Jeongguk seems to be not all too impressed by Taehyung's way of answering the phone but the older has more than one way to call somebody an without actually doing so.

He has no idea how thick the wall between them is but guesses it can't be that thick if it was built subsequently. Which serves his purpose just right.

The first, okay maybe second thing he did today was moving his chair closer to the wall. And now whenever he can take his mind off work for a few seconds he knocks at the wall.

Short-long-three times short. Three times short. Four times short, three times long, short, long, twice short. Short.

No response.

He is silently snickering his off when Jeongguk switches the light off and yells "Stop knocking at my wall all the time. And stop calling me an !"

Taehyung blinks. Falters.

"What, why the heck do you understand Morse code?! er! Switch the light back on!"

"No!"

Taehyung proceeds knocking '' in the only slightly darker room, sun still doing a good job of flooding his office with golden light. It doesn't take long for the next outburst to come.

"Kim Taehyung, stop it right now!"

He knocks against the wall again: Long-short. Three times long.

'No'.

If Taehyung thought Jeongguk is the kind of person to let such things slide then he was wrong. He learns the hard way as the younger keeps switching the light on and off at random moments as soon as the sun set.

So naturally, Taehyung continues to knock curses against the wall, getting more colorful with his vocabulary by the hour.

The days go by easily enough, Taehyung having no problems getting his commissions done and earning Namjoon's approval, the boss saying if Taehyung keeps up the good work then he won't have to supervise him anymore starting next week. Which feels almost like a tiny promotion, in other words, ing great.

Taehyung has no qualms admitting that Baekhyun and Minjae truly know the best places to get your belly stuffed in walking distance to the office building. And after seeing others do the same Taehyung brought a big back of his current favorite tea 'Nordic berry', literally the only kind of fruit tea he likes because it's just on the right site of sweet, and put it in the cabinet above the coffee machine. So yeah it's going well, he is making himself at home. If it just weren't for Jeon ing Jeongguk.

Over the days, the younger picked up knocking salty replies to Taehyung's Morse insults, albeit a lot slower than Taehyung himself.

It has Taehyung wondering out loud one day as he just leans against Jeongguk's doorframe and goes through their daily banter about the light switch. It's a good morning, the tea is delicious, Taehyung almost beat Jeongguk in arriving first and last night he got to shoot some dope photographs of Seoul's nightlife. So his barriers are lowered. And his brain-to-mouth filter doesn't exist all that much anyway.

"You are so slow with the knocking, are you just learning Morse?"

Jeongguk grunts, staring at his screen and typing away.

"So what if I am?" he snaps.

"Nothing, I just-" Taehyung waves his hand- "I was just wondering. If you don't initially know Morse code then how come you recognized that first message I knocked?"

"I looked it up, duh."

"But you only heard it once."

"Well, breaking News, not everybody has a memory."

Taehyung glowers. "I could just have knocked something random for all you know."

It's then that Jeongguk turns to him, looking him over in a long judging look before exclaiming, "No, you wouldn't. No way. You are too weird for your knocks not to have some kind of purpose."

The older feels equal parts offended and flattered. Coming short for an answer he just squints at the younger and storms out.

But the comment of being weird doesn't let him go.

He wonders how Jeongguk came that fast to the conclusion he is weird when they barely know each other. His hand comes up to delicately touch his hair, dyed in a warm gold blond. Is it because he's dyeing his hair? But he's not the only one, Baekhyun's hair is so blond it's almost silver. And there are some other employees with dyed hair, for example that one lady Taehyung still doesn't know the name of who sports a wicked shade of ruby red; wearing the fiery long hair, dark fake lashes and equally flashy nails with confidence.

During his late tea break he makes his way over to what must be Minjae's office (spoiler alert: it is) and simply asks the younger.

"Oh you mean Park Bom noona?," Minjae says around a cookie. "She's so sweet. Really shy, even if you would never believe it when looking at her but she's got a big heart and is always up for some fun. Why, want me to introduce you?"

He wiggles his eyebrows at Taehyung and the older smacks his arm, still laughing as he heads back to his own room.

So maybe it's not his hair that makes him weird. It must be something about his appearance though, because when he'd first knocked '' to Jeongguk, their social interaction had been almost zero. Meaning the younger couldn't base his weirdness off some character traits for he didn't know Taehyung back then. Still doesn't.

