"Unbelievable," says Changmin, glaring around the room and looking like he's going to be throwing the scalpel in a second. "Absolutely unreal. I can't believe I work with you imbeciles."

Despite being the youngest, it was no secret that Changmin was the best surgeon in the hospital, no, in the province. The hospital was extremely lucky to have him.

The staff who had to work with him, though; not so much.

"You, close him up," orders Changmin, pointing to Yunho. "You're the only one in the operating room who hasn't messed up yet."

Changmin is young, younger than Yunho even, but he has been touted as a prodigy since he was a kid. He finished medical school at the ripe old age of twenty, and had become staff at the biggest hospital in the province with no problem at all. He was famous for his skill but also his temper; legend had it that one time, Dr. Shim Changmin got so angry at a resident one time that he threw a sterile towel over his head before hitting him right there in the operating room. It was a famous story, and no one dared to look at Dr. Shim Changmin in the eyes.

Yunho breathes out through the mask and stepped up next to the table, in Changmin's place. "Yes, sir."

"Unbelievable, can't believe I'm working with idiots who can't even hold a retractor properly."

Yunho is painfully aware of Changmin's eyes following his every move as he prepared to make the stitches. Yunho tries to ignore him as much as possible and only barely starts his first stitch until he hears a chilling, "Hands off," from behind him.

Yunho swallows and takes steps back, just like he's told, and looks behind to see Dr. Shim's flashing eyes glaring at him. Yunho almost feels his heart jump out of his chest, even though most of Changmin's face is covered up.

"Have you even done this before?"

"I'm… a second year resident in Psychiatry," says Yunho, clearing his throat. He thought his huge bear paws would be an obvious indication to the fact that he was not a surgeon, but apparently not. "I… don't suture."

"Oh, for God's sake, heavens help me," says Changmin, rolling his eyes. "Then why are you here?"

"It's a mandatory rotation, Doctor Shim."

"Get out, and wipe the smile from your face, you incompetent idiot. And if you don't have the technique down the next time I see you, don't expect to ing stay at the hospital for a single extra second."

And Yunho realizes that for the first time in his life, he's being kicked out of the operating room.

Yunho is barred from the operating room and instead spends the whole afternoon and evening practicing the suturing that he's never going to need after these four weeks of general surgery, but he's thrilled not to be in the operating room. He'd rather sit at a table and a suture kit all day than to have to deal with Shim Changmin, and all the stress that comes with it.

Yunho doesn't have the surgery personality, and he knows it.

Dr. Shim comes by to check on Yunho's stitches on the model afterwards, and as Yunho expects, he's not pleased: "You think the skin would heal without scars if you do stitches like this?"

Yunho bites his tongue to say that there is zero chance that anyone's surgical scars would be invisible, and that it might even be helpful for other physicians if a surgical scar was there, but he just nods.

It would be fantastic if he would be allowed to go home and pet his dog.

"No, doctor."

"Watch some YouTube video tutorials or something, you idiot. This is ridiculous."

"Yes, doctor."

Changmin glares at Yunho one last time before walking to the door, and for a split second, Yunho is scared that he's being made to stay the entire night to practice his suturing when Changmin says as he leaves, "Get out of here."

Yunho is so thankful he almost cries.

Once Yunho has changed out of his scrubs and has walked to the parking lot, it's already dark and the air has cooled. He's just thinking about his fluffy puppy who must be waiting for him at the door of his apartment as he opens the door to his car when he hears a shout of anger on the other side of the parking lot.

It's not uncommon for there to be shouting at a hospital's parking lot, especially with the hospital being the local psych centre, but it makes Yunho stop, because he recognizes the voice.

Yunho hesitates for a moment, torn, between ignoring the voice and going to figure out what's wrong. He has one foot in his car already, but with one extra loud swear word from the man and Yunho decides that he needs to put a stop to this before the man gets taken away by security.

Yunho can clearly make out the words that he's shouting as he gets closer, but the man is so angry that he doesn't even notice Yunho approaching him.

"God damn it!" shouts Changmin. "Why! Why does this always happen to me? Why?"

Yunho clears his throat, realizing that Changmin is trashing his own car. Changmin's curly hair is flying all over the place, unkempt from having been inside the humid surgeon's cap for too long, and it succeeds in making Changmin seem even crazier.

