Kyungsoo’s phone chirps at him from its place in his pocket and he checks the status of his copying job for the twentieth time in five minutes. The screen tells him he's 127 copies into 150, so that's encouraging, but each packet that prints is a solid eight pages long and Kyungsoo’s not sure much more of this he can take. He resists the urge to kick the machine and instead pulls out his phone to look at his newly arrived text message.

The Boss: I could use a coffee.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun’s an addict and they've talked about this, but nothing Kyungsoo says about the matter seems to get through.

He responds tersely that he’s busy but knows for a fact that Chanyeol’s not currently doing anything.

Kyungsoo: And he’d trip all over himself to get you a coffee.

A few open doors down from the copy room there's a snort of suppressed laughter and Kyungsoo’s phone soon chirps again.

The Boss: ...Literally

The Boss: Besides, you know I don't like it when interns try to kiss up to me.

Kyungsoo holds back his own sound of amusement—if there's anything Baekhyun likes it's getting fawned over—as he formulates a response that's simultaneously witty, flirty, and workplace appropriate. He's halfway through typing it up when a voice behind him makes him jump and drop his phone in surprise.

He scrambles for it but Sehun’s faster—and has longer limbs.

“Your crush on the Boss is getting sort of pathetic,” he tells Kyungsoo absentmindedly as he scrolls through Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s recent text exchange with a total disregard for personal boundaries. “I mean, really,” he adds, clearing his throat and adopting a ridiculously high-pitched voice to read Kyungsoo’s half-finished message aloud. “I thought you like it when I–”

The unsent text ends there but Sehun has a good time trying to read Kyungsoo’s mind and finish it.

“When you kiss up to him? Or maybe just,” he pauses dramatically, “kiss him?”

Kyungsoo’s cheeks flush instantly as Sehun’s guess hits a little too close to home. Still, he’s quick to deny any such thing.

“Of course not!” Kyungsoo feigns indignant. “I was going to say that I thought he liked it when I brought him coffee!” He holds his hands in front of him defensively and adds, “It was all completely innocent.”

Sehun smirks knowingly. “Uh-huh,” he agrees far too easily, his tone condescending. “Totally innocent. Sure.”

Just then the copy machine makes a noise to indicate that the copying job is complete and Kyungsoo has a sudden urge to kiss the stupid thing to thank it for saving him. Sehun, still wearing that infuriatingly smug grin, returns Kyungsoo’s phone with a wink and tells him he'd better get those papers stapled quickly.

“Wouldn't want to keep the Boss waiting,” he calls over his shoulder as he exits the copy room and heads back down the hall toward the cluster of intern-assigned cubicles.

Grumbling under his breath Kyungsoo puts his phone back in his pocket, collects the papers from the print tray, and gets back to work.

Four hours later he thinks he’s successfully avoided Sehun for long enough, so Kyungsoo ventures bravely into the employee break room to retrieve his packed lunch from the fridge. Big mistake.

“Ah! Intern Do!” Chanyeol crows from his seat at one of the round tables in the center of the room. “Sehun here tells me you’ve got quite the invested interest in our dear employer’s well-being!”

Sehun, seated beside Chanyeol with his legs lazy outstretched and his arms crossed over his chest, smiles at Kyungsoo’s answering grimace but otherwise doesn’t respond to Chanyeol’s taunt.

“He’s got a nice ; I’ll give you that,” Chanyeol offers thoughtfully as Kyungsoo passes him in his beeline for the refrigerator. “Seems a little too wild for you though, Soo. Much more my type, don’t you think, Sehun?”

Sehun nearly chokes on his bubble tea, the force of his amusement is so strong. “You?!” he chortles around the tapioca lodged in his throat. “Like calls to like: a nice ,” he gestures toward his own backside, “for a nice .”

Kyungsoo yanks open the fridge door and leans as far into it as he can, letting the cold air wash away his blush and buying himself a little time to formulate an escape plan. To his dismay his phone chirps in his pocket before he can fully gather his thoughts, and Sehun lets out a triumphant cry.

“It’s the Boss, isn’t it? It is, right?” He turns to Chanyeol. “It’s the Boss.”