Maybe it's because Taehyung likes to wear pajamas to work. They are comfy, he just has to sit in his room all day and not meet any clients anyway, Namjoon is a super chill boss and also it's not like he's wearing something with Donald Duck pattern. Just pinstripes or checked pattern, decent but classy. So surely that's not the problem either, right?

Is it because Taehyung drinks tea? Is Jeongguk a closet tea hater? But that would be ridiculous. Right?

He is still brooding over it when the light goes off. Taehyung groans, switches on his flashlight - because yes, he has two of them stored in his desk drawer together with a charger by now - and starts packing.

Jeongguk is already waiting, sporting his trademark bored and slightly pissed expression. Taehyung gives him a long look after locking his office. The younger raises an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Why did you think I'm weird?"

Jeongguk shrugs. "Dunno. You're just giving me those vibes."

Taehyung shakes his head and doesn't bother saying anything else as he walks off.

"Okay what the ."

Taehyung has finally managed to come earlier than Jeongguk and has been waiting in his office for the younger to arrive for that exact moment. He muffles his laughter in his sleeve and listens how there is some shuffling as if Jeongguk is walking around aimlessly, not sure what to do before there is the telltale tingle of keys and scrape from a door being unlocked.

After he is sure Jeongguk closed his door for good, Taehyung cautiously opens his own door and sneaks to the other's. There, right on eye level hangs a red-rimmed black magnet board with colorful magnet letters spelling 'JEON JEONGGUK'. All courtesy to Taehyung.

And now he is gonna have some fun.

Taehyung relishes in the sound of Jeongguk's door opening, the younger probably heading off to relieve his bladder. He counts the seconds, strains his ears for the foot steps gradually getting louder until they stop and-

"What even- what!?"

A big grin splits Taehyung's face and his fingers just type that little bit faster, coding at rapid speed as he relishes in the successfully inflicted confusion. Again he waits a little bit until Jeongguk is settled in his office before silently heading out to the magnet board.

Rearranging his former creation of 'NEON JOKE JUGG' to 'KNEE JOG JO GUN', taking his time to peel off the magnet letters as to make no sound and when the work is done slipping back into his office with no one to call his eye witness.

Taehyung just so happens to stand right behind his door - totally not with an ear pressed against the wood, yes no this is complete coincidence - when Jeongguk spots his latest creation.

So he positively catches it when Jeongguk mutters to himself "Do I say something or do I want my peace" and that little sentence makes Taehyung just so very happy. It almost excuses the trouble he has to go through everyday because of his non-existent light switch. Almost. The glee fuels him to work faster, harder and - oh if he could - longer.

But of course that last bit is wishful thinking, Jeongguk again switching off the light way too early for Taehyung's liking.

The older takes some deep breaths, schooling his expression into one of mild boredom before exiting his room. And there Jeongguk stands, eyes flitting between Taehyung and the magnet board, lips pursed and eyes narrowed. But he doesn't say anything.

Taehyung finds he can't look away and there is the barest twitch of his mouth as he beholds the nonsense exclamation on Jeongguk's door.

"Good evening Jeongguk-ssi."

"I never allowed you to call me by my first name," the younger snaps.

But Taehyung doesn't deign to respond as he just flaunts off with a big grin the younger can't see.

It is not until the end of the week he gets caught by Jeongguk.

Taehyung is just in the middle of spelling out 'NEOGEN GUJ JK' as the door is ripped open, revealing a seething Jeongguk.

Taehyung's hands still hover in the air, one holding a bright yellow 'G' and the other a blue 'N'. He is quick to morph his expression of befuddlement into a cocky smirk because Jeongguk deserves nothing less.

"Don't you have to be stupid somewhere else?"

And the younger is pissed alright. Taehyung meets his glare, not backing down, grin widening.

"Not until at least eight, no."

Jeongguk is hissing, really hissing at him. It's a sight to behold. Taehyung is very proud of himself.

"At least spell out something normal!"

"Normal? Define 'normal'," the older mocks before turning just that tad bit serious. "Besides, it's not like I would know how to do that. I'm weird afterall."

With that being said he takes the three steps to the right, opens his own door and closes it straight in Jeongguk's face.

The light turns off exactly as his digital clock switches to eight pm. Taehyung isn't even surprised. Doesn't mean he is ready to go home though. He just set up everything to continue for some more hours, steaming cup of coffee before him. The distinct smell of fresh coffee fills his nostrils and he scrunches his nose. Ew. But it's for the greater good, meaning: work. For additional hours he will even drink coffee every now and then.

