Double update! Since it's Jinyoung's birthday ❤️
 

***

THE IA OFFICE was already buzzing when Mark and Jinyoung arrived. Employees surfed on the floor, exchanging information and documents with their peer group. Some were already glued to their seats, typing on the keyboard furiously. Very office-like.

The plan today was to report to Mr Southgate about the miscalculation they successfully fixed. Jinyoung walked ahead of him, in a white shirt, black trousers, and navy blue jumper. The raven-haired man claimed to be the one who’d deliver the news. Mark agreed, no reason to oppose it anyway.

Jinyoung knocked on the unit head's room glass door, pulling it open after the room occupant waved them in with a big smile on his face.

“Jinyoung, Mark! Sit down, please!”

“Thank you, Sir.” Jinyoung nodded, sitting down on the comfy chair across from the unit head. Mark did the same.

“So, any good news?” Mr Southgate cut to the chase, grinning.

“Ah, yes, we’re here to report that we finished all the documents and all the miscalculations have been fixed.” Jinyoung started.

“Are you serious?” It seemed like the unit head was not expected it if the widened eyes could be an indication.

“Yes, Sir, we stayed till very late last night, but it’s all done now.”

“Oh my! I don’t know what magic you guys did there, but thank you!” Mr Southgate rose from his chair and went behind them. He patted Mark and Jinyoung’s shoulder repeatedly in a jolly manner, laughing. “You guys saved us!”

“Ah, no, Sir, we’re just here to help, nothing more.” Jinyoung chuckled, body shaking from the rocking movement back and forth.

“What time is your flight?” The unit head walked back to his chair, his face beaming with satisfaction.

“6 PM, Sir,” Mark answered. It felt good to help and felt even better because he did it faster than planned.

“Oh! It is still a long time! Why don’t you guys look around Richmond? Have you been here before? We have the Edgar Allan Poe Museum here if you’re a fan of his books or his life.”

“I’m—”

“I’m his fan!” Jinyoung cut in, lurching forward in his chair. “Is that far from here?”

“Hmm, around a 30 minutes drive.”

“I thought you wanted to go to Chesapeake Beach?” Mark reminded him, snickering.

“Oh, ah, yes… I want to go there too…” Jinyoung puckered his lips.

“Chesapeake? It’s almost 2 hours drive from here, I think it’s better if you guys choose either one of them because it’s on the opposite way. Considering your flight schedule and the time to go to the airport.”

“We can always split up,” Mark suggested. If Jinyoung wanted to go to the museum then go ahead. They’re not a combo that always had to go together.

Jinyoung furrowed his eyebrows. “Split up? And who are you going to the beach with?”

“Declan.”

Mr Southgate leaned closer. “Declan? From the Revenue Collection unit?”

“Yes, Sir. We’re friends.”

“Mark and Declan are friends. I’m not.” Jinyoung spurted. “Ouch!”

Mr Southgate alternately threw a look at them. “You okay?”

Mark put on a big fake smile. "Yes."

Jinyoung glowered indignantly. “What—”

“So, um, Sir, everything has been cleared on the system. Everything is in balance. You can check it. If there’s something we can do, we’ll be glad to help.” Mark smiled widely, trying to distract the unit head's attention from the mini incident.

“Yes, yes, let me check first.” The unit head shifted his attention to the computer, typing and clicking the mouse away. After a few minutes, he returned his eyes to Mark and Jinyoung. “Well done, guys, well done. I’m thoroughly impressed. Send my deepest gratitude to Phil. Ah, I’ll call him by myself!”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Now, now, you guys can have a little refreshing. It must’ve been a challenge for you these past two days! I’ll call the Revenue Collection’s head so he can give Declan an afternoon off to drive you guys to the beach.”

“We will rent a car,” Jinyoung stated. “Don’t want to bother Declan, do we?”