Kyungsoo’s long ago set a special text tone for Baekhyun’s messages so he can’t exactly deny Sehun’s speculations, but he certainly doesn’t deign to affirm them either.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tries to say; alas, Baekhyun chooses that moment to enter the break room and subsequently ruin everything.

“Yah!” He cries, clearly on the edge of annoyance. “Kyungsoo, I texted you and you didn’t respond.”

“He’d be a demanding lover,” Sehun comments in a delighted stage-whisper to Chanyeol, who nods in agreement. “You can just tell.”

Kyungsoo desperately wants to roll his eyes or pull his hair out or something; his fellow interns are idiots.

“My apologies, Mr. Byun,” he says instead, bowing his head slightly in respect. He then holds up his lunch and continues his explanation. “My hands were full when you messaged me and I was unable to read your text before you came here. Please forgive me.”

Baekhyun waves a hand, displeasure forgotten. “Never mind then,” he tells Kyungsoo kindly. “I just wanted to make sure my favorite intern was remembering to eat on such a busy and demanding work day.”

Kyungsoo thinks blandly back to the morning he spent standing beside the copy machine and sorting letters in the mail room. He catches the ghost of a smirk on Baekhyun’s lips, almost like his boss knows exactly what Kyungsoo’s thinking, and only barely manages a polite response.

“Oh yes,” he agrees, so falsely earnest that even Chanyeol notices. “But I’m sure you must be much busier than we are, sir. Thank you for taking the time to make sure we eat.”

Sehun snidely mutters under his breath that he doesn’t remember Baekhyun ever asking him or Chanyeol if they’ve had lunch yet. Chanyeol, trying to be helpful as always, replies that he has already enjoyed some ramen from the place across the street, but he appreciates Sehun looking out for him.

Baekhyun laughs and turns to where the two interns are still seated at the table. “I’m glad you’ve eaten,” he says magnanimously. Then, “Now get back to work.”

Sehun and Chanyeol jump to attention, bowing and scraping and promising to do their absolute best while completing the afternoon’s duties. Baekhyun shares an indulgent smile with Kyungsoo as they rush out the door and, once he’s reminded Kyungsoo to eat well, follows them back into the offices.

As instructed, Kyungsoo takes his time eating the leftovers he’s brought for lunch. He makes sure he’s eaten every last bite of food in the lunch box because he knows Baekhyun would want him to. Unfortunately this also means that he’s not particularly hungry for any of the delicious-looking sweets that are catered for the afternoon office meeting, and he’s still not hungry for much dinner when he gets home that night either.

“You’re not coming down with something, are you?” His husband asks, clearly worried when Kyungsoo spends most of the meal time pushing around the food on his plate.

“Relax, Baek,” Kyungsoo tells him, appreciating the care but also noting with a tinge of amused frustration that his current lack of hunger is Baekhyun’s fault in the first place. “I’m fine, okay? It’s just that you made such a fuss about me eating lunch that I ate more than I usually do so I’m not that hungry right now.”

Baekhyun considers this. As he does, Kyungsoo’s eyes roam in obvious appreciation, taking in his husband’s pale collarbone where Baekhyun’s ed the top of his collared shirt and his lips at the pleasant curve of the muscles of Baekhyun’s forearms where he’s rolled up his sleeves.

“You’re staring again,” Baekhyun tells him in amusement some moments later. Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother looking away.

Instead, eyes locked on his husband’s lips, Kyungsoo says, “You were such a scrawny little thing in high school, Baek. It amazes me how much you’ve filled out since we were eighteen.”

Baekhyun leans closer so they’re nose to nose; Kyungsoo can feel his husband’s breath hot on his lips. “You lucked out, babe.”

Kyungsoo laughs at him but allows Baekhyun to press a brief kiss against his mouth before he pulls away.

“It’s too bad you’re my boss now, though,” Kyungsoo murmurs. “You look so hot in your work suits that I can’t help staring, but now everyone at the office thinks I’m in love with you.”

This time it’s Baekhyun who laughs as he dangles his left hand in front of Kyungsoo’s face. The gold of his wedding ring glints under the kitchen lights and he asks, smugly, “Aren’t you though?”

