyun threw up his hands and ran after Ryeowook.

 

When the conference room was empty aside from the two of them, Donghae and Hyukjae burst into a hearty round of laughter. They laughed until their knees were weak and both of were forced to sit down on one of the conference chairs. Since Hyukjae dropped first, Donghae naturally sat in his lap, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck and giving him a light kiss.

“That was truly hilarious. And asking for another drink? Kyuhyun’s face! I can’t believe his first thought was about ,” Hyukjae continued laughing. But when he finally looked at his boyfriend, Donghae’s gaze was sultry, lips parted and his tongue peeking out in the y way it did when they were alone. “Wait, did you mean it?”

“Well,” Donghae began, a newly familiar gleam in his eyes, “It would be interesting.”

Hyukjae felt his breath hitch just thinking about it. And he realized, maybe not for the first time, that he truly loved the way Donghae’s mind worked.

“Donghae?”

“Yes, Hyukjae?”

“I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“I think I am in love with you,” Donghae replied, leaning in for another kiss.

They were very, very late coming back from their break that day.