April 11th 2019, 9:07 AM

Jonghyun looked down at the sleeping man next to him and felt nothing. Sure, he was attractive--one of the most gorgeous people he'd ever seen, honestly--but to Jonghyun, he was just the means to an end. A tool to be used, a person who could help him get to where he wanted to be. Unfortunately, he knew that his use for Key would complicate things for him down the road, as this had clearly developed from a no-strings-attached kind of deal into one that was not at all, but it'd be fine. He'd deal with the strings once he got to where he wanted, even if he had to destroy them entirely. 

Reaching over to his nightstand, Jonghyun grabbed his phone. He had a missed call from Donghae, and several texts from the security group chat. Sighing, he decided to read the texts before seeing what Donghae had wanted. He opened his messaging app, slowly scanning the conversation he'd missed:

Donghae: Boss needs max security for higher members rn, we might not be taking outside bookings for a while.

Amber: Have you or Chanyeol heard from Boa yet?

Donghae: Chanyeol is meeting with her and Changmin this morning. 

Amber: Changmin's gonna be there????

Donghae: Yes. 

Sehun: No outside bookings? Does that mean our pay gets docked?

Amber: Probably. Can't believe Chanyeol's meeting with Changmin. 

Donghae: This is super important, of course Changmin would directly meet with Chanyeol. We might even have to meet with Changmin later. 

Sehun: Ok but Donghae what abt our pay??

Donghae: I can't say for sure, I'll let you know when I know.

Jonghyun rolled his eyes at his phone screen. Their pay better not get docked. He needed that money. He did understand why the higher ups suddenly needed so many more body guards, though. He'd better see what Donghae called him about. 

He got out of bed, careful not to disturb Key, and padded into his living room. He dialed Donghae's number. The phone rang for only a moment before Donghae picked up.

"Jonghyun, why didn't you answer?"

"You called at like six in the morning, Donghae. I was asleep." 

"You should've woken up. You didn't have your phone on silent, did you? You know you're not supposed to do that."

Jonghyun sighed. 

"It was on silent, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Please spare me from a lecture about my responsibility right now." 

Donghae was silent on the line for a moment. 

"You're lucky you're decent at this job, Jonghyun, or I'd fire you for insubordination. Don't do this again."

"I-" 

"And while you're at it, speak to me more respectfully, will you? I'm your superior." 

"Yes, Donghae."

"Anyway, you're needed as a body guard. All of the outside bookings you had scheduled for the next three months have been canceled." 

"Three months? What about my pay? I can't go three months on only what I get from organization work."

"Well if that's the case, you'll be compensated for what you would've made if we hadn't canceled your bookings." 

"Thank you. Is that all?"

"One more thing. Chanyeol told me that a certain member of the boss' inner circle is supposed to be at Head Office right now, but he appears to be MIA. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Goddamnit." Jonghyun hated that Donghae knew about his fling with Key. "He'll be there soon. Do you want to send more body guards over?"

"I think he should be fine with just you, you're pretty close to Head Office and, well... you know how he gets about guards. Just be extra careful."

"Okay. Good bye." 

There was a click. Donghae had hung up without saying good bye, as usual. 

Jonghyun walked back into his room, where Key still lay on his bed, sound asleep. He sighed.

"Key," he called. And then a little louder, "Key."

The man in his bed stirred, rolling over. Key raised a hand, rubbing his eyes. 

"Wha?" He mumbled, clearly still half-asleep.

Jonghyun didn't answer, distracted by the sight of sleepy Key. He really was attractive, even upon just waking up. Jonghyun's eyes wandered over the silhouette of Key's body, outlined by the thin bedsheets. His gaze traveled toward Key's hips. Did they have time for a quickie?

"Jonghyun?" 

Key was fully awake now, perhaps having noticed the way Jonghyun had been looking at him. Jonghyun felt his face heat up, and he shook his head. God, what was he thinking? He turned his back to Key, somewhat embarrassed now. 

"We have to go to Head Office. Get up." He didn't wait for Key to respond before leaving his room. He wasn't dressed yet, but he'd find something else to do until Key was done getting ready. He really didn't need to see that man half- right now.

***

"Ready?" Jonghyun asked. He and Key had just arrived at Head Office, and quite frankly, neither one of them really wanted to be there. 

"Not really." 

Key looked tired. Jonghyun couldn't help but to feel for him; after all, there was no way it was fun to be in Key's position right now. 

Well, there wasn't time to sit around moping. Key should've been at Head Office by now, and if he got in trouble with the new boss for being late Jonghyun would probably have to hear all about it. He really didn't want that. 

He got out of his car, hurrying around to the passenger side. He opened Key's door, holding it as his superior got out. They had to go back to their usual roles now: the boss' right hand man and a mid-ranking member. How unfortunate, Jonghyun thought. He really needed Key to take some initiative and help him move up a couple ranks soon. 

