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“Oh, and there is our office’s token gay! Say ‘Hi!’” Jeno sighs as he glares at his best friend through the camera she’s holding. This is at least the fourth time she has interrupted his work in just an hour, and he unfortunately has more important things to do than yap to his best friend.
“How am I the token gay when you are also gay?” Jeno asks Iseul with a playful bite in his tone. “Also, why are you filming?”
Jeno puts some files in his ‘to-do’ slot before looking back up to Iseul through the camera. “I’m filming for our office vlogs. How about you’re the token gay guy and I’m the token lesbian?”
Jeno is about to respond when a new voice enters the mix. “Iseul-ssi, did you ask everyone their sexualities? What if there’s competition for Jeno-ssi’s spot? If you answer, I won’t report you to HR for this awful segment of your video.” Jeno and Iseul turn around to find Jaemin snickering in the entrance of his cubicle.
Iseul puts the camera down with a petulant pout, and Jeno rolls his eyes at her antics. “No, I did not. Are you saying that our wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, pretty Lee Jeno does not deserve the spot of the token gay?” Iseul is dramatic and clutches her non-existent pearls as Jeno almost chokes from the sudden onslaught of compliments.
“I am not saying that our wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, pretty Lee Jeno does not deserve the slot. I’m just saying that you haven’t checked if he has competition.” Jeno tries to ignore the way Iseul gives Jeno a knowing side eye as he fights the urge to eject himself out of his own cubicle.
“Well, who is his competition then?” Jeno wants to groan at Iseul’s continuation of the conversation.
Jaemin hums and shrugs with an almost mischievous smile. “I’m just saying you don’t know if he has competition. It sounds like you need to do some research.”
Iseul lets out a contemplative noise as she crosses her arms. “Alright, I’ll take you up on the challenge. I bet I’ll find out by the end of the week.”
Jeno can’t hold back his groan as the two of them shake hands. “Deal. Sorry, Jeno-ssi, you may have competition.” Jeno hates the blush that spreads across his face when Jaemin winks at him before he leaves the cubicle.
Iseul turns around slowly and dramatically with a shit-eating grin on her face, and Jeno feels the blood drain from his face. “W-what?” he asks as his suspicion from her weirdness is starting to grow.
“He. Likes. You.” Jeno stares at her silently, and Iseul nods vigorously. “I know it.”
“In what world does that conversation mean that he likes me? Iseul, we’ve had this conversation before. He’s straight. He has talked about an ex-girlfriend before.” Jeno shakes his head and turns around in his rolly chair, determined to now ignore the woman behind him. He won’t be getting his hopes up for another straight man; it’s just not going to happen. He wants a gay dude to like him and be gay with him. Is that too much to ask? Jeno doesn’t think so.
“Jeno! You don’t understand. He was basically spelling it out for us right then and there. You should be celebrating!” Jeno shakes his head decisively at her words. “Why else would he ask me to investigate if someone else was queer if it wasn’t him?”
Jeno groans as he rubs his hands up and down his face from stress. “Iseul! He’s friends with almost everyone in the whole building! He could be talking about anyone.”
“No, no. But, see? He said specifically in this office. We can eliminate most of the people in here already who are married and very clearly straight by how they speak about their sexual escapades.” Both of them look at each other with a cringing look, knowing exactly who she’s referring to. “That only leaves 10 people in the office total, and we’re two of them! So, we know those two answers!”
“First off, just because someone is married in a straight relationship doesn’t mean that they’re not gay. Bisexuals exist in straight relationships. Second, Jaemin being part of those eight other people means second to nothing. Again, he’s spoken about an ex-girlfriend.” Jeno tries to dispel Iseul’s pipe dream, but there seems to be no use as she adamantly denies all of his words with a zealous head shake.
“You’re telling me not to assume the married people’s sexualities for the same exact reasons you shouldn’t be assuming Jaemin-ssi’s.” Iseul sighs with a sudden desperate look on her face. “I am not letting this office’s ship sink so quickly just because you heard Jaemin-ssi speak of an ex-girlfriend once in passing.”
“O-office ship?” Jeno asks fearfully. Dread from the statement already slips into his stomach.
