Hair, check.

Tie, check.

Shirt, check.

Pants, check.

Shoes, check.

Time to roll.

Joonmyun allows himself one more look into the mirror before he discards his creeping insecurities and heads out of his apartment, briefcase dangling beside his leg in his firm grip.

The coffee he'd gulped down a half an hour ago has started to really kick in as he nearly bolts down the stairs to the parking lot, locating his car in a heartbeat and sliding into the driver's seat.

He hasn't felt this eager to do anything, really, since he was laid off a month earlier from his previous position in a company that had begun to tank without any sign of a potential revival. He'd been rather listless until his best friend Jongdae had insisted, rather aggressively, that he apply to that rookie, hotshot software company TVXQ headed by two successful young men gaining worldwide acclaim. Without much confidence in even being considered for a position, Joonmyun had half-heartedly sent in an application mostly just to ease the incessant ing from Jongdae. Somehow, though, he was hired, and Joonmyun could feel his spirits physically rise with a bubbling hope that perhaps he could start anew and reach great heights in this prosperous company.

That hope fuels his energy and excitement as he speeds off down the intersection, humming absently with a smile illuminating his features.

---

An anxious sigh escapes Joonmyun's lips as he kills the engine, his fingers lingering on the keys at the ignition. This isn't his first time experiencing the jitters and nerves of the first day at a new workplace, yet his stomach is teeming with butterflies nonetheless. With the ephemeral comfort of a few deep breaths, he exits his car, walking briskly towards the entrance of the building.

Once inside, he's immediately astonished by the lively ant colony located inside the enormous building, and he finds himself rooted to the ground in frozen shock as his eyes dart left and right in an attempt to find some stability in a floor littered with bodies scurrying in all directions to the soundtrack of a myriad of boisterous shouts and rings.

In a sudden and impulsive motion, Joonmyun reaches out to lightly tap the shoulder of the nearest individual, who seems to be a young male with his back turned to him. "Uhm, excuse me, sir ?" he inquires politely.

The head whirls around, revealing a very youthful face scrunched up in a rather unattractive expression of a cross between annoyed and disgusted. "Uh, who are you ?" comes the lisped and emotionless response as the kid gives Joonmyun an uninterested once-over.

"Newly hired. I seem to be lost." He hopes his professional smile successfully masks the natural agitation in his tart reply in the wake of the kid's rather rude introduction.

The younger boy deadpans, clearly eager to return to whatever the hell else he was occupying himself with. "What department ?"

"Sales."

Something akin to a sign of life appears behind the kid's barren eyes, yet Joonmyun isn't pleased when it's accompanied by an indiscernible snort that seems to forbode something rather unpleasant. "Two lefts and a right." The boy then shooes him away with a wave of the hand before brandishing his mobile from his pocket.

"Thanks." Prick.

Repeating the lanky kid's directions under his breath, Joonmyun skirts dangerously by rushing messengers, beeping copy machines, and an unnecessary amount of potted ficus plants in an attempt to reach his department's sector without losing several limbs in the process. He launches his entire body towards the door marked "Sales" as some bastard with a cart nearly bulldozes him down, his hip colliding directly with the metal handle of the door. A wave of pain shoots up his side as he staggers through the entrance, briefcase plastered to his chest and eyes scanning the area.

A decent sized conference table rests before him, surrounded on three sides by an array of around ten cubicles. From a distance, he can hear the distinct sound of outdated and poorly-chosen American rap music blasting at some ridiculous volume. At the table, Joonmyun meets one of the most outlandish displays of a work room he's ever seen in his entire life. The picture starts very normally with the individual to his left, a young man of most likely Chinese descent who is bobbing his head gently to the music flowing through his large headphones, a pleasant smile along his features with a charming dimple poking into his cheek.

Across from the Chinese kid, though, Joonmyun finds two men in a scene that has him positively disturbed. The first, a blonde with messy, fluffy hair, has his hands roaming unabashedly over the chest of the chestnut-haired male seated next to him, the latter's messy dress shirt ed in a V down to his sternum, his collarbones peeking out from under the navy fabric. The second individual seems completely unfazed by the entire situation, his countenance calm and casual as he and the blonde focus their attention on the laptop screen in front of them. Joonmyun thinks he hears British accents of what sound like commentators or reporters.