Kyungsoo snaps his teeth at Baekhyun’s fingers. “You know that’s not what I meant,” he pouts.

When Baekhyun kisses him again the press of their lips lasts much longer, and Kyungsoo’s complaints are soon lost in the taste of his husband’s tongue and the feel of Baekhyun’s body warm against him.

They wake up that way the next morning; their bodies curled together and half on top of the kitchen table with the dishes from dinner still stacked haphazardly on the counter and out of the way. Kyungsoo pulls away first and stretches languidly, holding back a laugh when Baekhyun whines in his sleep and grabs at the air to try and pull Kyungsoo back into his arms.

“Can’t, Baek,” Kyungsoo tells his husband sweetly. He’s always been much more of a morning person between the two of them. “Your parents are visiting today, remember? We’ve got to get dressed before they arrive.”

Groaning loudly Baekhyun peeks one eye open to glare at Kyungsoo. “I was born , babe. It’s nothing they haven’t seen before.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo agrees, deceptively sweet. “And you’ll die too if you don’t get up and put some clothes on.”

Baekhyun shivers; Kyungsoo’s not joking and he knows it.

“Fine, fine,” Baekhyun waves a hand to appease his husband and slowly drags his upper body off the table. “You win. Clothes it is.”

Kyungsoo rewards his obedience with a kiss and the only thing that keeps the embrace from becoming increasingly steamier and more prolonged is the looming visit from Baekhyun’s parents.

“Besides,” Kyungsoo points out a few minutes later as they stand side-by-side brushing their teeth in the bathroom, now both fully dressed, “it’s a Thursday. It’s not like we can just skip work because we want to.”

Baekhyun leers, his mouth a mess of foamy white paste.

“Well, I can’t, in any case,” Kyungsoo amends. “And actually,” he checks his watch, “if I don’t leave now I’ll be late. Please tell your parents I’m sorry to miss them this morning but I look forward to lunch.”

Baekhyun lifts a thumbs up to show Kyungsoo that he heard him, then throws his head back to gargle. Kyungsoo steps close to kiss his husband’s throat in goodbye.

“I love you, Baek!” He shouts as he closes their apartment door and locks it behind him. A muffled response in kind keeps Kyungsoo smile widely all the way to work, and he’s still wearing the expression when he’s immediately given another tedious copying assignment as soon as he arrives.

“I think he got laid,” Kyungsoo overhears Sehun speculate to Chanyeol who’s nursing a triple shot espresso and looking like he had an exciting night himself. “Think it was the Boss?”

Knowing they can’t see him, Kyungsoo feels free to allow the smirk that takes over the smile he’s still wearing. It that he can’t tell everyone his crush on Baekhyun isn’t as ridiculous as it seems, but he doesn’t regret keeping his and Baekhyun’s relationship a secret—even though Baekhyun occasionally insists on making it a difficult secret to keep.

He leans against the copy machine, willing it to go faster, and considers where to take Baekhyun’s parents out for lunch. Mr. and Mrs. Byun practically raised him and Kyungsoo knows without a doubt that they’ll try to pay regardless of where they go to eat, but it’s nice to dream a little that for once he and Baekhyun might emerge victorious in this never-ending battle over the bill.

Kyungsoo stares at the empty space of wall above the machine and imagines Mrs. Byun’s smooth and fawning voice calling his name in pleased surprise while Mr. Byun grumbles good-naturedly about his sons’ trickery. He jumps, startled, when the machine tells him the copy job is finished and, upon turning around to leave the room, is surprised to realize that what he thought was a daydream wasn’t actually a dream at all.

“Kyungsoo, darling!” Mrs. Byun coos at him as she approaches him from far down the hall, and Kyungsoo holds back a grimace at how loud she is. “My favorite son-in-law!”

He smiles and bows slightly, reminding her teasingly that he’s her only son-in-law. When she finally reaches him she swats his arm before pulling him into a tight hug.

“You’d still be my favorite,” she insists as they separate, “even if I had other married children.”

“Or any children at all,” Mr. Byun adds, smiling at Kyungsoo as they shake hands. “Sometimes I swear she loves you more than she loves Baekhyun.”