“Yep, everyone in this whole department already ships you two.” Iseul suddenly gasps, and Jeno is forced to awkwardly catch her when she falls back in her theatrics. “Do you know how many views our office vlogs would get if I made you two the office BL romance?” Jeno rolls his eyes and basically drops Iseul, making her almost fall onto her ass as he turns back to his work.
“Jeno!” Iseul recovers from her almost fall and turns Jeno around in his rolly chair. “I would get a bonus from how well our vlog would perform! Everyone loves to watch two handsome guys fall in love!”
“Don’t speak to me for at least two business days,” Jeno murmurs, having enough of Iseul’s ridiculousness for one day.
Iseul gives him an unimpressed face before she crosses her arms. “I’ll show you how naive you’re being. He likes you, and I’ll prove it to you.”
Iseul picks up her previously discarded camera from his desk before going about her day causing tomfoolery and chaos within the office. She truly is their HR department’s worst nightmare, but she’s unfortunately also why their company’s social media campaign brings in so much money. So, Jeno will just have to deal with her chaoticness in the meantime.
With Iseul and her distractions gone, Jeno would normally find it easy to get back to work, but his mind can’t seem to move on from Iseul’s claims.
It’s not as though he doesn’t want Jaemin to like him. The other man has been his crush since Jeno joined the department three years ago, but the chances of the Na Jaemin liking him are slim. It’s just a reality he has to face. They’ve talked more than a handful of times being in the same department with closely related jobs, but everytime Jeno talks to Jaemin, he becomes a blubbering mess if Iseul’s not there for damage control.
Jeno lets out a heavier sigh than intended, finally feeling the tension in his shoulders as he tries to will away the stress and the speculation. He just hopes Iseul will drop the matter for once and all when she finds that there’s nothing to find with Jaemin.
By some form of miracle, Jeno finishes his work for the day with 30 minutes left of his day. Part of him contemplates clocking out early, but he likes getting money for basically doing no work. So, he stays and keeps himself occupied with smaller tasks around the office that justify him staying clocked in for those last 30 minutes.
He’s in the break room filling their coffee machine’s pods when he’s suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice. “Oh, Jeno-ssi. I was just looking for you.” Jeno looks up and hates the way his heart starts to beat faster at Jaemin’s words and sudden presence.
“Me?” Jeno asks, and Jaemin nods. “For what?”
“You’re strong, right?” Jaemin’s eyes trail to where Jeno has his button-up sleeves rolled up his arms to his elbows.
“Oh!” Jeno starts a little too loudly, making Jaemin visibly cringe. “Well, it’s just that— You could say—“ Jeno interrupts himself with an awkward laugh that’s still way too loud for the proximity of the room before he clears his throat. “So, what do you need?”
“Could you carry one of those cases of water bottles to the presentation room for me?” Jeno’s body reacts a little too fast to the request, and he groans in pain when he ends up running to the drawer he has opened from his restocking. “Are you okay?”
“Yep, I’m so great right now.” Jeno’s body feels as though it’s set on fire when he grabs a full case of water from one of the cabinets.
Jeno dutifully follows Jaemin into the presentation room, and Jaemin graciously does his part by opening doors for Jeno since his hands are full.
“You can just set them there,” Jaemin murmurs as he points to a space by the mini fridge in the presentation room. “I’ll take care of them in a few minutes.”
Jeno sets down the case of water before ultimately deciding to fill the fridge himself. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.” Jeno looks up from the fridge to Jaemin.
Jeno shrugs nonchalantly. “I don’t mind. You’re probably stressed from everything else you have to set up for your presentation tomorrow.”
Jeno continues to stock the fridge while Jaemin continues what he needs to do as well. When he finishes, Jeno picks up the cardboard and plastic to put them in their respective recycling containers.
“Thank you for doing that for me.” Jeno nods with a small smile towards the other, not trusting his words after the incident earlier. “Are you going home now?”
“Yeah, I finished my actual work a little while ago now. Are you almost done here?” Jeno asks. His heart beating faster in anticipation.
“Actually, yeah. Thanks to your help.” Jaemin closes his laptop after a few sharp clicks of the laptop’s mouse pad. “Would you like to leave the building together?” For a second, Jeno almost doesn’t believe that he heard Jaemin correctly, and he stands frozen. “Unless you have other plans?”
Jaemin’s teasing tone brings Jeno out of his stupor. “I don’t have other plans. I wouldn’t mind leaving together.”
