Chanyeol woke up from a soft hand shaking his shoulder. He blinked with his eyebrows furrowed because this could not be happening. He hadn’t let Jongin into his house – definitely not early in the morning because that kid could be so annoying – and he was positive… or maybe not so positive… His eyes met with very distinct ones he was sure he had never seen up close. He could feel his face heat up at the proximity and it was just about right then that Baekhyun stepped away from him, feeling a little bit flustered himself.

“Your alarm went off, so I figured you would have wanted to wake up…” he said hesitantly, not knowing whether the guy he had only met yesterday, would be grumpy in the morning or not. It took Chanyeol a few moments to realize that he was on the couch without his blanket and that could very well have been the reason why he felt so cold while he would usually be unpleasantly warm when he woke up. “Chanyeol-ssi?” Baekhyun asked, not sure whether Chanyeol had heard everything because he hadn’t responded to anything yet.

“Uh. Thank you.” He wouldn’t admit it, but he wasn’t used to this, someone being with him while waking up in the mornings. He stood up quickly and glancing at the clock on the wall, he knew Baekhyun had come right away because it was three minutes past six, the time his alarm goes off each morning.

He had never been at work this early though. He was afraid of the awkwardness and had done everything as fast as possible, so that he wouldn’t have to face a cute Baekhyun wandering around his place. He had told Chanyeol that he had to go to work as well and had timidly asked if he could please borrow some clothes because he didn’t have any left, or so he said. And although he didn’t want to ask for anything at all, he had no choice but go to work, or else he would literally lose everything he still had left. Although he hadn’t told Chanyeol that, the guy would never believe that Baekhyun would be at his place at all, if it wasn’t for something he could have helped.

“Oh really. ‘Nice to meet you, my name is Jongin, please treat me kindly~’ and you even bowed to me, Jongin,” was Chanyeol’s retort as soon as Jongin popped his head in his office, telling the taller one that he was such a good friend to him. He was a little pissed now that the source of what was happening at his home, had showed up in front of him and not even apologizing for the suddenness of it all. Chanyeol trusted Jongin when he first met him, that was why he brought it up in the first place. Jongin, though, completely ignored his anger.

“So, how’s Baekhyun?” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and it took at least eight seconds before Chanyeol caught the hidden meaning behind the words. If he hadn’t been seated and Jongin hadn’t been on the other side of his desk, he would have definitely kicked him in the stomach because that was no way to talk to him.

“Yah Kim Jongin! What the hell has gotten into you! Get the hell out of here before I … call security or something…” he trailed off, because security was practically lying at Jongin’s feet – curse Kyungsoo. Or rather, curse Jongin for seducing the older man, it wasn’t really his fault that Jongin was a tall, handsome dancer who happened to need a work-place and who happened to run into security at least three times a week. But then again, that was probably as much Kyungsoo’s fault as Jongin’s, because the latter wouldn’t be doing it if not for the former. Sighing, Chanyeol had long forgotten his argument with the younger man in front of him and rearranged the papers he would be needing today, though not yet looking at them with full attention because it was still ten minutes before working hours thanks to a certain cute boy at his home. He didn’t quite know that Baekhyun and him were the same age, he thought he at least had two years on him…

“I got to go hyung, some place to be and all…” Chanyeol didn’t particularly listen to him – his mind was back at his place, trying to process what had been going on. How he ended up getting such a cute guy to stay at his place, without the other freaking out on him, without running away and even waking him up.

Of course he didn’t know what Baekhyun saw him as. He didn’t know that Baekhyun thought of him like some kind of god, that he hadn’t slept very well because Chanyeol’s bed was just– he didn’t dare think about it. He had never, in his entire life, awoken so abruptly as today – the alarm ringing in his ears being I’m The Best by 2NE1 instead of his usual Gee by SNSD. But what could he really do about it, with his phone still at his old place where he wasn’t allowed any longer? He was very grateful though, that when he stepped out of the bedroom that wasn’t his, he found a very, very handsome guy lying unflatteringly spread out on a couch, just waiting for Baekhyun to wake him up.

And now Chanyeol was being terrified that the boy only didn’t leave his place because he had nowhere else to go, that Chanyeol actually did creep him out, but he couldn’t just run away either. He was fidgeting with the papers of the meeting he would be needing any second now, but he wasn’t aware of it as he just simply became scared. He had never had many friends to begin with, so he was afraid it was because he was… scary or something.