At that a loud gasp echoes through the office and Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol stumble as Sehun drags him from their intern cubicles into the hallway where Kyungsoo and the Byuns have gathered.

“You’re Baekhyun’s parents?” Sehun asks, awed. Chanyeol coughs, shooting him a worried glance, and Sehun rolls his eyes. “Mr. Byun’s, I mean?”

Mrs. Byun, always happy to meet the people in her son and son-in-law’s lives, smiles beatifically at Kyungsoo’s fellow interns. “We are! Do you work for our Baekhyunnie?”

Kyungsoo chortles at the nickname; he knows Baekhyun secretly hates it.

It’s Chanyeol who answers. “We do, ma’am. We’re actually interns with Kyungsoo here.”

Mr. Byun winks at the two interns and leans toward them conspiratorially. “Our Baekhyunnie picked himself a good one, don’t you think?”

Sehun chokes on air as Chanyeol nods hurriedly. “Kyungsoo’s the best,” he agrees, not quite sure how else to respond to the person who’s essentially his boss’ boss. “Baekhy–err, Mr. Byun, too!”

Mrs. Byun sighs happily. “Our boys,” she adds with a pleased smile. “Speaking of,” she murmurs, turning her attention back to Kyungsoo, “where is that mischievous husband of yours? We saw him at the apartment this morning but he told us he’d be here to meet for lunch at noon and I haven’t seen him.”

Kyungsoo tells her as quietly as he can that he hasn’t seen his husband since that morning either. It’s a small and ineffectual attempt at keeping Sehun and Chanyeol out of his business; unfortunately it’s a lost cause. This is proven especially true when the elevator dings, its doors opening to reveal Baekhyun with his coat over his arm, clearly ready to leave for lunch.

“Oh! Mom, Dad, you’re here!” He sounds nervous, and with good reason; if Baekhyun’s parents didn’t know they were supposed to meet them in the building lobby and avoid this drama altogether, it’s because Baekhyun forgot to tell them. “And Kyungsoo!” he adds, offering a small, appeasing smile in his husband’s direction. “You’re here too.”

“What are the odds,” Kyungsoo deadpans, smiling for his in-laws benefit. Baekhyun knows he’s going to get it later; he can only hope that Kyungsoo’s punishment includes and not the silent treatment. “Since, you know, I work here.”

“You’re his boss?” Chanyeol interjects, clearly confused and missing all the underlying sarcasm in Kyungsoo’s response. “Wouldn’t you expect to see him at work?”

“He’s his husband,” Sehun corrects in a stage-whisper that has Mrs. Byun hiding a smile behind her hand. “And I think he’s in the dog house at the moment.”

Kyungsoo corrects them both, though not on the fact that Baekhyun’s firmly in trouble at the moment. “He’s my boss/husband, actually.”

“Boss-husband?” Baekhyun asks, smirking as he draws a short, straight line in the air to emphasise the hyphen he’s putting between the two words.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and slashes sharply downward in the air. “Boss slash husband,” he grumbles. “Not boss hypen husband.”

Pouting, and recognizing the beginnings of an exasperated smile on the corners of Kyungsoo’s heart-shaped lips, Baekhyun pushes his luck just a little. “But I like the idea of being a boss husband. It implies performance excellence, among other things.”

“Baek!” Kyungsoo barks out, face suddenly flaming. “Your parents are standing right there!”

“Oh that’s alright, Kyungsoo, dear,” Mrs. Byun pats him gently on the arm. “I’m sure it’s a different experience between two men, but Baekhyunnie’s father and I are no stranger to married intimacy.” Mr. Byun winks at him and Sehun, still standing down the hall next to Chanyeol, makes a sound like a dying whale.

“Oh god,” Kyungsoo’s not sure he’ll be able to come back to work after this. Definitely not as a fellow intern with Sehun and Chanyeol, that’s for damned sure. Baekhyun blows him a kiss and waggles his eyebrows, and Kyungsoo thinks that at least he’ll still have a loving husband to come home to—if he doesn’t kill Baekhyun first that is.