"Uhm, hello--"

Joonmyun's attempt at introducing himself is completely drowned out by the obnoxious ringing of a mobile, and he glances over to see a raven-haired young man, who looks painfully young, drop his cooking magazine to pick up the call. Joonmyun reckons that he looks sweet and gentle, yet he's proven completely wrong as the male literally shrieks ever word into the receiver in order to be heard over the combined volume of the rap music from the back and the increased sound of what seems like a sports event now from the laptop, one hand clamped over his free ear and anger creasing his countenance.

"Excuse--"

His second attempt to speak is ruthlessly smacked down as a towering man with dirty blonde hair awkwardly dances out from behind one of the walls of the cubicles and into the conference area, rapping along to the booming music with slurred and clearly accented English. His deep voice only adds to the chaotic symphony of noises, and Joonmyun nearly jumps as the fuming man on the phone suddenly rips his phone far away from his ear and screams, "Yifan, shut the up and turn down your goddamn music !"

"Uh--"

Twin screams of an exuberant "GOAAAAAAAAAL" overpower every other noise in the department as the conjoined males nearly fall out of their chairs in their excited celebration. The one on the phone looks ready to castrate every single person in the room as he releases a stream of apologies to the individual on the other end of the line about the inconvenient background noises. The tall blonde attempts to hip as he begins to rap even louder and bob his head.

Joonmyun snaps.

"Excuse me !" he shrieks at the top of his lungs, ears burning a dark crimson as his agitation begins to boil over the edge. He effectively wins the attention of the room of freak shows and possible drug addicts, each person pausing whatever he was previously occupied with, leaving the entire office completely silent save for the distant beats of 2 Chainz floating in the air.

"Oh, hey dude. Didn't see you there." Joonmyun's gaze darts to the blonde one with the doe eyes, his frisky fingers continuing to absently trail along the curves of his neighbor's ribs. "Are you the new guy ?"

"Kim Joonmyun." Again, he offers his perfectly practiced smile in an attempt to disguise his fury. He even graces these hooligans with eyes curved painfully in little crescents. "Now, which one of you fine gentlemen is Mr. Park ?"

Before a single response is uttered, the door behind Joonmyun opens, and a towering figure slips into the war zone in the conference room. Joonmyun's head whirls around to find a young man with a messy head of dark chocolate curls, dressed casually in a plain white dress shirt with a simple black tie and nicely fitted dark slacks. Joonmyun's face contorts in horror, however, as his gaze locks onto the center of the male's face, which is crowned by what looks like a pencil protruding from his right nostril.

"Uh guys, can someone help me get this out ?" Had he not been so disturbed by the entire image, Joonmyun would probably laugh at how ridiculous his deep, husky voice sounds with that nasally twinge thanks to the pencil. "It's stuck pretty far up there."

"Hah, that's what she said," the other skyscraper of equal height quips, an immature and disgustingly proud grin lining his features.

The tall, gangly kid doesn't even grace Caterpillar Brows with a glance as he flips off the latter. His gaze falls instead on the bewildered, and probably constipated-looking, countenance of the unfamiliar male in the room. "Oh hey, are you the new guy ?" Joonmyun literally marvels at how this guy can actually act as if there is absolutely nothing out of place in this situation. "Joonmyun, was it ?"

The shorter of the two begs his facial muscles to relax as he struggles to search for the composure he'd entered the building with. "Yes, that's me. And you are ?"

"Park Chanyeol." He s a large, inviting hand out, bearing his pearly white teeth in a friendly, yet rather dorky grin. "I'm your new boss."

... My what ?

Joonmyun gapes incredulously at the man before him, drowning in denial that this grade-schooler monkey can be the Mr. Park who is supposed to be leading him and the rest of the department. Joonmyun doesn't even have the time to manage a reply as the mischievous blonde on the right suddenly detaches himself from the chestnut-haired man and reaches out to unceremoniously yank the pencil out of Chanyeol's nose, causing the latter to crumple with a distressing shriek of intense pain.

Joonmyun can hear the audible noise of his heart sinking through his entire chest into the abysmal pit of his knotted stomach.

---

haha, enjoy, i guess. feedback is always appreciated.

thank you to everyone who has already subscribed to the story. you're all amazing. ))