Chapter Text
Yeonjun glances at the time on the car’s display screen and grips the wheel tightly with his sweaty palms. His poor tires make a loud SCREEECH as he pulls into the parking space, narrowly missing the SUV to his right and parking horrendously crooked.
He debates reversing and correcting his car but the thought is immediately crushed by his phone alarm.
9:23 AM , it taunts. 23 minutes late.
“Stupid ass traffic, what kind of city only has 4 lanes? The only people who could possibly make it in time to work are in the carpool lane, and lord knows I’m not carpooling with anyone from the office,” he angrily mutters to himself, grabbing his keys and phone in one hand as he unbuckles his seatbelt with the other.
He manages a hasty nod to the receptionist on the way in and mourns his beloved could-be iced americano from the company’s cafe before getting into the elevator.
53rd floor? Check. Phone? Check. Bag with wallet? Check. Car keys? Did I lock my car??
The elevator dings before he has a chance to panic.
“Late again, I see,” taunts a mocking voice as Yeonjun rushes in, his messenger bag falling haphazardly by his chair as he hurries to clock in.
“How sweet of you to point out Beomgyu,” Yeonjun mutters sarcastically, finding it took everything within himself not to snap back at his smart-mouthed junior.
The only thought running through his mind is: This needs to change .
✧☆✧
“Kai…Kai!” Yeonjun yells. He turns on the lights, shuffling his shoes off and walking into the apartment hallway. The living room is empty, sans a growing pile of stuffed animals on his couch. “Where is that kid when I need him; it’s not like he has friends to hang out with…”
“What is it? I was sleeping,” Kai grumbles, coming out of his bedroom. He runs a hand through his matted hair; his face is adorned with sleep lines, and there’s a trickle of dried drool on the side of his mouth.
“You’re on summer break, right?”
“With a summer class though,” Kai nods, rummaging through the fridge for something to eat.
“You’re coming with me to work from now on. I need you for the carpool lane.”
The poor young man’s face drops. “What? Why? I came to live with you because I wanted to laze around without anyone nagging me…you’re acting like dad,” Kai whines, suddenly feeling very wronged.
“You get $5 and a coffee every time,” Yeonjun replies, feeling no empathy for the poor soul currently groaning behind him. “You don’t even have to do anything, anyway. At least that way you can tell mom that you’re actually leaving your room for once.”
A sigh.
“Alright,” Kai replies quietly after a long moment of silence. He did need money for the new PlayStation, and his coffee allowance was starting to run low. Perhaps this may turn out better for him after all…
✧☆✧
The sun is out, the wind pushes his hair back into a perfectly tousled do, and his tie actually cooperated this morning. Hell, even the neighbor’s cat climbed onto his balcony and let him scratch its ears today. Their car zooms past the others stuck in traffic, hitting a steady 88 mph.
Suck it , Yeonjun thinks, sticking his tongue out. Life is good.
Kai silently looks at him with judgment and turns on the radio, immediately shouting along.
Good boy gone bad
(Good boy gone bad, good boy gone bad
Good boy gone bad, good boy gone bad)
Yeonjun scrunches his nose. “What kind of song is this? Good boy gone bad? Just say bad boy, so convoluted. Is this what you kids listen to now? His voice isn’t even that good.”
“Don’t say that!” Kai exclaims, clutching his heart in pain. “This is BG, he’s one of the greatest singers of our generation!”
“Your generation, maybe…his voice is eerily similar to an annoying guy I know,” Yeonjun replies, turning the radio to the next station.
Yeah I make it chewy like 껌 질겅
“Now this…this is music!”
He starts headbanging in time with the bass as Kai crosses his arms and sinks down his seat with a sigh.
✧☆✧
The building’s coffee shop is a bright, welcoming site that differentiates itself from the sophisticated tiled look of the lobby. It incorporates a modern flair into its cozy atmosphere and overlooks a small garden of flowers and bushes outside. There’s a nice ambiance floating around as soft instrumental music plays overhead and the espresso machine hums along.
It’s surprisingly quiet this morning, until:
“What the hell did you just order? I’ve never seen a coffee order amount to $15 before. Hell, I could’ve bought myself a week’s worth of coffee with that money,” Yeonjun complains. “My wallet is significantly lighter than it was five minutes ago.”
Granted, he used Apple Pay, but it was the principle of things.
Kai rolls his eyes. “That’s because all you get are bland ass iced americanos, hyung.”
“Hey!”
