Well, here goes nothing
Title: Recruitment
Pairing/Characters: Kyungsoo (EXO)/Hakyeon (VIXX); various other kpop faces
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~1.9k
Warning: light swearing, very mild gore (animal only)
Summary: Special Agent Do meets his new consultant.
A/N: Well, here it is. The first fanfic I"ve written since....2010? And the first one I've posted since 2009. It's also the longest fanfiction I've ever written, let alone actually finished (and nothing really happens, aahahaha). This is a drabble result of playing fanfic roulette with naegastar, but I really like this AU so we will see what happens.
The sun beat down through the windshield of the car, baking Kyungsoo’s hands despite the AC. This time of year usually it wasn’t so hot yet but it was particularly bright today and Kyungsoo was beginning to wish he hadn’t worn his suit jacket. As he turned off the highway, he spotted a cafe on the other side of the intersection. He glanced at the dashboard clock--one o’clock, plenty of time for an iced coffee.
The place was moderately crowded; Kyungsoo ordered his coffee and managed to claim a chair by the window. Might as well take advantage of the shop’s AC, and he still had forty-five minutes or so before he needed to be at the museum. He scrolled through his phone, trying to play some catch-up on the mountain of emails in his inbox. He loved Amber, he really did, and he was incredibly happy that she’d made Special Agent in Charge, but dragging him out of the office to scope out a potential consultant hire right in the middle of a major staff upheaval--not to mention the recent increase in cartel activity along the border--was more than a little inconvenient.
As he scrolled, he found himself instead of focusing on emails, reflecting on the file he’d been handed this morning and told to “check out please, Kyungsoo, Washington is breathing down my neck and you’re going to be working with this guy anyway.”
Kyungsoo scowled a little. There was no reason he had to work with the new consultant. Sure, he and the previous consultant Ryeowook had been attached at the hip (“he’s more your partner than I am,” Yixing had said once, after a few post-case beers, and Kyungsoo had spluttered apologetically before Yixing had laughed dreamily and ruffled his hair), but it wasn’t like Kyungsoo was the Special Agent in Charge of Consultants Who Like Bugs A Little Too Much. And he certainly wasn’t bitter about Ryeowook’s retirement--the entomologist was happy as a clam in Hawai’i with his beloved damselflies and Kyungsoo already had plans to visit later in the summer.
But apparently everyone assumed that because he’d worked with the previous consultant, he’d be working with this one, too, whether he liked it or not. Or whether they liked him or not.
I suppose I should be flattered that they want me to pick, he thought, slurping his coffee and sucking only air and melted ice. Ryeowook had handpicked these candidates, so they couldn’t be all bad.
Then again, Ryeowook thought damselflies having sex was the height of beauty and wonder.
Kyungsoo tossed his empty cup and got back in the car, pulling back out into traffic. This candidate, Ryeowook’s first choice, was an old student of his, and he certainly looked promising on paper. Hakyeon Cha, Ph.D in Entomology, San Diego native aged 29, already head of the Entomology Department at the SD Natural History Museum despite his young age, as well as manager of the Specimen Prep Department. Teaches dance classes on the weekends at a local studio, and volunteers once a month at the local Boys and Girls Club. No dependents.
Kyungsoo snorted at the thought--another workaholic for their branch. Well, Agent Byun wasn’t a workaholic but Kyungsoo tried not to think about Agent Byun too much lest he trigger a migraine.
With that thought, he turned up the radio in his car and attempted to drown out his reflexive spike of annoyance by humming along to the latest R&B hits.
At quarter to two he pulled into the museum lot and got out of the car, straightening his jacket in the San Diego sun and adjusting his sunglasses, patting his pocket for his badge and phone. He hopped up the front stairs, bouncing a little to build up his confidence. It was a weekday so the only people at the museum were school groups and Kyungsoo smiled a little as he sidled around a babbling troupe of preschoolers, led by a loud tour guide who kept making funny voices to make the kids laugh.