“Awesome. Meet you at the elevator?” Jeno nods. “Great. I just need to grab my stuff.”
Jeno leaves the room with a promise to meet Jaemin at the elevator, and he speed-walks to his cubicle, almost running into the entrance in his haste. Jeno quickly clocks out before panic spam-texting Iseul about the sudden predicament he finds himself in. Jeno groans when Iseul doesn’t message him back immediately. She’s always there when he doesn’t want her there, but never there when she’s needed.
“Oh my god,” Jeno whisper-yells to himself as he grabs everything he took to work and shoves it in his backpack to take back home. “I can’t believe this is happening.” Jeno’s heart threatens to break his rib cage from how fast it beats.
He makes it to the elevator before Jaemin, so he quickly checks his phone again for texts from Iseul. But, she hasn’t texted him back yet.
“Ready to go?” Jeno looks up from his phone to find Jaemin walking towards him with a friendly smile that is a little too sweet for Jeno’s already weak and overworked heart to handle.
“Y-yeah,” Jeno mumbles while slipping his phone into his back pocket as Jaemin presses the down button on the elevator.
“Do you drive here?” The elevator doors shuffle open with a light ding as Jaemin asks his question.
Jeno jingles his keys while they enter the elevator. “Yep, I park in the parking garage below the building.”
Jaemin presses an elevator button then smiles at Jeno. “Looks like we have the same stop then.”
Jeno tries to scour his brain for something to talk about with Jaemin, but he keeps coming up blank in the midst of his gay panicking. The two of them fall into a silence as the elevator goes down, and Jeno wants to groan at his struggle.
“Did Is-“ Jaemin’s sentence is interrupted when the elevator suddenly clangs and comes to a grinding halt. The unexpected clamber makes Jaemin stumble into Jeno, and the two men look at each other with wide eyes. “Did what I think happened, just happen?” Jaemin asks quietly as he tries to recover.
“If you’re thinking about the elevator getting stuck, then sure.” Jeno murmurs while looking at the buttons on the elevator’s console. “I think I know what to do.”
Jeno presses the ‘Open Doors’ button, and they both watch as the door does…nothing. Jeno tries to awkwardly laugh to fill the space, and he turns to see Jaemin’s unimpressed face before turning around again to avoid embarrassing himself further. “Okay…So that didn’t work,” Jeno murmurs, just as awkwardly as his laugh earlier.
Jaemin crosses the elevator and presses the ‘Call for Help’ button. “Let’s maybe just press this,” Jaemin mumbles. “I think you watch too many TV shows if you thought that was going to work.”
Jeno awkwardly rubs the back of his neck and sucks in a sharp breath. “Yeah, probably.”
The small and shitty speaker of the elevator makes an odd dinging noise before announcing, “Your call for help has been received. Please stay calm as we continue to investigate and solve the issue. Thank you.”
“I hope you didn’t have any exciting plans for tonight. Looks like we might be in here for a while.” Jeno watches as Jaemin slides down the elevator wall and sits on the floor.
Jeno follows suit on the wall across from him. Unfortunately, his mouth speaks before his brain can catch up. “Should we establish a pissing corner?”
Jaemin is quiet for a second before his scrunches cutely in disgust. “You’re disgusting,” he says through a laugh, and Jeno can’t help but to smile at the sound. “Who knew you were so vulgar off the clock?”
Jeno hums with a small shrug and smile. “Iseul would probably have a comment if she was here.”
“Did Iseul find your competition?” Jaemin asks with a curious lilt in his voice, and Jeno almost gets too distracted by Jaemin’s pretty presence to answer.
“Huh? Oh. No, she hasn’t,” Jeno murmurs as he painstakingly remembers his conversation with Iseul that morning. “She has a theory, but…” Jeno trails off as he figures he probably shouldn’t discuss a theory that involves Jaemin to Jaemin, not wanting to upset the other man.
“But?” Jeno shakes his head at the question.
“I don’t want to spread rumors.” The lie feels weird on his tongue, but Jeno tries to ignore the feeling.
“I think having a rumor about being gay isn’t that bad given the atmosphere of our office, but—“ Jaemin shrugs. “I get you.”
The elevator goes quiet with Jaemin’s statement, and Jeno has so much he wants to say on the tip of his tongue to Jaemin. But, he can’t find the courage to say any of it.