So Kim Taehyung is on a mission now. That's why he doesn't react to his door being flung open and Jeongguk barging into his office with a "You little , come out of your room already so I can go home!". No, Taehyung completely igonres the commotion, opens the can of energy drink, pours it into his coffee and adds some milk for flavour. This fearful combination is something he never attempted before but putting up with Jeongguk day by day is draining enough to drive him to this point.

"I'm going to die," he mutters, like an afterthought of what he just brewed.

Then downs the drink.

Jeongguk stands right behind him and looks confused, shell-shocked and concerned all at once.

"The are you doing?"

Taehyung hiccups, then grapples for his waterbottle and empties that too. The bitter and sickly sweet combination is something he shall never attempt again to drink. He shoves two of Minjae's cookies in his mouth and aggressively munches on them. Anything to get that disgusting taste out of his mouth. Blergh!

"Taehyung? Hello?! What was that just now? What are you doing there?"

Jeongguk's voice sounds a bit shrill, Taehyung notices as he watches in quiet interest how his own right leg starts bouncing.

"What does it look like? I'm working."

The younger makes a small noise of disbelief.

"No you're not. Not like that. And it's late anyway, stop for tonight and go home."

"No."

"What, why the not?!"

Taehyung is not sure why Jeongguk sounds so agitated but it does rub off on him.

"Because you. Because I ing say so. Because I don't stop when I'm tired, I stop when I'm done. Now kindly off and leave me alone, I can work with flashlights if I have to."

Jeongguk stares at him for a long time.

"That's not healthy."

Taehyung snorts. "What's it to you?"

And it seems like the younger wants to say something, like there is a retort on the tip of his tongue but he visibly swallows down the words and leaves Taehyung's office, drawing the door shut with a bang.

In hindsight Taehyung should've known better.

He can barely keep his eyes open, let alone get much work done. It doesn't help one bit he's wearing his soft pajamas. No, helping is really not the right word. More so his attire is tempting him to just close his eyes, rest his head on the desk and succumb to sleep.

The strange thing is, he can barely recall what he did on his caffeine-sugar high. All he knows is that he felt ready for a marathon. Like the real deal, 40 kilometres and all. Hell yeah! But now, the day after all of his artifical energy boost is gone, poofed away.

He sighs, lowering his head until chin meets wood with a dull 'thud'. It takes lots of energy to pry his eyes open and even more to focus them on his two screens.

"Told ya," Jeongguk says from somewhere behind him. What is he doing in his office?

Taehyung whines. "Go awayyy..."

A snort is his answer.

"I get that you had quite a night and are half dead now but that doesn't excuse you from procastinating. Judging your pinboard you currently have at least three projects you need to work on."

"How long have you been here?" His tongue is heavy in Taehyung's mouth, each word an effort.

He remembers that one movie with Scarlett Johansson, 'Micky', or 'Lucy' or something, about unlocking your full brain capacity or whatever. Taehyung's own brain capacity is around two percent maximum right now.

"Long enough."

"Whatever," the older mumbles. "For your information, Mozart wrote the overture for Don Giovanni at the morning of the premier day. I think I can manage some procastination."

With his blurry sigh trained in front of him Taehyung misses the way Jeongguk gapes at him and his never-ending knowledge of trivia before catching himself.

"You don't say. The difference between music genius Mozart and you is however, that you are not him. Not one bit."

Taehyung closes his eyes just for a precious second and exhales through his nose.

"You are not my favorite person today."

"Let's face it, I'm not your favorite person on any day."

"True. Now leave me be so I can be miserable and procastinate on my own. Shoo."

"Did you honestly just 'shoo' me?"

The judgement is heavy in this one. Taehyung bumps his forehead against the desk.

" you. Go away."

And finally, finally Jeongguk leaves.

Weekends are great.

Honestly, whoever is responsible for inventing them did mankind a solid. Weekends are super cool, not only for getting over the aftereffects of a self-induced coffee-energy drink high but also for destressing in general. Destressing is key for a good work-life balance, Taehyung is all too aware.

That's how he finds himself doing his pilates workout on a late saturday morning (read as: maybe it's past one pm but everything that happens before he had lunch is officially morning so there is that) while blasting 'Let it go'. To channel his inner 'Let go of everthing stress and work, especially Jeongguk' energy even better.

After he's done with that, Taehyung gets to dress up. He likes to go all out every now and then, not only because he wants to look pretty and knows exactly how to do so but also because he learnt that a lot more doors open willingly for you when you look the part.

