Hyukjae was sprawled all over his desk in dreamland when a mildly offended Henry gently tapped him on the shoulders.

“Hey.”

The sleeping man opened one of his eyes lazily to look at the boy.

“Did you do this?” Henry held up a pair of shoes that were soaking wet with brown stains all over the white canvas. It smelt distinctively of coffee mixed with sweat.

“Nope, what made you think I did that?” Hyukjae yawned, rubbing sand out of his eyes as he struggled to sit up. He did a good job at keeping a straight face and Henry just lowered his shoes with a subdued ‘oh’.

“Because I overheard the others saying you loved practical jokes and pranking people. I just thought it might have been you. I’m sorry,” Henry said softly. Those were his favourite pair of shoes and they were quite spoilt. There was no way he’d be able to get the dark brown coffee stains out.

“Hey there, cheer up. It’s not the end of the world, you know,” Hyukjae mused, although he felt perhaps just a little guilty for making the boy upset. “By the way, my name is Hyukjae. What’s yours?”

“I’m Henry. Pleased to meet you, Hyukjae-sshi.”

“Likewise. So uhm, where exactly did the others go, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Henry eyed the empty office and gave a small chuckle. “They’re in the boss’ office for a small meeting. I think you were supposed to be there too, but I’m not too sure.”

“Crap. I didn’t know anything about it at all!! Where is the meeting place?” Hyukjae asked, hurriedly jumping to his feet. It was then that he saw a blue post-it note on his desk, informing him about the meeting in Donghae’s office.

“Go down the corridor and turn left. It’s the third room on the right,” Henry instructed.

“Alright, thanks. I’d better go before they decide to transfer me again,” the elder said, hurriedly walking towards the door.

Henry watched as the man left the office in a scurry, before his eyes caught something in the trashcan at Hyukjae’s desk. It was a small empty paper cup which smelt strongly of coffee. He grimaced, looking sadly at his ruined shoes. Seems like what Sungmin and Kyuhyun told him about the new guy really was true.

* * *

“Sorry I’m late!!” Hyukjae yelled right after wrenching the door open without even bothering to knock. Donghae was right in the middle of saying something and he looked rather annoyed with the interruption.

“Ah, Hyukjae-sshi. How nice of you to grace us with your delightful presence. You do know you’re an hour late, right?” Donghae asked, his voice void of expression.

Hyukjae saw that everybody’s eyes were on him and he bowed apologetically to them before going for an empty seat at the end of the room. Donghae only rolled his eyes. “And guys, before I forget, that guy over there is Lee Hyukjae. He just transferred in from Yesung’s department and he’ll be on probation with us for the next eighteen months.”

Murmurs arose from the officers and hearing them, Hyukjae waved awkwardly.

“Is he the one they said he was?”

“Lee Hyukjae, the prankster?”

“I thought he got fired?”

“Didn’t he get into trouble with his boss last time?”

Donghae cleared his throat loudly, silencing the hushed gossips. Hyukjae actually felt grateful to Donghae because his ears were burning badly, however the inspector never even spared him a single glance. “Gentlemen, if we may resume where I was rudely interrupted earlier?”

* * *

“I take it everyone knows about me already?” Hyukjae asked Donghae, when they were left alone after the meeting. Donghae had stayed back to arrange his folders while Hyukjae was a little overwhelmed when the meeting ended. Everyone seemed to know him, or at least of him already, even though he hadn’t met even half of the staff in Donghae’s department.

“Can you blame me? Rumours spread pretty fast in this office. And as I told you before, you were quite infamous for getting into trouble before this. I guess they’re just wondering when you’d start getting on my nerves and I’ll have you transferred to Timbuktu.”

Hyukjae grimaced. “I’m not that bad a person, you know. The last t