Joonmyeon and Yifan are in a relationship—kind of not really. If what counts as a relationship is a few shared cups of coffee, bittersweet caffeinated kisses, and late nights spent together at the office. If what counts as a relationship is management team feuds, trying to undermine each other—well, Yifan trying to undermine Joonmyeon—and volumes of paperwork dumped on each other's desks.

           "I don't care," Yifan yells into the phone for what seems like the thirtieth time as Luhan yet again whines about his upcoming schedule. "The Christmas show is in a few weeks, and we'll need every second of time we can get before it."

            "But Kris," whines Luhan plaintively, and Yifan knows that Luhan is fluttering his eyelashes wherever he is at the moment, "Yixing and I need some more time to prepare."

            "It's Lay," Yifan replies. He shakes his head frustratedly. "Yixing out of the office on your own time, Luhan, but it's Lay when you two are models."

            "You and your name ," Luhan trills, but he reluctantly agrees to come in for the photo shoot today even though he stated his reason as to "avoid seeing duizhang's face." "Oh, and for the record," continues Luhan even as Yifan can feel his temper begin to build, "I call him Yixing because that's the name I call out in bed at night, not Lay."

            Yifan slams down the receiver and swears he hears Luhan cackling in the distance. This job would be the end of him. Only three more weeks until the Christmas show, and things were already falling apart.

            "Hard time with Luhan?"

            "Actually going to have models come in today?" counters Yifan, and he raises himself up to his full height only to look down into Joonmyeon's warm brown eyes.

            Don't melt, he commands himself, but Joonmyeon's lips twitch into a smile, and Yifan melts.

           "Kyungsoo will come in," Joonmyeon states confidently.

            Yifan doesn't doubt it. Kyungsoo always comes in. On the other hand, Jongin and Sehun are often no shows, though Sehun does make an effort to come in for his favorite hyung Luhan. Chanyeol tries, but the lumbering giant is usually more of a late show than a no show, so late that Yifan and Joonmyeon are off to dinner and the photographers are packed up when he makes it. Baekhyun is a curious one; sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn't. It's just like how sometimes he wears eyeliners and sometimes he decides to spare the female secretaries at the office and goes without it.

            Yet somehow the K subunit of the huge modeling project EXO still seems to garner a fair amount of attention despite the lax activities of its members. Yifan isn't jealous, but he wonders how Joonmyeon does it.

            "Coffee?" offers Joonmyeon, and he holds out the white mug to Yifan with a smile.

            "I don't get how you can be so calm about this Christmas show," Yifan mutters, but he takes the coffee anyway and even leans down to peck Joonmyeon on the lips.

            "Aren't you feeling generous today?" teases Joonmyeon even as he sits down as his desk and pulls up the outfits for the Christmas show. "A kiss, and it isn't even dark or after hours yet."

            "You make me sound so bad," Yifan says. Joonmyeon shrugs. The two of them begin to work in silence until lunchtime.

            "So Luhan didn't come in, huh," Joonmyeon says, and he's smiling with that twinkle in his eyes that Yifan recognizes as cheekiness.

            Yifan wants to wipe the twinkle out of Joonmyeon's eyes, make him know that Yifan worked hard that Yifan was receiving all the credit for EXO and their activities. He wanted to rub it in Joonmyeon's face that EXO-M was receiving much better reports thatn EXO-K and that he himself was seen as the better leader. After all in the end, Kim Youngmin would choose one and only one to lead EXO to global glory.

            "It's going to be me, you know," Yifan whispers even as he cups Joonmyeon's face and kisses the other leader's smooth lips. The artificial taste of strawberry from Joonmyeon's chapstick sinks onto Yifan' tongue, and they're still kissing when Kyungsoo walks in and walks straight out.

            "Do you think we scarred him forever?" Joonmyeon asks rather breathlessly after Yifan finishes taking his time.

            "You think he's still innocent after what he's done with Kai?" chuckles Yifan, and Joonmyeon smiles. The twinkle in his eye is back, and Yifan realizes it's not just cheekiness but also a sort of arrogance as if Joonmyeon knows something he doesn't.

            "I think," Joonmyeon says, and he pulls away from Yifan to shuffle through the papers on his desk and pull up an outfit designed for Kyungsoo, "that Kyungsoo  should wear this for the Christmas show."

            Yifan eyes it warily, looks it up and down, and then shakes his head. "No, it's too tacky. Kyungsoo would never look good in as furry of a collar as that. I think the sweater vest outfit would be more appropriate."

            They argue about until Kyungsoo curiously pokes in his head a few minutes later and looks relieved when he sees that they're done.

            "Suho," Kyungsoo says, stepping forward and standing in front of the two managers awkwardly, "I was wondering if I could take the photoshoot tomorrow afternoon out of my schedule."

            Yifan watches, interested, as Joonmyeon steps forward and pats Kyungsoo soothingly on the shoulder.

            "Of course; all we need is a replacement."

            Yifan knows what he would have done in the situation. Kyungsoo's face is not only attractive to the girls but the boys as well. There is no way he would have let the boy drop the photoshoot on such short notice.

            "Chanyeol said he would come!" Kyungsoo exclaims excitedly, and Joonmyeon nods before shooing Kyungsoo off with a small smile on his face.

            "I can't believe you let him go," Yifan marvels when Kyungsoo exits the room, and Joonmyeon shrugs.

            "You can't just keep everyone tied down, Yifan," Joonmyeon says, smiling, and Yifan wonders then what Joonmyeon truly means.

            "No! The shade of green is all wrong!"

            Yifan knows that he's frustrated, and he knows that he can calm down, but it takes all his effort to lower his voice at the clothing designer in front of him.

            "We'll talk about this later."

            "But I'm really almost done, really I—"

            Apparently Yifan's gaze is enough to send the designer scurrying away, and the next second he is left alone with scraps of fabric color and a huge feeling of building pressure in his chest. It stays there even as he sweeps the color samples into his bag and sighs.

            The door opens, and Yifan isn't in the mood for Joonmyeon's gentle, smiling face.

            "Good news," Joonmyeon says, and he produces a swatch of colors from his pocket. His hair is perfectly gelled and groomed as normal. Yifan envies it eve as he runs one hand through his already messy hair.

            "The pair outfits for Jongin and Kyungsoo have been started."

            Joonmyeon holds out the colors, and Yifan closes his eyes. The green and red are too bright for his sensitive sight to handle.

            The cool hand on his forehead isn't a surprise, and Yifan almost grins. Then he realizes the throbbing headache that had been pushed to the back of his mind and groans.

            "I knew you looked a little pale," Joonmyeon remarks, and unlike the clothing designer's grating voice, Yifan felt soothed and calmer.

            The hand leaves his forehead, and Yifan grabs out, eyes still closed. It isn't a blind grab, however, and he finds Joonmyeon just where he's supposed to be.

            "Don't leave," whispers Yifan.

            "The designer is waiting in the next room," replies Joonmyeon, but the tone in his voice is more amused than annoyed.

            "Screw the designer," Yifan mumbles, and Joonmyeon laughs quietly. Yifan feels the gentle strength of Joonmyeon's fingers move through his already messy hair, but he's too tired—at least that's what he tells himself—to ask Joonmyeon to stop.

            "It's going to be me, you know."

            Joonmyeon chuckles, low and quiet in the silence of the office. "Yeah," he agrees. "It's going to be you, Kris."

            There are only three weeks until the Christmas show.