The weather is nice and he feels like going out into the nature, maybe brave Inwangsan mountain and pay a visit to BLT Steak afterwards, it's been a while. So he dresses accordingly. Meaning: he puts on his forest green slacks and vest over a crisp white dress shirt. Some hair gel and subtle makeup later he is ready to go and has the energy to match, snatching his trusty camera and heading off on today's little adventure.

Jeongguk and whatever he thinks to know about him.

It takes Taehyung til sunday to recall Jeongguk complaining that he can't go home as long as Taehyung is still there. It makes no sense, the younger could easily just leave after switching off the damn light. Why does he care? Taehyung is more irritated than ever.

As much as weekends are great, as much mondays do without fail.

Ever since sunday afternoon Taehuyng has the distinctive feeling that his current coding project will bite him in the . Which is why he came prepared and brought his best rubber duck from home. Just in case. And for possible future use.

And surprise! He does need his rubber duck. The coding is off, something is just not working right so he sits there, scanning through the lines and lines of program he wrote and calmly explaining it to the duck. Still he has no clue what's the issue. Taehyung groans, rubs his face and makes to read through it all for a third time when his phone rings, Jeongguk's number on his display.

Taehyung makes a point ignoring him.

Not that it gets him very far because soon after, there is a knock on his door, undoubtedly coming from his favourite co-worker of all times. There is no way Namjoon, Baekhyun or Minjae would time their visit this perfectly. He hopes for the best and ignores the knocking too.

A closed door and no answer to his knocking apparently are not enough to stop the Jeon Jeongguk for the brat just invites himself in Taehyung's office and strides over to where the older is still muttering gobbledygook to his duck.

"I need to talk to you."

Taehyung doesn't even look up from what he's doing. Gives the younger a taste of his own medicine, hah! Soon enough Jeongguk repeats himself, now sounding signifficantly more irritated.

"I need to talk to you!"

And Taehyung, still not bothering to look up, answers at last. Well, kind of.

"There is no need to repeat yourself. I ignored you just fine the first time."

"What the ?"

Taehyung hums and goes back to searching for the bug. Of course Jeongguk doesn't take the cue to leave. Instead he peers over Taehyung's shoulder at the code.

"You should divide your code better."

" you," Taehyung grits. "Lincoln should have hired better bodyguards but we don't always do what's right."

Jeongguk rolls his eyes, like, audibly. Taehyung can feel and hear it he swears. Impressive.

"Whatever. Namjoon wants us to go shopping together for Baek's birthday."

"Does he, now."

Baek was the one with the Kim problem. Taehyung doesn't feel like buying him presents at all. Especially not together with Jeongguk, thank you very much. And maybe he also audibly rolls his eyes on Jeongguk or something but anyway, the younger leaves him alone at last which is highly appreciated.

Ten minutes later Taehyung finds the bug. He grips the rubber duck and throws it against the wall as hard as he can, cursing like a sailor about how "ING EASY THAT WAS AM I GOING BLIND?!"

Eventually he remembers he still has a forced shopping date with Jeongguk to attend. So he shuts down his pc, dons his light coat and goes to collect the younger.

"Here. List."

Jeongguk stretches out his hand to present him with a small shopping list. The first thing Taehyung notices is the surprising clean hand writing. He takes the list, skims over it, hums and hands it back, making to leave.

"What?"

Taehyung turns back. "What do you mean, 'what'? I memorized everything. Are you coming now or what, I want to get this over and done with."

"...Huh."

So they do. Get this over and done with. But not in the sense of, quick and easy. Not when they are arguing about what's the supreme chocolate brand for gifting, Lindt or Ferrero, with enough gusto that it can be heard at least two aisles down.

"No, I'm telling you you're dumb, Lindt is obviously better, they make like, the best truffles and pralinés ever and you can never go wrong with one of their praliné collection because there is something for each taste in there!"

Jeongguk takes the praline box out of Taehyung's hand, puts it back and shoves a box of Ferrero Rocher in his face instead.

"No you are the dumb one here, these gold balls are the ultimate classic for gifting! Look at them, look at how they shine and scream 'snobby birthday present', there is nothing else like them."

" you, you just don't want to admit I'm right!"

"Because you are not!"

They end up settling for the Ferrero Rocher, but only because Jeongguk has an unfair advantage of muscle strength and Taehyung is too grown up to cause a scene.

