Over the next several days, Jongin is subjected to a steady stream of visitors – other officers and staff from the precinct, coming by in a never-ending parade to have a good look at the pretty new guy. He’s not sure who starts it, but by the end of his first week, everyone is calling him the “visual” of the precinct.

“At least they’re not calling you the Jolly Green Giant,” Chanyeol says to him one afternoon when he’s been caught complaining about his new nickname. Chanyeol, who is Sehun’s older but not much more experienced partner, has already become a regular fixture in Jongin’s tiny little office. “That’s what they call me.”

Privately, Jongin thinks that the nickname is alarmingly fitting. For one thing, Chanyeol is one of the tallest guys Jongin has ever met, thin and wiry with an ever-present grin that could be downright alarming at times. Jongin thinks that “Jolly Green Giant” is a very apt nickname indeed.

“Yah, quit bothering Marco Polo, will you?” Sehun says, appearing in the doorway. “I’m sure you’re just annoying him.”

“I only got lost once,” Jongin points out, but the nickname that Sehun has given him has already stuck. “And he’s not bothering me.” Jongin isn’t very busy, so he doesn’t mind the company. To be perfectly honest, he’s sort of starting to suspect that the Chief and his partner, a straight-laced sort of cop named Minseok, are only letting him do busy-work until they can gauge what kind of detective he is. He understands why they’re doing it, but it leaves him very bored during most of the day.

“Well, if you’re not busy then, we’re going to run down to Club Espresso,” Sehun offers, still maintaining a complete lack of facial expression. In the week and a half he’s been working at Precinct 95, he hasn’t seen the kid smile a single time.

Jongin closes the file he’s been transcribing into a word document. “What’s Club Espresso?”

“It’s just this little café not far from here,” Chanyeol explains nonchalantly. “We go all the time because they have the best coffee.”

Sehun drapes an arm around his partner’s shoulders. “He’s lying,” he tells Jongin candidly. “We go all the time because he’s got the hots for the barrista there.”

Chanyeol pushes Sehun off – none too gently – and gives Jongin one of his too-big smiles. “Shall we go?”

They’re joined by another coworker in the lobby, where he’s leaning against the desk, chatting with Victoria about one of his cases. His name is Luhan and, like Jongin, he isn’t a regular cop. He’s a criminologist, though, also like Jongin, his days at this quiet little precinct aren’t that busy, so he jumps on Chanyeol’s offer to join them. Jongin rather likes Luhan. He’s intelligent and quite perceptive, so they already get along quite well even though they only met a few days before.

“Are you settling in nicely?” Luhan asks once they’re situated in a booth at the back of Club Espresso, Chanyeol not-so-discreetly turning in his seat to keep an eye on the rosy-cheeked barrista up at the front.

“So far, so good,” Jongin nods, sipping at his Americano. “Things are a little quiet, though.”

“We’re a small district, so we don’t see a lot of action,” Luhan agrees. “But you’ll learn to appreciate that. Just download some games on your computer and you’ll be fine.”

Jongin can’t help but laugh. “For some reason, I don’t think Chief Wu will appreciate me playing Starcraft while on the clock.”

“You learn to get really good at exiting the game quickly,” Luhan says with a wink.

Sehun interrupts their conversation by kicking Chanyeol under the table, causing his partner to yelp in surprise and bang his knee on the underside of the table. “Quit staring,” Sehun says flatly. “You’re being creepy. Either go talk to him or stop staring. He probably thinks you’re a serial killer or something.”

“I’m a cop,” Chanyeol grumbles, rubbing his sore knee.

Sehun shrugs. “Cops can be serial killers.”

“I get enough talk about serial killers at work, so we can please stop discussing it here?” Luhan suggests brightly. Then he gives Chanyeol a sympathetic smile. “If you really like him that much, go talk to him.”

“But I don’t know anything about him,” Chanyeol laments.

“You know that his name is Baekhyun,” Sehun points out. “And that he likes to read. And that he loves cats. And-”

“Okay, so I know some things about him,” Chanyeol cuts his partner off quickly. “But I can’t just go talk to him.”

“God, you’re such a baby sometimes,” Sehun says petulantly. “How on earth did I get stuck with the most childish cop in the precinct?”

“Yah, I’m your hyung! You should be respectful!” Chanyeol growls, attacking Sehun and messing up his perfectly-done hair.

Luhan chuckles at their antics; Jongin gets the impression that this happens a lot between the two of them. The criminologist turns to Jongin. “So what are your plans for tonight? Going to meet girls?” He winks almost conspiratorially.

Jongin blushes. Despite being good-looking, he’s never been much of a ladies’ man. “Ah, no,” he shakes his head. “I actually have a girlfriend, but she’ll be working late tonight. I guess I’ll just go home and watch a movie or something.”

“If you want, you’re welcome to come to dinner with my friend and I," Luhan offers. “My friend is making dinner and he always cooks too much, so there will be plenty. Plus, I told him about you and he’s curious about the visual of the precinct,” he adds with a laugh.

Jongin is suitably embarrassed by the nickname, but he agrees to go because hanging out with Luhan – who is incredibly intelligent and easy to get along with – sounds better than being alone in the apartment he and his girlfriend share. 

“Sorry it’s a little messy,” Luhan says apologetically, toeing off his shoes and putting on his slippers when they arrive at his friend´s house. “My friend never cleans up.”

“It’s not messy, it’s artsy,” his friend corrects, coming into view. He’s a thin little thing, with dark hair and a cat sweater. He looks Jongin up and down appraisingly. “Man, Lulu wasn’t kidding, was he? You’re certainly a looker.”