Joonmyun entered his office, trying to look stern, but not really getting the aura right. Therefore, Chanyeol didn’t really notice him right away, only after a few taps on his desk, did he raise his head and looked his manager guiltily in the eyes.

“Don’t forget the meeting, okay?” the older said, instead of the usual rant he gave Chanyeol when he wasn’t paying attention. He had heard a dramatic story about Chanyeol having to raise an orphan as of yesterday since her parents had abandoned her and he believed it, because he was like that. Jongin hadn’t said all that because he wanted to lie, but he knew that when there were kids involved, Joonmyun would go easy on you and he – more than anyone – knew what impact a Baekhyun would have on Chanyeol’s life.

It wasn’t for nothing that Chanyeol referred to Jongin as his coworker, but to Jongin, Chanyeol was his best friend. Simply because even through harsh words and verbal battles, Jongin could trust Chanyeol. The taller didn’t quite know that, thought of the younger as bothersome and annoying when he would pry into his life again, but it was only Jongin’s way of expressing that he cared. That was how he had gotten to know that Baekhyun, his long time friend since middle school, and Chanyeol, his coworker as of four years, were meant for each other. Not that he necessarily wanted Baekhyun to get kicked out of his shared apartment… it just came in handy because Chanyeol was feeling very lonely and down – and Jongin knew it.

Chanyeol didn’t quite understand why his manager didn’t at least try to persuade him to stop thinking about useless things, because that one time he had seen a kitten on the street that had gotten hit by a car, the older man couldn’t care less about why he was so upset. This time, he hadn’t even tried to explain what was bothering him and Joonmyun was fine with it, as long as he didn’t forget about the meeting. He swallowed hard as he skimmed through the contents of the paperwork in front of him. An idol was going to promote the company and Chanyeol was going to be in charge of getting him familiar with their work. Why did they choose him exactly? He glanced at the clock at the wall and felt his heart stop for a second because if he didn’t run right now, he was going to be late.

Hurriedly opening the door that he had just seen closing, he bowed multiple times to his manager and the vice-president of the company, the Feared Wu Fan – how he had gotten that nickname was quite weird since Wu Fan would be by far the nicest boss one could ever wish for. Maybe it had something to do with his strict personality, but only if you got into deep trouble, you would see that side of his. Apparently, some of the employees in the company had managed to do it and thus, spread the word of Wu Fan being a scary vice president – who was actually more active than the actual president, since that man always seemed to be in sunny lands, enjoying the warmth instead of the tense atmosphere at the company.

Chanyeol was actually kind of scared because he wasn’t sure what was going to be discussed in this three-man meeting. Somewhere in the back of his head, he was always afraid of getting fired, but when he tried to rationalize with himself, he could never find a proper reason for anyone to fire him. He took his job – showing outsiders around the building and telling them what they were all about as well as sketching new designs – very seriously even though he didn’t always have a lot to do. But now that they were going to have Lay promoting their small electronics design business, he was really scared he wouldn’t be up for it.

“So. Chanyeol, we know you have something much more important on your mind right now than taking care of our Yixing-ssi, but,” Joonmyun said, flushing Chanyeol’s face red instantly because he didn’t know anyone knew about how he was thinking of Baekhyun all the time. His flush faded soon however, because he wasn’t even sure why he had been blushing in the first place – he barely even knew Baekhyun. “I think you will be more up for it than anyone else we have on hand right now…” he mumbled something about Jongin under his breath, after which Sehun could be heard briefly as well.

Although Chanyeol never considered himself important – especially not within the company – he was to quite some people. The company he worked at, was a small one, one of the smallest in the area and Joonmyun and Wu Fan relied on every single one of their workers very much. To Jongin, Chanyeol might as well be the most important person in the world, since he was the only friend the other could see almost every day – Jongin needed that kind of hold on his daily life, which would not explain his behavior towards Kyungsoo, head of security.

“Well… actually you don’t really have a choice,” Wu Fan spoke up for the first time, his voice rather quiet, though strong at the same time. Since he was the Feared to most of the silly workers, everyone listened to him without him having to break a sweat – unlike Joonmyun, who usually had to put a lot of effort to get everyone’s attention. “We can’t ask Jongin because he will flirt too much – and we don’t want him cheating on Kyungsoo, he could never handle that… And Sehun might scare him off, he’s done that too many times before.” Chanyeol could only blink nervously because he had already seen in those papers he had held, that this was going to be his job, but it was actually going to be his job, in two days time. He was a little bit scared and a little bit nervous, but there was no saying no to Wu Fan. Or Joonmyun. And definitely not both. 

 

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