"Thanks." Key mumbled as he stepped away from the car. Jonghyun shut the door before hurrying to Key inside. There likely weren't any threats immediately outside Head Office, but he knew better than to let his guard down. If anything happened to Key while he was with him he'd be in deep . They were silent as they walked through the halls of the building. Being late morning, it was a relatively busy time of day inside Head Office and Jonghyun had to stay alert the entire time he walking Key to his meeting. The organization was big, and there were too many people Jonghyun didn't know. Any one of them could be an outsider there to cause Key harm and he'd have no idea. 

After what probably took less than five minutes—but felt painfully long to Jonghyun—they arrived at the boss' office. Jonghyun made no move to open the door, instead turning to face Key. 

"Well, I'll see you later?"

Key looked at him, a bewildered expression on his face.

"You're not coming in with me?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not authorized. You're much higher ranking than I am, and I'm not assigned to you." Jonghyun shrugged. He probably had to go meet Donghae and some of the other security members, too. 

"Come with me. It'll be fine, I'll talk to Changmin if he has a problem with it." 

Jonghyun nodded, trying not to give away any of what he was feeling. As much as he didn't want to go, he was also exicted by the idea of being allowed into an inner circle meeting. Granted, it was just as Key's bodyguard, but it could still mean that he was moving up the ranks. After all, only higher ranking security workers were allowed to be present at exclusive meetings like this. 

"Okay." 

He watched as Key brushed past him, knocking on the door. Honestly, Jonghyun hadn't even known they were supposed to knock. After a moment, there was the sound of the door being unlocked, and it swung open to reveal Chanyeol. He seemed surprised to see Jonghyun standing behind Key, but didn't say anything, simply stepping back to allow them into the room. 

Jonghyun looked around the room curiously, finding it hard to believe he was there. Boa was there too, and Changmin, who he'd only ever seen once before. There were other people who he didn't recognize, a woman and three men. And sitting at a desk in the back of the room, was... a college kid? Did one of the members bring their son to this meeting? Jonghyun glanced back at the people he assumed were the inner circle. They didn't look old enough to have a kid that age. Not to mention, he was the only one sitting. But he couldn't be the boss, could he? Jonghyun knew that the old boss' son was taking over, but he'd assumed that his son was at least an actual adult. The boy sitting at that desk was almost definitely younger than twenty. 

"Key, who'd you bring with you?" 

Jonghyun was startled out of his musings when the college kid spoke. 

"Jonghyun. He's from security. I hope you're fine with it, but I told him to accompany me here."

The kid nodded. 

"Is that fine with you, Changmin?"

Changmin studied Jonghyun. His palms began to sweat. God, he really needed Changmin's approval. 

"Honestly, I don't really know him, but clearly Key trusts him. Boa or Chanyeol, can you say anything for him?" 

Boa shrugged, and Jonghyun's heart leapt into his throat. True, he didn't interact much with Boa, but she still could've said something in his favor.

"He should be fine," Chanyeol said. "I've worked with him enough to know he's trustworthy." 

Jonghyun held in a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for Chanyeol. The boy—who Jonghyun was now almost completely sure was the new boss—nodded. 

"Okay. Well, let's get going then. We have a lot to discuss."

Key crossed the room, joining Changmin with the men and woman that Jonghyun didn't know. He wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to do, but luckily Chanyeol motioned for him to come stand next to the door with him and Boa. 

"So Donghae wasn't lying when he said Key had a fling with one of ours," Chanyeol whispered when Jonghyun had come close enough to hear him. "I didn't expect it to be with you, though."

Jonghyun wasn't sure if that was an insult, but he chose to pretend it wasn't. 

"I will say I'm glad, since it saved us a lot of time and stress to know that Key was safe but late for, uh, personal reasons. If Key went missing now, the boss would be screwed. You'd better be on top of your when you're with him."

"Don't worry, I am." Jonghyun didn't really want to talk to Chanyeol any more than he had to. There were currently much more interesting things happening than anything Chanyeol had to say about his involvement with Key. 

Across the room, the inner circle were talking with the boss about some event that was supposed to be taking place within the next two weeks. Unfortunately, thanks to Chanyeol, Jonghyun had missed exactly what they were talking about, but it seemed like they intended to meet with someone, and they were about to need a lot of security. 

"I don't know if you'll say yes to this, but I want him as my personal bodyguard from now on." Key was talking to Changmin, and pointing directly at Jonghyun.

Oh boy.

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A/N

Well, it's been several months. Oops. But the next chapter is finally here! I hope you enjoyed it. I know I say this every single time I put out a chapter after a long time, but I've been really busy and now have a break coming up so hopefully I'll be able to write a lot then. I've also been considering putting this fic on ao3, but we'll have to see about that. Anyways, thank you to those who've waited for this to come out, I appreciate it. I've done pretty minimal editing, so yeah, sorry about spelling errors if they appear. 

Thanks so much for reading!

- H <3