Thursday

“Woah, you look like roadkill. What did Luhan do to you while I was away?” Chanyeol remarks when Sehun drags his into work the next day.

“Hey! You were only gone for two days. My abuse of power was only moderate!” Luhan answers defensively.

Sehun only grunts, flopping down in his seat, probably wrinkling his suit in the process. Wrinkling be damned. He’d been too antsy to sleep, and had checked on Jongin a few times in case the boy needed something but didn’t dare to disturb Sehun. But Jongin had been fast asleep all night and when Sehun left the apartment to go to work, he still hadn’t moved a muscle.

He’d left a note on the coffee table with his phone number and scribbled underneath there was a spare key in the cracked Mickey Mouse mug in the kitchen cupboard, in case he wanted to go out (he’d signed it with ‘Sehun, xx’ at first - then crumpled the paper and re-wrote the note, signing with ‘S.’ instead because you’re not a fifteen year old girl, idiot ).

“Showing the ropes, huh? Judging by those bags under your eyes, you’ve been showed a rope or two yourself,” Chanyeol says with a lopsided-grin on his face and wiggling eyebrows that make him look positively deranged. “Did you piss off Yixing again?”

“I would never,” Luhan says solemnly. “I may, however, have been pissdrunk last night and Yixing might have taken advantage of the helpless state I was in.”

Chanyeol’s boisterous laugh fills the office and Sehun curses his mentor for encouraging Luhan (who has little understanding of the concepts ‘shame’, ‘privacy’ or ‘mentally scarred for life’).

Today, the gods seem to have mercy on Sehun’s soul, as Minseok comes knocking before Luhan can finish his sentence on Yixing’s “animalistic undressing methods”.

“Morning, everyone. Chanyeol, Sehun, my office - now,” Minseok announces before disappearing into the hallway again.

Sehun used to think he was in trouble whenever Minseok called him in because even if his boss is 2 heads shorter than him, he can still be pretty intimidating (he quickly learned Minseok was actually the least scary person in their department and everyone always bent over backwards to do his bidding not out of fear, but out of adoration). He’d been shocked to learn Minseok was pushing forty, because he looked younger than Luhan (especially when Luhan had been drinking again).

“In a moment!” Chanyeol calls after him. “Gotta finish the most important mail of the day first. Luhan?”

“Exotic Italian - no ham, no pineapple.”

“No ham, pine- ugh, so just mozzarella then? Sehun?” Chanyeol calls out.

“Ham and cheese,” Sehun answers.

“Again? Damn, I’m gonna start calling you Borehun from now on. You know you can tell a lot about a man from his sandwich choices.” A few clicks later, Chanyeol closes his laptop. “Okay, now that we’ve got our food for today covered, let’s find out what Boss wants.”

“By the way, he’s banging Busty from Accounting so he’s bound to be in a good mood. If you were planning to ask for a raise, now’s the time to do it.” Luhan says casually as he starts freeing up space from his desk by moving his tower of binders to Sehun’s desk instead.

“No way? You mean..?” Chanyeol asks as he’s holding his hands out a feet away from his chest.

“Uhhh, no, that’s Airbag. Think honeydews, not watermelons.” Luhan says as he twists his hands in front of his chest, clutching imaginary pieces of fruit.

Chanyeol’s eyes light up with glee. “Oh, the brunette? Nice!” He stands up and walks out of the office with a spring in his step, Sehun hurrying after him.

“You look excited. Are you really gonna try to ask Minseok for a raise?”

“Huh? Oh no, I’m just happy Airbag girl is still single.” He winks as they reach Minseok’s office. “But she won’t be for long, if you catch my drift.”

Sehun sometimes considers calling out his colleagues on their ist stereotyping but he never does because his balls are the size of walnuts, not coconuts.

*

Minseok simply wants a full review of the Laxfield-Klein case Chanyeol had closed before he left for Busan and as usual, even though Sehun had posted an extensive summary on the server, their boss prefers ‘face-to-face’ reporting (that, or Minseok doesn’t want to admit he can’t find anything back on the server to save his life).

Sehun’s only there to back up Chanyeol if needed, but the older lawyer has the memory of an elephant so Sehun can’t contribute much. Fifteen minutes in, Sehun spaces out, focusing on the large fish tank behind Minseok’s desk instead. The first couple of times he'd seen it, he’d thought the aquarium was empty, aside from the various doll furniture pieces in it (there’s a distinguishable bathroom, living room, bedroom, and even a little fenced section with a garden). But the sole inhabitant of the tank (Chen, the sassiest goldfish of the East) isn’t hiding today, swimming around his little garden in slow, l