It's never a good thing when your boss wants to see you... 

Jonghyun thought to himself as he made his way through the large, gloomy halls of the office building. He knew he'd been lagging behind, and he guessed he was about to get sacked for it. As he dragged his feet across the floor, he felt like dying. To distract himself for just a second, he paused to stare out the window. The buildings of the city appeared to sparkle in the setting sun. It was nice to look at, yet it didn't take Jonghyun's mind of the terrible, inevitable truth. 

When he reached the door of the room he'd been assigned to visit, he rested one hand on the doorknob while using the other to knock. The sound echoed through the hall and filled Jonghyun's mind with both suspense and wonder. He hoped that the boss would at least have some mercy on him. 

"Come in."

Jonghyun took a deep breath before he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it again once inside. "You, um, wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, sit down." Ah. The boss was demanding and effortlessly threatening as always, so Jonghyun just followed his instructions without hesitation. Somewhat slowly, he moved to sit down and looked at the other expectantly.

"I've been keeping an eye on you." The big man grumbled, and Jonghyun raised an inquisitive brow. "What's wrong with you?" 

"I--" Jonghyun hadn't exactly expected the first question to be that upfront, and had to think about what to answer. "I'm not sure, actually. I've been so stressed out lately and I can't seem to figure out why." He sighed, contemplating whether telling the truth was the right decision or not while he continued. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm getting older."

"Older?" The boss, who was actually pretty old, was offended. "You're twenty-two!"

"I know, I know. But I'm older than I used to be. I don't see everything as one big game anymore." 

"Truthfully," The boss began, narrowing his eyes at Jonghyun and staring at him as if they'd never met before. "I don't want to fire you. Because I need you. You're an exceptionally talented young man and I can't afford to lose you." 

Jonghyun titled his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders lightly. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't getting kicked out? What a relief.

"So, I've hired a partner for you! Someone who can help you out and take away some of the stress." 

"You what?" Jonghyun's eyes widened. "But- But you know I prefer working on my own." He added, shaking his head. No. This wasn't good. Partners were annoying. Whoever this person was would only weigh him down. 

"Yes, well, you haven't been doing very well on your own, have you?" The boss asked, staring at Jonghyun with a skeptical frown. 

Jonghyun sighed, vigorously rubbing his upper arm as if he'd just been punched by The Hulk. "I suppose not." 

"Hm." The boss nodded once, then pressed a button on his phone and ordered his secretary to bring in the partner. "This is for the best. You know that, don't you?"

Shooting the boss an annoyed glare, Jonghyun didn't answer, and just silently waited until the secretary stepped in along with someone else. 

"Kim Jonghyun, I want you to meet Choi Minki!" The boss was suddenly awfully cheerful and Jonghyun didn't understand why, until he got up and turned around to look at this Minki. Ok. That was the cutest person Jonghyun had seen in... quite a while. But that didn't make him any less of a threat to Jonghyun's professional performances. A little hostility wasn't going to hurt. Keeping a safe distance was always good. 

"Nice to meet you." Jonghyun mumbled, bowing his head. 

"The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to working with you!" Minki mimicked his movements, the only difference was that a wide smile graced his strikingly beautiful features. 

"Yes, um, I'm just as thrilled." Jonghyun didn't even attempt to conceal his faux sarcasm, much to the boss's dismay. 

"So, let's discuss your first job together!" 

----

"If we're going to be partners, we should get to know each other." Minki said, desperately trying to fix the car radio by pressing random buttons as Jonghyun drove. 

"Mhm." Jonghyun mumbled in response, keeping his eyes on the road to avoid having to look at Minki. What if he were to accidentally blush? It wasn't entirely impossible. 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" When Jonghyun didn't answer right away, Minki decided to add: "- or a boyfriend?" He could feel his own heartbeat increasing at the question.

"No." Jonghyun faintly shook his head. "I don't have time for things like that." That was a hint. Jonghyun didn't have time for any type of nonsense, so he didn't like playing this game either. 

"Oh." Minki frowned, putting an end to his fiddling since the radio appeared to be broken beyond repair. "But if you did have time for a relationship, would you like to have one?" 

"No. I'm too possessive. That's.. no fun." 

"Oh?" Minki raised an eyebrow, before wiggling both. "Now that's hot. And-"

"Can you please ask me work-related questions from now on?" Jonghyun cleared his throat and tightened his grip around the steering wheel. 

"Ok.." Minki's next question would've been 'who hurt you?' but that wasn't work-related. "What does your code name stand for?"

"Jolly Roger." Jonghyun replied, keeping a straight face.

"For real?"

"No... It's classified."

"But, I'm your partner." Minki crossed his arms over his chest. He was going to find out what JR stood for, one way or another. 

"I'm well aware of that fact." Jonghyun simply nodded, then casually the radio. "Let's talk about you now." Jonghyun felt obligated to say that, but luckily, that wasn't too obvious.

"Ok, well.. I'm--" He thought for a moment. "We're in the same business so I guess you understand that most of my life is classified.." He sighed, staring out the window in case Jonghyun were to look at him now. 

"Mhm. I understand that you can't tell me which company you worked for. But you can tell me that you worked for a different company, right? Because I've never seen you around before."

"That is correct." Minki replied without hesitation, but was quick to change the subject. "How did you fix the radio?"

Despite realizing what Minki was doing, Jonghyun decided to pretend he was taking the bait. "It wasn't really broken. You just need to really firmly press the button." 

"Oh. I see." For now, Minki accepted the fact that Jonghyun wasn't very talkative. He folded his hands in his lap and kept quiet for the rest of the ride. Only when the car stopped in front of a seemingly abandoned warehouse was when he asked; "So, this is it, huh?" 

"Yes. Let's investigate." Jonghyun flashed the other a faint smile, then got out of the car and opened the trunk. 

When Minki followed to stand beside him, he was handed a gun. "Great, thank you. Um, do you expect us to use these tonight?" 

"You never know." Jonghyun raised an eyebrow, wondering where the slight hesitation was coming from. It was suspicious. Jonghyun had taken breaks himself, but he had never been afraid of guns all of a sudden. 

"You're right." Minki nodded slowly. "The thing is... I've been out of it for a long time. I was injured and, well, I'm very rusty." 

"That's fine. The boss knows that, right? I assume that's why he gave us this ty beginners job? Relax, pal. This is all about the bonding, really. So, don't worry. See this as a little field trip." After putting his own gun away, Jonghyun reached out to give Minki a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he closed the trunk and turned to walk away. 

Minki blinked a few times, staring at the gun before hiding it on his person. "Thank you." He whispered, following behind his new partner.