Mark looked at his coworker. What was wrong with this guy? “Okay, Sir. We appreciate the call. Now if you’ll excuse us…”

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” Mr Southgate raised from the chair, offering a handshake. “Thank you again. I hope it’s been a nice stay in the ia Office.”

“No doubt, Sir.” Mark stood up, taking the handshake.

“Have a safe drive, will you?”

“We will,” he assured, smiling.

With one last polite nod to the unit head, he exited the room. Jinyoung in tow.

“What the hell was that?” Jinyoung hissed once they’re out of the office.

“What the hell was what?” Mark acted dumb.

“You stepped on my foot!”

“I did?”

“You’re really a bully!”

“You were acting like a child sulking! And we were talking to the unit head! He’s not your father!”

“I was just telling him the real situation! I don’t want him to think that I’m also friends with Declan!”

Mark dragged Jinyoung away from everyone’s ears, out of the workspace. He stopped once they were in front of the lift, releasing Jinyoung’s arm perhaps a bit too harshly than he intended to. “Jinyoung, he didn’t need to know that. He doesn’t ing care!” he hissed back. “And will you please stop doing whatever you’re doing to Declan? I mean, I don’t care if you do it to me. I’m used to it, even though not for a second I get why you did that to me. But Declan doesn’t deserve this! He’s been good to you!”

“It’s because I’m your colleague.”

“You know that isn’t true,” he reproached. “Even if it is, so what? He still doesn’t choke you or anything.”

“Are we going to fight here? Don’t you have any shame? Why are you getting so upset anyway?”

“Jinyoung!” Mark threw his hands up exasperatedly, then pressed the lift button. Best if they left the building as fast as possible before the security came and arrested them for causing a commotion. “My patience is wearing thin.”

Jinyoung snorted. “Now who’s the child?!”

Mark glared at him. Apparently spending time together for almost 48 hours could not improve their communication quality. Not at all. Keeping his anger in check be damned, it’s very freaking difficult! He re-pressed the lift button impatiently. What took it so long?!

“It won’t make the lift come down faster,” Jinyoung pointed out.

“Thanks for telling me.” His voice, hardened by sarcasm, could not hide his displeasure. Jinyoung was not the only one able to whip out sarcasm. Thankfully the lift dinged not too long after, gates opening. He rushed in, abusing the close button. That resulted in the doors closing before Jinyoung could fully step inside, metal doors squeezing him from both sides.

“Are you crazy??!” Jinyoung hollered, eyes bulging out of its sockets.

“If you keep doing what you’re doing then yes, sooner rather than later.”

“You’re insufferable.”

Mark made no effort to respond to that, texting Declan instead. They could meet at the lobby. The reply came exactly when the lift reached the ground floor. It said ‘be there in a few!’.

Jinyoung stormed out first, leaving him behind. He couldn’t care less what his co-worker was doing. He even hoped Jinyoung decided to split with him and go to the museum or whatnot.

“Mark!”

He swung around to Declan’s voice. “Bro!”

“I heard that you guys have finished the work? Amazing! You should transfer here instead! We need you guys!” Declan laughed, hitting Mark on the arm in a playful manner.

“Let’s see.” Mark grinned. “I assume your unit head already gave you the permission to leave early?”

Declan’s face fell as soon as Mark finished the sentence. “About that…”

“Something happened?”

“Yes, Mark… I’m sorry, I got an urgent call from one of the state facilities’ users about the revenue collection. I've been waiting for this guy’s response for over a month and suddenly this morning he reached out and said he wants to meet me this afternoon…”

“Oh, man, that’s okay! You have a job to do! It’s fine, go ahead!”

“But you want to go to the beach…”

“I can rent a car, no problem.” He grimaced inwardly. Jinyoung would love to hear him say this.

“Or you can take my car!”

“What? No! No, no, no, you need it. Besides, what if I scratch it? It’s a new car.” Mark smirked teasingly.

Declan threw his head back and let out a laugh. “On a second thought, yeah, I’m not lending her to you.”

