Jaehwan felt a sense of déjà vu as he found himself once again drinking with his co-workers as they celebrated the completion of Jelpi’s project. Their department was gathered at the same venue as usual, but this time Jaehwan felt like an entirely different person. Over the last month he had subtlety come out to his closest friends and was met with nothing but support. He even apologized to Kyungri for all his flirting, and instead of getting angry like Jaehwan thought she would, she excitedly listed off the number of guys she could set him up with (which he refused of course).

He hadn’t felt this happy in a very long time. He was so grateful to those he had met at Jelpi and for the first time in forever he felt a sense of belonging. He wasn’t openly out per se, but if someone were to ask him if he was gay, he wouldn’t deny it. Jaehwan was finally beginning to accept himself and was learning to stop caring about what others thought. The only downside to coming out had been Wonshik enthusiastically trying to set him up with a certain someone against Jaehwan’s protesting.

“Chief Jung! Come join us!”

Jaehwan snapped his head to look at Wonshik waving their boss over.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Wonshik was rubbing his arm with a pout after Jaehwan socked him, hard.

“What are you doing? Why would you invite Chief Jung over?!”, Jaehwan’s heart was beating fast and he himself wasn’t so sure why he was so nervous.

Wonshik flashed a cheeky grin, “No reason in particular. It’s about time we got to know him a little better don’t you think?”. All their other co-workers seemed to agree and they cheered as Taekwoon came walking over along with Hakyeon.

Wonshik stood up from his spot next to Jaehwan and scooted everyone down so Taekwoon and Hakyeon could take a seat next to Jaehwan. Jaehwan shot a glare Wonshik’s way but Wonshik simply reciprocated with a wink.

Everyone in their department took advantage of the situation and began bombarding Taekwoon with questions trying to find out more about his private life. Taekwoon was as silent as usual but Hakyeon seemed eager to answer their questions instead. The only true response the group got from Taekwoon was when he swiftly smacked Hakyeon in the stomach when he tried to tell the story of Taekwoon crying when he found an abandoned, injured puppy during college. The whole group cooed and Jaehwan could see the females swooning as a faint blush painted Taekwoon’s cheeks.

Even Jaehwan had to admit Taekwoon looked ridiculously cute just then. Sitting right next to Taekwoon was wreaking havoc on Jaehwan’s nerves so he tossed back a drink to calm himself down.

After the incident with Minjun things had been surprisingly normal at work and Jaewhan barely saw Taekwoon over the last month since he was so busy taking care of other matters. This was the first time since then that they had been in such close proximity. The group continued to chat away and Jaehwan hadn’t noticed how much he had been drinking until he felt a soft hand on top of his as he reached for another shot.

Jaehwan stilled and he heard a soft, “We don’t want a repeat of last time”.

There was a hint of a smirk on Taekwoon’s face and Jaehwan turned beet red as he remembered how he had puked all over his boss at their last celebration. He quickly put down the shot and it was a good thing Taekwoon had stopped him from drinking anymore cause as the night went on Jaehwan slowly began to feel the effects of the alcohol settling in. Jaehwan didn’t think he had drunk that much but over the next hour his eyelids began to feel extremely heavy. He was listening to Hongbin and Sanghyuk tell a story when he felt his head falling on a sturdy shoulder as he passed out.

~~~~

Jaehwan woke up with a groan as he took in his surroundings and found himself in his own bed. He was still in his clothes from last night so hopefully that meant he hadn’t vomited on someone again. Luckily it was Saturday so he could spend the day nursing his hangover. He slowly got up and tried to make his way to his bathroom. As he was reaching for the knob the door to his bathroom suddenly opened on its own causing Jaehwan to let out an embarrassingly loud shriek as he jumped backwards.

He slipped on his dirty laundry strewn around the floor and would have fallen flat on his back were it not for the pair of strong hands that grabbed him by the waist.

Jaehwan's eyes shot wide open as he grabbed onto the arms holding him up. “Taekwoon! I-I mean boss! Wha-what”, Jaehwan was trying to formulate his sentence but his brain was still half-asleep.

Taekwoon gently brought Jaehwan back to a standing position and Jaehwan could feel his face heat up as their bodies were flush against each other. Jaehwan’s heart felt like it would burst out of his chest and he just hoped Taekwoon couldn’t hear how fast it was beating. He could only stare in shock as he was still trying to force words out of his mouth.

“Are you alright?”, Taekwoon spoke in such a soft whisper that Jaehwan almost missed it.

“Yes, yes I’m fine!” Jaehwan took a small step back and the warmth on his waist was gone as Taekwoon let him go. “Um…what are you doing here?”

Jaehwan cringed at how blunt he was.

There was a slight pause before Taekwoon said, “It seems you fell asleep at our little gathering yesterday. Mr. Kim demanded I bring you home seeing as he was pre-occupied taking care of Sanghyuk and Hongbin.”

For the love of—he was going to kill Wonshik.

“I apologize for overstaying my welcome. You don’t have an automatic lock and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you alone with your entrance unlocked. I apologize for startling you.”

Taekwoon bowed slightly and he looked almost shy. Jaehwan felt his heart do a flutter and he tried to calm himself.

“Uh no no no. You don’t have to apologize! I should be apologizing for always inconveniencing you”. Jaehwan was trying to find something else to say when Taekwoon suddenly excused himself and said he’d be leaving.

Before Jaehwan could unfreeze and utter another thanks, Taekwoon was out the front door.

~~~~

Jaehwan shivered as Taekwoon gently wrapped one arm around his waist and pulled him closer. He gently lifted Jaehwan’s chin with his other hand before leaning in to press a soft kiss onto his lips. Jaehwan let out a soft gasp as he wrapped his arms around Taekwoon’s neck and deepened the kiss while holding him tight. His body felt like it was on fire and he moaned as he felt Taekwoon’s hands slowly moving lower until they—

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.BEEP.

Jaehwan jolted awake at the sound of his alarm Monday morning. His body was covered in a thin sheet of sweat and he groaned at the tent forming in his pants.

.

He was falling for Taekwoon…he was falling hard.

OMG I'm so sorry for such a long hiatus!! School has been chaotic and I have a test every other week so I haven't had time to do anything else but study T_T

Hopefully this little update is ok (I feel a little rusty). Let me know what you think :)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!! P.S. Vixx's latest comebacks have been killing me <3