As soon as the younger looks away Taehyung puts the Lindt Finest collection minis in the basket too.

They are startled out of their new bickering as the speaker system announces the shop closing in ten minutes.

Cue loud cursing and frantic scrambling.

"Okay you said you memorized the whole list, right? Prove it. You search for the three things from the bottom, I do the rest." Jeongguk is already turning away and running off, shouting over the shoulder, "whoever is last at the cashier is an goblin!"

Taehyung wins, if only by two seconds. He won't be bested twice in an hour, especially not by Jeongguk.

"You only won because I had to carry the basket," the younger huffs.

Taehyung rolls his eyes. "Oh please. You have the bulky muscles to not notice a difference. Stop crying like a baby."

He catches the girl who scans in their purchase pressing her lips together to suppress a laugh and shoots her a wink. Then, before Jeongguk can even register what's going over the assembly line he snatches a bag and busies himself putting in everything. The younger pays and off they are.

It's only a good few blocks away while reading over the receipt does he notice.

"Taehyung..."

His voice is low, intimidating. Taehyung does absolutely not shiver.

"Why does it say 'Lindt mini pralinés 670.000 won here?"

"I don't know what you're on about."

Jeongguk's already his mouth open to let off another stream of complaints, Taehyung bracing himself when he spots a familiar face he'd rather never seen again.

It's Sang Haewon, a petite woman with dark short hair who always wears some monochrome designer suit. One of Taehyung's former co-workers at Crystal Gates. His body reacts automatically, limbs and back going stiff, steps fastening, skin at his neck and palms turning clammy. He gulps, presses his mouth shut. Looks straight ahead as they near each other, breath going a little shallow as he counts the seconds until the encounter is over. And prays Haewon doesn't recognize him.

Jeongguk next to him has stopped complaining and gives him a weird look now, probably wondering what's going on.

Taehyung doesn't have a mind to care about him now.

They pass each other on the sidewalk, Taehyung taking big steps to the side. Avoiding Haewon to his best ability.

Of course she recognizes him. The little sneer she gives him in passing is more than proof enough.

Then it's over, Haewon is gone. But Taehyung is still stuck in his head. Memories bubble up from four years ago, little bits and snippets of disdainful looks, sharp and mocking words, questions if he seriously wants to call his chicken scratches actual designs, scrutinizing of his sense for aesthetic. And faces, always the same faces dancing around, of Mr. Gang, Jihoon, Haewon.

Jeongguk nips his side.

"Hey, you okay?"

Taehyung keeps silent, just walks faster. Jeongguk doesn't ask him again.

By the time they reach the office building it's already dark and most people are gone for tonight. Jeongguk drags Taehyung to a small room hidden away in a nook that's cramped with all kinds of stuff - a deflated beach ball, fake pumpkins, rolled up posters, a broken neon sign that reads 'BTS', at least three different baskets and whatnot - Jeongguk telling him it's their inofficial storage room but the boss prefers to call it 'Room of requirements' or something like that, whatever.

Taehyung has to bite his tongue not to call the younger an uncultured swine for not being familiar with that Harry Potter term. The run-in with Haewon earlier has mentally drained him enough to not want any more banter for the night.

Jeongguk grabs one of the baskets and heads back to the break room, emptying their bag and starts arranging the goods in the basket. Taehyung slips up behind him and watches curiously. Rearranges a few things so the taller stuff is in the back and the small stuff at the front. He pauses at the bag of coffee and scrunches his nose.

"Ew."

"I know right," the younger sighs dramatically, then halts mid-movement where he was just adding a little bottle of wine. "Wait." He turns around to the older. "The other day you mixed that hellish brew-up with coffee-"

"Doesn't mean I actually like coffee," the older cuts him off.

Jeongguk furrows his eyebrows but says nothing more.

They work in silence from then on, the younger retreiving some ribbon from one of the cupboards and making a big bow on the basket handle, then fumbles in his backpack until he finds a giftcard and hands it Taehyung to sign. The older puts the signed card in the basket, gives a last look to the basket, then at Jeongguk who nods for them to call it a day.

They leave the building together, as so often the last ones on the whole floor. The whole way to the building entrance Taehyung keeps catching Jeongguk's gaze on him, sees the younger gnawing on his lip and quickly looking away whenever their eyes meet.

The night air is cold. Taehyung pulls his coat a bit tighter.

"Good night," he says into the night without looking up.

Jeongguk answers with a grunt.