“Mark, I called an Uber. Let’s go.” Jinyoung suddenly appeared beside him, looking impatient. And he clearly ignored Declan’s presence. “I rented a car for us, too.”

“Look, Mark, Jinyoung solved the problem!”

Mark assessed the situation. He could say no. He could just go to the local park or something. Anywhere but went out with Jinyoung. One hour and forty-five minutes drive, times two, that would be three and a half hours in a car with someone who’d been testing his patience to its peak.

“If you still want to go with Declan then whatever.”

“Ah, sorry Jinyoung, I can’t take you guys to the beach,” Declan informed, face dim.

Mark swore that there was a spark of delight in Jinyoung’s eyes before it disappeared. For whatever reason, Jinyoung seemed to dislike Declan so much. “I’ll go with you,” he decided. What if Jinyoung got lost? What if he couldn’t be back in time? What if he got into an accident? Mark shivered at the possibilities, desperately needing to stop creating bad scenarios every now and then.

“Come on,” Jinyoung urged, twirling around and leaving the lobby.

“Dec, it’s a pleasure to meet you, really. Too bad we don't have that much time to hang out.” Mark hugged Declan, patting his back affectionately.

“Yeah, bro, too bad.” Declan returned the pat, then released him. “Tell me if you still have time before the flight, yeah? Maybe we can grab a coffee and talk a little.”

“Sure thing! I think there will be time left. I’m not planning on painting at the beach or something.” Mark chuckled. “Or we can meet at the airport.”

“Call. Text me. Okay, bro?”

“By the way, uh, how do I say this? Um… I hope you’re not taking Jinyoung’s words and behaviours to heart? He’s always been like that, uh, I don’t know why, but he’s like that. He doesn’t usually like that, actually, to people other than me. But with you, I don’t know, maybe he’s a little stressed or something.”

Declan stared at him for a few moments, before bursting out in a laughing fit, holding his stomach from the intensity of it.

“Uh, Dec?”

The ia guy kept laughing, garnering some passerby’s attention. Mark stared at him dumbly until the laugh dissipated into chuckles and giggles. “Oh my god, Mark.”

“Huh?”

Declan gave him an amused look, still giggling. “By the way, yeah, no worries. I don’t take it to heart. I know he didn’t intend to be mean.”

Mark was puzzled by the reaction. Like, why did he laugh? Something's funny? “Yeah, he didn’t. You’re an angel, by the way. I got worked up a lot by him.”

The taller man smirked, eyes glimmering with bits of tears welling up on the corner of his eyes. “Okay then! Enjoy your time together at the beach!” He whirled him around and pushed him to the big door. “See you, Mark!”

“See ya, Dec.”

Jinyoung had this resting face look on his face when he saw him outside. By then he knew some snide remarks were coming.

“Finished being lovey-dovey?”

And he was right. “You want to be lovey-dovey too?”

“I would like it if you don’t waste my time on something unnecessary.”

Mark mentally pulled his hair, crying over his unfortunate fate.

***

“The rental is only five minutes walk from here,” Jinyoung informed, swiping the card key on the sensor and pushing the door open.

“Okay,” Mark responded shortly.

“Done whining?”

He inhaled a deep breath, releasing it along with his pent-up annoyance. Right now, the idea of bonding with Jinyoung was almost as mystifying as the idea of UFOs. It hadn’t even started yet, but he knew the coworker had no intention to make peace with him. Even though technically they weren’t fighting. “I wasn’t whining.”

“Fine,” Jinyoung said, rummaging through his bag. “I’m gonna change, we’re leaving in five.”

Now he’s ordering around. Nevertheless, he, too—after Jinyoung disappeared into the bathroom—changed into more casual clothes for the occasion. A white oversized t-shirt, acid-washed light blue jeans, and a khaki green windbreaker. A white cap was ready in his hands. Right after he’d done changing, the bathroom door clicked open.

Blimey. Jinyoung emerged in a black long-sleeved t-shirt and very short black shorts. Mark got sidetracked from wearing the