Ten could feel the transition between him and Kun: the change from being forced together at lunch, to genuinely enjoying each other's company, to the point where they would take turns walking each other to their offices afterward and meet each other twice a day at the coffee shop for an extended, not company mandated break. And sometimes, they'd meet at the company-mandated breaks too. 

Ten hated it. He didn't hate it, per se, the actual act of him and Kun talking and laughing together any chance they could between working at this damn company. He more hated that he enjoyed it, that he would look forward to seeing him while at work, and even more disgustingly, he'd think about Kun on the weekends. Who was he, anyway?

He was Ten. Ten who liked to dress in dramatic shades of billowing black with hard steel jewelry, who would go to Vision on the weekends and dance and his off, who wanted to do tattoos and hated this job, this place, these people, was only here out of obligation to fulfill his real dreams. 

He wasn't supposed to be the guy who did still hate Neo Culture Technology but enjoyed designing the fits for the dress-up game, joking with Hyunjin at his desk and even admiring his tight- boss Jungeun, who had a pathetic office adult addiction to coffee, who anxiously awaited the times of the day he could talk to his finance bro work bestie. His finance bro, crypto loving, NFT dealing, daily suit-wearing, extremely heteroual work bestie. 

He wasn't supposed to be this guy, and yet, he was. 

But here Ten was, sitting at lunch with Kun, happy. He was happy, looking at pictures of Kun with his friends, dressed in open button-ups and oversized sweaters and the kind of workout gear only serious hikers wore and cardigans he hugged tight around his body beside the fire, looking so proud that he'd done it himself, being so icky cute, and it made Ten happy. It should have been impossible. 

"Looks like you had a good time." 

Kun grinned from ear to ear. "It was amazing." He locked his phone, setting it face down and taking a bite of his sandwich. When he was done chewing, he gave Ten a look that made him flush a little. Like Kun was trying to see through him. 

"Can I ask you something personal?" 

Ten huffed. "If you must." 

"Why are you here?" 

Slowly, Ten put down his fork, hostility rising in his belly. "What do you mean?"

"Neo Culture Technology doesn't seem at all like something that you want or need to continue with your future. What do you want to do with your life? What does interning here have to do with it?" 

Ten laughed a little. "You're so right. So I'll explain: I want to be a tattoo artist. That's been my goal since I was, like, fifteen, but my parents were pretty disappointed when I told them. They didn't want to help me out, but we kept talking about it, so when I graduated high school, we came up with a four-step agreement: one, I'd get my undergrad in four years or less. Two, I'd maintain a 3.0 average GPA, three, I'd intern for a successful company for the last two years of my degree, and four, I'd major in something useful." 

"So this is step three," Kun clarified. 

"Exactly. I'm on track to graduate in two years, so step one is fine right now, I have a 3.1 GPA so that's step two, I'm doing step three, and for step four, I'm majoring in graphic design. Graphic design is one of the more useful arts degrees, plus they wanted graphic design majors for the dress-up department, so that's why I'm here." 

"And if you succeed, your parents will help you get established as a tattoo artist?"

"Yup. And if I fail, my parents will never even give me a dime, even if I'm starving, unless I get a stable nine to five." 

Kun paused for a second. "Wow," he eventually spoke up. "That's harsh."

Ten laughed a little in surprise. "You think so? I thought you'd think it was fair." 

"Having a backup plan is always a good idea, but your goals clearly aren't a whim. It's something you've wanted since you were very young. Wouldn't it be better to have started right out of high school?"

"Too risky," Ten answered, doing an impression of his parents. 

"Have you ever given a tattoo before?" Kun asked. 

Ten smirked. "Oh yeah, baby." He pulled his sleeves up, took off all eight of his rings, and rested his arms on the table. 

"Woah..." Kun mumbled as he looked over Ten's many tattoos. 

"I have more on my legs, but I don't wanna get fired for taking off my pants at work." 

Kun snorted a little bit and smiled. "These are amazing. You did them yourself?" 

"Yup." 

"It's crazy to me that your parents won't support your passion when you're this good at it."

Kun looked at him with the most gentle sincerity in his eyes and Ten found himself blushing. Ew.

"I have a backup plan now though. I can always work for girlsgogames.com," Ten said. 

"What's girlsgogames?" Kun asked. 

Ten laughed. "Did you ever play dress-up games growing up?" 

"One time at school some of the girls showed it to me. But then all my friends saw and made fun of me, so I never did it again." 

"Oh." Ten knew that feeling well, but luckily, he just didn't give a . He couldn't imagine who he would be if he had. Maybe he'd be more like Kun. 

"Anyway...I don't think I have to ask why you're here. Finance is your passion." 

Kun laughed. "I mean, I wouldn't say finance is my passion. But my major and this internship fit pretty well into my life plan." 

"What is your passion then? Putting yourself in life or death situations for a little kick?" 

"Hm, maybe." 

"Well, what's your life plan?" 

Kun shrugged. "Work in finance." 

"Like, at an office?" 

"Uh-huh." 

"No offense, but ew." 

"None taken. I get it, especially coming from you." 

"Meaning?" 

"I have a feeling that if you worked in an office for too long, you'd shrivel up and die." 

Ten nodded. "You are correct, I would. But how could you not?"

Kun hummed. "It's...it's the idea that the job is always going to be there the next day. That your direct deposit will come every two weeks, and that you'll go in every day from nine am to five pm and that you'll make enough that you won't be scared to look at what's in your bank account. That it's...stable." Kun paused for a second, looking pointedly at his sandwich. "It wasn't like that for me growing up, you know. It wasn't until I was in high school that I even thought my parents would be able to help me with college at all, or that the arguments about groceries vs. rent stopped." 

Ten softly exhaled. He'd never had to worry about money in his life. Maybe he could understand why someone would crave that stability. 

"That's why I feel okay about working in an office. So I never have to worry again. I know you're going to make fun of me for this, but I think my real passion is taking care of the people I love. You know, I wouldn't mind being a breadwinner. Not because I think that's how it's supposed to be, but because it would me happy. To have my stable job, take care of the money, while whoever I'm with gets to do what they love." 

Ten took in a sharp breath and turned away. Oh no oh no oh no. 

God Ten had pushed and shoved his little crush out of the way, but one little comment was all it took for it to force itself back to the forefront of Ten's mind.

, this was making him delusional. For the first time in his life he could see a future, not one of hookups and loneliness while never being alone, but waking up next to Kun and kissing him when he went to work and coming back and telling stories at the dinner table and a wedding? And maybe-

Ten pinched his thigh, stopping his thoughts right in their tracks. This couldn't be. Kun was straight. He was heteroual and there was no way his well-thought-out future could ever include someone like Ten. 

Think of the NFTs Think of the NFTs Think of the NFTs Think of the NFTs Think of the NFTs 

Kun laughed. "I'm sorry, I bet that all sounds so silly to you." 

Ten scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It sure does. Definitely not the life for me. No ing way." 

Kun raised his eyebrows at his sandwiches, a little grimace on his lips. "I thought so." 

Ten wasn't sure why he sighed.