“I’m sure Iseul will figure it out soon.” Jeno looks up to Jaemin as he speaks. “She seems like a smart cookie.”
“You know who it is?” Jeno asks, hating that his heart beats faster with false hope.
“Of course. Why would I start something like this if I didn’t know who it was?” Jaemin asks rhetorically with a teasing smile on his face.
“Who is it?” Jeno is almost afraid of the question, but it slips off his tongue anyways.
Jaemin hums, leaning back and crossing his arms to rest against the elevator wall. “Want to guess?”
“Are you going to give me hints?” Jeno tries to catalog each man in the office, mentally going through the best candidates.
“He likes strong and kind men.” Jaemin murmurs, and Jeno’s eyebrows furrow. How is Jeno supposed to know their preferences?
“You spoke to him today.” Jeno tries to think back to all of the men in the office that visited his cubicle for one work related reason or another.
“Jeno.” Jeno’s spine impossibly straightens at the almost dark and low tone Jaemin strikes when he says Jeno’s name. “Do you know who I’m talking about?”
Jeno, having suddenly lost all of his coherent thoughts as he makes eye contact with Jaemin, shakes his head silently, and Jaemin’s demeanor changes again as he sighs with a light smile on his face. “It’s alright. I’m sure you’ll think of who it is in no time.”
Before Jeno can reply, the door dings open, and some gruff looking man grunts that they should leave the elevator so he can figure out what’s wrong with it.
“Do we dare take the elevator again?” Jaemin asks with a teasing lilt to his tone, and Jeno, feeling like he’s going to throw up or maybe scream (unrelated to the elevator), shakes his head furiously.
“It’s only a few floors down now.” Jeno just barely manages to mumble as he makes his way almost robotically towards the door for the stairs.
Jeno opens the door for Jaemin, and they start their descent down to the parking garage. They’re silent for a few moments, but Jaemin’s worried voice echoes in the concrete staircase. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah.” Jeno stutters, looking up to Jaemin when he stops a few stairs up from Jeno.
“You seem broken.” Jeno blushes while Jaemin lets out a light chuckle. Jaemin bumps into Jeno’s side casually as he comes down the stairs with a bright smile on his face, and maybe Jeno is a huge romantic or something (possibly going crazy). But, he swears his body gets zapped by lightning as Jaemin makes the quick physical contact.
“Hopefully you’re not broken for too long. I like talking to you.” Jaemin’s statement makes Jeno want to hurl himself over the side of the railing (in a good way), but he can’t seem to muster up a reply that’s coherent.
Somehow, Jeno makes it down the stairs injury free and into the parking garage with Jaemin. Jaemin stops behind a silver car and throws his thumb back to gesture to the car. “This one is mine.”
Jeno nods awkwardly before managing a reply. “Mine’s a few more down on the opposite side. See you tomorrow?” Jaemin gives Jeno his own nod with a small smile, and Jeno wants to die on the inside at the sight. (The other man is so cute. He can’t help it.) “Alright…bye.”
Jeno turns around and starts stiffly walking away from Jaemin, trying to keep himself from looking even more like a loser in front of Jaemin, but he suddenly stops in his tracks. “Hey.” Jeno pivots back embarrassingly fast at the small interjection.
“I actually…” Jaemin interrupts himself with a sigh and half-kicks at the ground, chewing on his lip as his brow furrows. “Nevermind. Have a great night.” Jeno watches as Jaemin veers back to his car and gets in with a heavy slam of his door, making Jeno wince at the loud sound.
Before Jeno even fully takes in the incident that just unfolded in front of him, his feet start walking on instinct to Jaemin’s car, and his fingers rasp on the window. Jeno watches as Jaemin startles from his position leaning over the wheel, further worrying Jeno’s racing mind.
Jaemin barely gets the window down before Jeno asks, “Did I upset you?” Jaemin’s eye widen at Jeno’s question, and that spurs Jeno on more. “I-I know that I’m weird and awkward, but I really didn’t mean to upset you or offend you.”
Jaemin quickly gets out of the car, entering the narrow space between the cars with Jeno. If either one of them took a half-step forward, their fronts would be touching. “Jeno, I-“ Jaemin pauses as Jeno tries to ignore the pure electricity frazzling his insides at Jaemin’s call of his name. “You didn’t upset me. I’m just frustrated…at myself and quite possibly the situation I’ve found myself in.”
