There was nothing Ten hated more than being nervous. He wasn't the type to get nervous. Mostly, he'd never had a reason to, other than being openly gay, and he grew up in a very accepting place. Ten knew his worth on all fronts, and he was worth a lot. 

So nerves weren't an emotion he was used to. And they were icky. 

But he couldn't stop the nerves from coming as he walked into Neo Culture Technology that morning. He still had leftover nerves from last Saturday night, and continuing nerves at the thought of seeing them. He was aware that many of those creeps from Saturday had internships too at Neo Culture Tech. But he was even more aware that seeing Kun, at some point, was an inevitability. They didn't see each other at the coffee shop at eleven anymore (Kun seems to have changed his time), but, there weren't that many interns here.

Ten's nerves had even been strong enough that he wasn't wearing any rings. He'd forgotten to put on his usual five-plus rings this morning! Who even was he?

With a sigh, Ten stepped inside and made as nonchalant of a dash as possible for the dress-up game department. He made it without seeing a soul up until the elevator when he stepped inside, with only one other suit-wearing soul inside. 

. Of course Kun had to be in here with him. Of course.

Who was going to say hello first? Did they have to say hello? Should they ask about each other's weekends? They knew what the other one was up to on Saturday, and they could guess what the other was up to on Sunday: Ten had wallowed in his pajamas and watched Meg Ryan rom-coms all day while practically inhaling popcorn and ice cream, Kun (Ten could assume) studied and maybe prepared for work. Ugh. 

"Ten, I'm sorry about Saturday. I'm really sorry." 

Ten turned to Kun, who was looking down at the faux industrial elevator floor with his hands stuffed in his suit pockets, in shock. The elevator dinged. Should they get off? 

Kun looked up at him, and wordlessly, the two stepped off just as the metal doors were closing. "Yeah. Your friends are stupid." Ten knew that wasn't exactly the best response, but what else could he say. 

"They're not my friends anymore." 

Oh. Maybe Ten should bother to be nice. "W-well, thank you. You probably saved me and my friend's asses from getting beat." Ten practically vomited. He hated thanking people for basic human decency. But cutting off friends was kind of a big deal. 

"I have a feeling you could have kicked their asses. But I thought I'd just save everyone some time." 

Ten smiled at Kun's vote of confidence, and wiped it off his face as quickly as he realized it was there. 

"Hey, um...I know you probably want to brag about your generous deed to everyone, but could you, like, not tell anyone? I'm already afraid those other guys are going to tell the higher-ups I was out in, ya know, drag, and I might get fired." 

"Of course. And it wasn't a generous deed. Like I said, you probably could've kicked their asses." 

And Ten smiled again. Ew, but, Kun was being cool, like he was the first day. If Ten could forget about the whole crypto thing, this would almost be a pleasant conversation. 

"And, maybe don't tell anyone either? I don't want to be associated with those guys. They just asked me to hang out on Friday, as kind of a work thing. I had no idea it would end up like that." 

Well I did, Ten thought. Kun was completely ignored to not see that those guys were complete heads. 

"Yeah. It'll be our little secret."

They shared a grin and oh god ew Kun kinda looked pretty but Ten shoved the thought to the side with all of his mental might. 

"Alright Ten. I have to go in."

", me too." 

Kun smiled again and waved. "Have a nice shift!" He called, walking in the direction of his office. 

Ten watched him go for a second before grimacing at himself. "You too," he said almost too quietly for Kun to hear, and walked to his department. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Eleven AM, thank god. Ten had been watching his computer clock slowly shuffle through the minutes in a desperate daze for some coffee. So the very second the time shifted to that glorious hour, Ten leaped from his office chair hard enough for its wheels to spin it halfway across the room. 

"Coffee time?" Hyunjin asked. 

"Yes, thank god," Ten answered. 

"Wish I could have some now, but I'd just get the jitters. Need to wait until the afternoon." 

" to be you." Ten blew her a kiss, she laughed, and he began to head out of the office. 

"Ten, where are you going?" Jungeun called. 

"Coffee!" Ten whined. "Check your email, more hair designs are there." 

"Do not take twenty minutes like usual!" 

"I won't!" Ten answered cheerfully because that was a lie. He would take at least twenty minutes. 

Ten didn't feel quite so nervous anymore, but after the insanity of this morning, the absence of anxiety (plus that) left him drained. So coffee was a godsend. 

But, of course, Ten couldn't have a day at Neo Culture Tech without being thwarted. Kun was back for the eleven o'clock coffee run, the last person in line, so Ten would have to stand right beside him. 

"Hey," Kun said, and Ten couldn't tell if his voice was excited or reluctant. 

"Hey," Ten drawled back. "Fancy seeing you here." 

Kun laughed, a little awkward. "What brings you to this fine establishment?" 

Joking, huh. Ten didn't know if Kun was now cool enough to do that with, but he'd go with it anyway. "Desperation for the elixir of life: coffee." 

"My path is the same as yours." 

Kun snorted a little, gross but disgustingly endearing, and they both laughed. 

"This is so ing stupid." 

"How else would we survive?" 

No no no, Ten was not joking around with him. Too far. He stood back up straight and took his smile down a few notches. 

Finally, Kun was up next, ordering an iced americano. Boring, yes, but better than plain black coffee asked for in that superior voice. At the end of his order, Kun pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, despite the coffee here being free, and dropped a dollar in the normally empty tip jar for the baristas. 

Ten peered over Kun's shoulder to watch. His wallet had a few cards, membership, and fancy-looking credit cards, but the clear window section did not contain his idea. No, inside was what looked to Ten like a picture of a girl, although the photo was scrunched up and misaligned in its spot in Kun's wallet. 

After Ten ordered his oat milk caramel macchiato, he stood next to Kun to wait for their drinks. He wasn't sure how he felt about the guy, but something in him did crave people's personal details. And, Ten was proud, despite his earlier and definitely now faded attraction to Kun, he wasn't jealous. He was just curious. 

Ten adopted a teasing tone. "Was that your girlfriend in your wallet?" He half expected Kun to clarify that was his wife, judging by his responsible air, but Kun just looked confused for a second. 

"Girlfriend? Ooh." Kun opened his wallet and looked at the picture. "Yeah. That's my girlfriend, I guess." 

He shrugged and moved to put away his wallet, providing no more details. Ugh. The I guess was a little interesting though. Only sparked Ten's curiosity more. He had seen how ed up the picture was in the little frame and didn't even move to fix it.

"She put that in there," Kun mumbled. Okay, this was kinda getting weird. 

"How long have you two been together?" 

"Hm...actually, I don't know." 

Oh . "You don't know? She'd probably be pissed to hear that." 

Kun laughed nonchalantly like it didn't matter. Clearly, to him, it didn't. "She would." 

"Well, do you know you and your other girlfriend's anniversary?" 

Kun gave him a look but quickly turned to watch the baristas. "It's not like that, Ten. I've never cheated on a girlfriend in my life and I never would." 

The second look Kun gave Ten had so much sincerity that Ten kinda had to believe him. But it was weird. Very weird, and now Ten was very interested in the whole thing. 

"Anyways, Ten?" Ten looked up at Kun. "Who are you eating lunch with?" 

And there was the quick conversation change. No, looking at Kun it didn't seem like he'd changed it on purpose. It was just that the girlfriend topic bored him. Was irrelevant. He hadn't even noticed he'd changed topics.

"Who do I usually eat with?" 

Both guys chuckled. "Well...could I sit with you?"