He wonders if Dr. Shim is safe to approach just now, but when Changmin kicks the rim of the tire of his car and howls at the pain at his toes is when Yunho clears his throat.

"…Um… Doctor?"

Changmin looks back so quickly that Yunho flinches.

"Um… is something a problem?"

"No!" snaps Changmin, "Nothing is wrong at all! It doesn't matter that my car is a piece of and it won't start in the middle of the one week that I don't have insurance for in the middle of switching insurance companies, no, nothing is ing wrong at all, at all, and now I've got to take the ing taxi home and I live an hour and a half away, so no, there is nothing wrong at all, not at –"

"Uh… I can give you a ride to your house if you need one," offers Yunho. He doesn't know where that came from, because to be honest, he doesn't want to spend an extra second with this temperamental young doctor. But as soon as the words leave his mouth, Changmin's expression softens a bit and he stops shouting.

Changmin doesn't say yes, or no (Yunho knows that it's because of his damn pride), but he knows that he's supposed to convince Changmin to come with him.

"Come," says Yunho, smiling at Changmin and taking his arm from behind. "I don't mind driving you."

It isn't long until Changmin is sitting next to Yunho in Yunho's car, sniffing unhappily.

"Your car smells weird."

"Sorry. I drive around with my puppy a lot."

Changmin scoffs and crosses his arms, but Yunho pays no heed and starts the car.

They drive in silence for an uncomfortably long time, until Yunho decides he can't stand this anymore.

"Do you live alone?" asks Yunho, trying to make conversation.

Changmin glares at him. "Who do you think I live with, my parents?"

"Well, you are pretty young, so –"

"Not too young to be your boss," snaps Changmin.

"That's not what I meant."

Changmin rolls his eyes and leans his head against the window. Yunho glances at him, then reaches across to pull Changmin away by his arm. "Please don't do that."

Changmin looks offended as he sits up. "What? Why? Am I going to leave marks on your window with my head?"

Yunho chuckles and shakes his head. "No. When I was rotating through emerg, I saw a man who was doing that when a car collided into his from the side. The airbag couldn't save him from the glass and it was… one of the most horrific things I'd ever seen. I just don't want that to happen to you."

Changmin is silent, and he looks down in his lap.

"Um… right."

They're silent for a long time again before Changmin finally opens his mouth.

"Do you ever feel…  alone, Yunho?"

Yunho looks at Changmin. "What do you mean?"

"You live alone too, don't you?"

"I live with my puppy."

"But… I mean… your puppy doesn't talk to you."

This is the longest that Yunho's heard Changmin go without yelling, and Yunho is a bit impressed.

"That's true."

"And… I don't know. I sometimes feel like… I don't know. I'm alone at home, and I'm alone at the hospital… no one actually gives a real crap about me, and if I weren't the best surgeon at the place, no one would even look at me, and all anyone does is abuse you, and look down on you for being too young, and –"

"You push everyone away from you, Changmin," says Yunho. "It's… kind of on you."

"Excuse me? Did you just call me –"

"Look, you're even doing it now," shrugs Yunho. "You're my boss, yeah, but you're also just a guy, right? Me too. It's possible to have friends, Changmin, you just… have to stop pushing people away."

Changmin's silent.

"I'm sure you've had to go through a lot, and I know it must have been hard to go through med school and residency with people who were five years older than you, though, I'm not denying that. But you have to take relationships one step at a time. You don't have to feel alone all the ime."

Changmin is silent as Yunho finally pulls up at Changmin's driveway.

"This is it, right?" asks Yunho to be sure.

Changmin nods. "Yeah," says Changmin hoarsely. "Um…Thanks for the ride, Yunho."

"Hey, Changmin –" says Yunho awkwardly.

Changmin looks at Yunho in the eyes for the first time without glaring, and Yunho feels his heart melt, and for the first time, notices how cute the young surgeon is.

He resembles Bambi.

"Do you wanna go out for a beer tomorrow after work? I'll pay."

Changmin stands at the driveway, feet firmly rooted.

He's so silent and so still for so long that Yunho wonders whether he's having an absence seizure, but a long while later, Changmin nods.

"Okay," he says awkwardly.

Yunho smiles.

"One step at a time, yeah?"

Changmin shakes his head and rolls his eyes, but he's also smiling.