“Situation?” Jaemin gives Jeno a sheepish smile that teeters on the verge of looking melancholic. “If your competition with Iseul makes yo-“ Jaemin’s hand on Jeno’s arm stops Jeno’s speech just as quickly as it started.
“I just need to be honest with you. I think I’ve realized that now.” Jeno stares at Jaemin in confusion, not sure where the other man is taking this conversation. “I misread the situation. I thought that maybe you liked me back, but I don’t know. I guess I was being a wishful thinker.” Jeno tries to continue listening to Jaemin, but he can’t hear Jaemin over the sound of his exploding heart in his ears.
“I thought both you and Iseul would know as soon as I pitched the idea of the competition, but I now realize that I was probably just overstepping and getting ahead of myself.” Jaemin’s eyes dart around, avoiding eye contact with Jeno.
“You like me?” Jeno asks, voice strained as he can barely believe what he’s hearing. Part of him thinks he somehow is really vividly dreaming.
“Yeah.” Jaemin lets out an almost labored sigh as a blush flushes his smooth and pretty skin. “I have for a while now.”
“Oh my god.” Jeno wheezes out before clutching his chest, making his knuckles turn white from the force. “I can’t believe this.”
Jaemin’s mouth opens and closes a few times, and Jeno internally panics as Jaemin’s eyes become increasingly dewy. “I-I didn’t realize that you felt so strongly against this.” Jaemin clears his throat, obviously trying to keep himself from crying.
“No, no. You don’t understand! I’ve liked you ever since I first saw you in the office!” Jeno’s words tumble out of his mouth clumsily as his thoughts become preoccupied with preventing Jaemin from crying.
“Really?” Jeno nods his head furiously, and Jaemin releases a breath of relief. “So you really didn’t understand my hints? In the elevator?”
“You were referring to yourself?” Jaemin nods, making Jeno facepalm with a bit more force than he originally meant. “I honestly didn’t even think you were a possibility. I thought you were straight.”
Jaemin’s face twists with genuine disgust at the thought. “You thought I was straight ?”
“Well, yeah?” Jaemin lifts an eyebrow and stares at Jeno expectantly, so he continues. “You talked about an ex-girlfriend before, so I just assumed you were straight."
Jaemin lets out a small and almost disbelieving laugh with a shake of his head. “About a year before you joined our office, I had a boyfriend that transitioned into a woman. During that time, she was doing her thing and being herself and that made me realize that I am not in fact bisexual, but rather I’m just gay. I told her my feelings, and she was sad but said that it was validating because she knew that I saw her for who she truly is.” Jaemin shrugs. “I’m still casual friends with her to this day, and we’ve both moved on a while ago.”
“But-“ Jaemin giggles almost giddily as a large smile spreads across his face. “I’m not really thinking about that right now.” Jaemin playfully pokes Jeno’s arm before speaking again. “I like you, and you like me. Does that mean we can go on dates now?”
“We can do whatever you want,” Jeno murmurs without a second thought, unable to hold back his pining loser shit anymore.
Jaemin hums. “In that case, I think the answer is ‘Yes.’ Are you free after work tomorrow?” Jeno nods almost a little too enthusiastically. “Perfect. It’s a date then. I would say tonight, but my cat has a grooming appointment tonight.”
“No worries,” Jeno says easily with a shrug. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Yes, I’m excited.” Jeno nods and starts to back away, but his sleeve is caught by Jaemin. “Wait, I-“ Jaemin looks as if he’s internally debating something for a second, but then he surges forward and leaves Jeno with a peck on his cheek. “Okay, bye for real this time.” Jaemin sends him off with a smile and a nudge towards where he mentioned his car was.
“Bye,” Jeno murmurs dreamily as he walks away with a blush on his face and his brain focused on Na Jaemin only.
By the time he makes it to his car, he has at least some brain power to take out his phone and call Iseul.
“Oh my god! What the fuck is wrong with you?! I tried calling you so many times! What happened?” Iseul barrages him as soon as she answers the call, and all Jeno can manage is an airy laugh.
“I think I’m dating Jaemin now.”
A scream makes Jeno pull the phone away from his ear with a cringe distorting his face. “I told you! I fucking told you!”