“Don’t be rude, Heechul,” Luhan chides, offering Jongin a spare pair of slippers. “Sorry about him. He lacks basic manners. This is my friend, Kim Heechul. Heechul, this is my coworker that I was telling you about, Kim Jongin.”

Jongin bows politely. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for having me over for dinner.”

“To dinner,” Heechul corrects. “We’re not cannibals, Jongin-ah.” And he turns on his heel and marches back into the kitchen.

Luhan chuckles in an embarrassed sort of way. “Sorry about him,” he apologizes again. “He’s a photographer by profession, so he doesn’t really interact with normal people that often. He’s forgotten how to socialize.”

“It’s okay,” Jongin laughs. He actually finds Heechul's forwardness a little refreshing, so he doesn’t mind it.

“So how are you liking it at the precinct?” Heechul asks the obligatory question as the three of them sit down to his dinner. 

He shrugs a little noncommittally as he accepts portions of rice from Heechul’s generous spoon. “I don’t think I’ve really been there long enough to form a real opinion yet,” he admits. “I’ve mostly been doing busy work because I’m new there.”

“Just play video games all day,” Heechul says bluntly. “That’s what Lulu does.”

“Yah, quit giving him a bad impression of me,” Luhan grumbles with a smile, kicking his friend under the table. “I promise I actually work, Jongin.”

Herschel grins. “Sometimes.”

The conversation soon turns from Jongin’s lack of real work to the secretary, Victoria. Luhan has worked there long enough that Heechul knows who she is – and, if Luhan is to be believed, he has quite the crush on her. “It’s not my fault,” Heechul grumbles when Luhan teases him about it. 

Heechul suddenly grins quite wickedly, a look that seems out of place on his otherwise innocent and rather spacey face. “Has Luhan told you who he has his sights on yet?”

Luhan suddenly turns a violent shade of red and claps his hand over his friend’s mouth. “There’s no need to talk about such useless things right now,” he stammers out with an apologetic little smile in Jongin’s direction.

Heechul bites down on the hand covering his mouth, causing Luhan to jump back with a little yelp. “They’re at the station as well, but that’s all I’ll say,” Heechul teases in a sing-song voice.

Luhan abruptly changes the subject to television shows, steering it safely away from any more talk of the precinct.

Though it’s not typically how he spends his evenings – he and his girlfriend have a pretty set routine when she doesn’t have to work late – Jongin has a good time and stays probably later than he should. It’s closer to midnight than he would have liked by the time he says goodbye to Luhan and Heechul, thanking them for having him over, and heads home.

It’s a clear night, the stars bright in the sky overhead. The buildings of the city almost block them out but not quite. Jongin tilts his head back and just looks for a long moment. The night is strikingly similar to one that will forever be ingrained in his memory, a night where he stood just like this and admired the stars. Only, at that time, he hadn’t been alone.

He shakes his head at the sudden nostalgic thought, wondering just where it had come from. It’s been a while since he actively thought about that. He lights a cigarette and takes a long drag to calm his nerves; thinking about that night all those years ago has unnerved him.

He’s long finished with the cigarette by the time he arrives home, but his girlfriend can smell it right away. She looks up from where she’s grading papers in the bed they share and wrinkles her nose. “Were you smoking?” she demands by way of greeting.

He sighs, shrugging out of his suit jacket and hanging it up. “It’s nice to see you, too,” he says sarcastically. “My day was good. Thanks for asking.”

Sunyoung ignores his comment, still frowning. “You know I don’t like it when you smoke, Jongin.”

“It was one cigarette,” he grumbles. “I have a cigarette once in a blue moon. I could be a chain-smoker like all our friends, you know.”

She sighs and pats the bed beside her, gesturing for him to join her. “I know, I know. I just worry about your health.”

He leans down and pecks her on the lips, lightly so she doesn’t get the taste of nicotine that still lingers on his tongue. “I know. I’ll go brush my teeth.”

She follows him into the bathroom while he brushes his teeth, dressed in an old button-down of his that barely covers her . “You only smoke when you’re stressed out, Jongin. What’s wrong? Is it your new job?”

“No, work is fine,” he says around a mouthful of toothpaste.

Sunyoung only continues to frown. “What is it, baby? You know you can tell me if something’s bothering you.”

Jongin feels a surge of affection for his girlfriend and he kisses her again, more properly now that he’s brushed his teeth and no longer tastes like his cigarette. “It’s nothing, sweetie. I’m just tired, that’s all. Let’s go to bed.” It’s not that he doesn’t trust Sunyoung; she’s been there for him when no one else was and his affection for her knows no bounds. But there are some things he just can’t share.

Luckily Sunyoung doesn’t seem suspicious. She smiles and accepts the hand he holds out to her, and they head to bed together. 

Okay, first of all, can I just say WHAT THE HELL. This story has one chapter and it already, at the time of this posting, has over 500 subscribers and over 40 upvotes. WHAT?!!? LIKE OMG

Thanks everybody <3333

I hope that this story will meet everyone's expectations! I feel like there's a lot to live up to now lol

Anyway, so the main action will start in the next chapter. Is everyone looking forward to it? ^^

Also, I tried to make a poster for this story. But all my adobe programs are on my other laptop, the one I left in America when I came to Korea, so all I have to use is a free software that's pretty much crap OTL so my poster that I made super TT.TT Does anyone want to make me a poster for this story? I'd greatly appreciate it! 

Here's my lame- attempt at a poster TT.TT

Also, does anyone here listen to Lip Service? They're going to be at Dream Concert next weekend so I downloaded some of their music to check them out and they're sort of amazing! I usually don't go ga-ga over girl groups, but I'm in love with these girls! In this video, the song is about needing to go on a diet but liking food too much ^^ Which is exactly how I feel about food lol