“Only people with taste order a large whipped frappuccino with 3 pumps of vanilla, 4 pumps of sweetener, mixed exactly 9 and ¾ times, heated quickly at a cool 553 degrees, and topped with a ripe cherry! With half skim and half almond, of course! Oh, and triple the espresso.”
“Now you’re just making this up, Kai. Only a lunatic would get–”
At that moment, he hears, “Can I get a large whipped frappuccino with 3 pumps of vanilla, 4 pumps of sweetener, mixed exactly 9 and ¾ times, heated quickly at a cool 553 degrees, and topped with a ripe cherry? With half skim milk and half almond milk, please. Hold the espresso.”
Kai nods in approval while Yeonjun whips around in horror, mouth agape. The perpetrator stands a little too innocently by the register, his head almost bumping the overhead lamp as he hunches his shoulders to whip out his wallet.
“What is with tall people and their horrendous coffee orders?” Yeonjun mutters, glancing from criminal #1 (his brother) to criminal #2 (Slenderman if he had bad posture).
✧☆✧
“Alright, Kai, all you need to do is stay silent and keep your head down, okay? Do NOT respond to Beomgyu, no matter what he says. In fact, don’t even bother looking at him. Just do whatever classwork you have.” A pause. “What are you taking again?”
Kai makes a show of jazz hands, “Intro to Economics: An Introspection on Business Finances and Exploring Real World Models of the Social Network. It’s one of the new major requirements for us now.”
“What the hell.”
“Yeah…but at least a lot of it is online…”
The elevator dings to signal their arrival. Kai instinctively hunches behind Yeonjun as they step out, clutching his backpack.
“Wow…not late today~” Beomgyu teases, spinning around in his chair to face Yeonjun, only to be faced with a bright-eyed youth suspiciously looking away toward the ground when they make eye contact. “...Who is that?”
“None of your business, Beomgyu, get back to work,” Yeonjun replies, rolling his eyes at the huff Beomgyu lets out at his response.
“Kai, go pull up a chair from the far desk over there. Leave your bag here,” he gestures to the far corner. “The new marketing associates can just stand or figure something out on their own.”
Beomgyu’s grin widens, eerily resembling the Cheshire Cat. “Kai is it….” he mutters darkly to himself.
Kai feels a shiver go up his spine as he settles down to do his classwork. Hyung’s friends are kind of weird…
The elevator chimes once again. A young, put-together man walks out, smiling as he sees the full office space. “Morning, Yeonjun hyung, Beomgyu hyung, mystery boy. You guys are all here so early today!”
“Morning Taehyunnie,” Beomgyu replies, passing Taehyun a cup of coffee as the man settles into the desk next to him. “I’m here early because I live upstairs. You know, in the PENTHOUSE. I don’t know how Yeonjun made it here so early from the slums, or who this little boy is.”
“It’s hyung to you…” Yeonjun mutters, sighing from the amount of times he’s corrected Beomgyu. “And he’s taller than you, you know.”
A loud windshield wiper laugh suddenly echoes through the office.
“Ah, director Jin-nim, good morning!” Yeonjun says quickly, with the rest of the office following to greet him. Kai awkwardly stands to greet the newcomer a beat too late.
“Good morning, everyone!” Jin bellows, giving Yeonjun a good-natured slap on the back. Jin’s eyes scan over the office, stopping at Kai. “Who is this?”
“Oh well….” Yeonjun stammers, trying to come up with a response. His stomach defies the laws of physics and drops to the ground, while his palms suddenly begin to feel sweaty.
…His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti. No! He mentally slaps himself. Now is not the time for Eminem, YJ .
“Ah! This must be your new intern! I didn’t realize we started the program already. Welcome, son!” Jin’s eyes glance over at Kai’s screen. “Wow! Working hard already, I didn’t expect an intern to be already studying economics, you all should see him as an example!”
Yeonjun lets out a quiet sigh of relief. “Yes! Yes, he’s the new intern, just started today, actually!” he replies, elbowing Kai in the side to make him fold over in a bow.
“It’s nice to meet you, jeonmuisa-nim,” Kai wheezes, clutching his ribs.
Taehyun stifles a laugh as Beomgyu narrows his eyes suspiciously at the action.
“Oh, Jin-nim is fine, son. Well, keep up the good work!” Jin chuckles, humming to himself as he gets into the elevator.
Yeonjun collapses in his chair when Jin disappears from view. His heart is beating a gazillion times per minute, and a glance at Kai tells him that he’s practically in the same boat.
Very, very intriguing… Beomgyu thinks, mentally stroking his non-existent beard.