He made his way over to the inquiries desk. “Special Agent Do, here to see Dr. Cha,” he said, flashing his badge. The woman simply smiled at him brightly, “Oh! Yes, Taekwoon’s been waiting for you over there. He’ll bring you back to the offices.” She gestured over at a large, impassive looking man sitting on a bench by the entrance who appeared to be watching the school groups, and handed Kyungsoo a visitor’s pass. He started to thank her before she suddenly leaned over the counter and yelled “Taekwoon! He’s here!” The man’s head snapped in their direction and he stood up, towering over the children in the lobby as he carefully picked his way over.
“This way,” was all he said in a surprisingly soft voice before he turned again and headed for a door off to the side. Kyungsoo hurriedly followed, thanking the woman at the desk as he left.
Taekwoon said very little as they wound their way through the halls of the museum administrative offices, except to answer simple questions about his job at the museum (prep collections manager, sometimes assistant to Dr. Cha). Rather than find his short, blunt answers disconcerting, Kyungsoo found Taekwoon’s silence rather soothing. He was still a little intimidated by the man’s sheer size, but Kyungsoo wasn’t a field agent for nothing. With his quiet demeanor Taekwoon reminded him a little of Yixing, and that thought further calmed him.
Finally, they reached a door labeled “Prep Room,” and Taekwoon opened it with the keycard around his neck. The smell of bleach and preservative chemicals hit Kyungsoo along with a blast of cold air. The room was mostly blue paint and stainless steel, shelves filled with an assortment of jars and bottles and the occasional taxidermied creature. A large set of antlers took up a section of shelving, and an entire cabinet seemed devoted to jars of what appeared to be preserved snakes. The other wall was dominated by a gigantic fridge decorated with magnets and a massive freezer. An owl and a tropical bird loomed from the top of the fridge. Kyungsoo could hear voices and saw figures at the other end of the lab, but that end was mostly hidden by the rows of tables and stations in the middle of the room. Taekwoon began to move down the side of the tables towards the back, and Kyungsoo hurriedly followed, the heavy door shutting behind him.
They rounded the final corner and Kyungsoo had to brace himself slightly on the nearby counter. “Oh, god, urgh, “ he croaked.
Two men stood at a large steel table with a shallowly sunken center and a drain at one end. The taller, lighter haired one was holding a scalpel in his bloody surgical gloves and watching as the other wrestled with a large mass of flesh and bone that Kyungsoo thought might have been a zebra once, but was now just a head and upper torso, and appeared to have most of its skin folded up over its face. A large bucket stood on the floor near the end of the table, full of what appeared to be fatty, fleshy remains. The darker haired man looked up at the noise from where he was quite literally up to his elbows in the zebra’s neck, a confused look on his face as he spotted Taekwoon.
“Taekwoonie, you’re supposed to be meeting th--oh!” He turned to Kyungsoo, and straightened a little, right arm still buried in the mass of shiny pink flesh. “You must be from the FBI. Sorry, I would’ve met you myself but Hyuk needed to see this prepped properly and his usual mentor is out sick.” He pulled his arm free with a loud squelching noise that made Taekwoon wrinkle his nose and Hyuk groan loudly (ew man that’s so gross come on) and extended his gloveless and bloody hand out to Kyungsoo to shake. “Hakyeon Cha, nice to meet you.” Then he smiled, and Kyungsoo could feel his heart quite literally skip a beat.
Kyungsoo had seen Dr. Cha’s unsmiling photo in the file but this...this was different. A dark fitted t-shirt stretched over bronze skin that looked too healthy to be a tan, flushed lightly in his face. His eyes, catlike and glimmering, were scrunched up in genuine happiness and Kyungsoo wondered if he was hiding a lamp under his skin because that smile seemed to light up his whole face. His hair was dark and shiny, and his neck...well his neck was very, very long. Judging by his height, Kyungsoo was willing to bet his legs were long, too. Kyungsoo looked down at the hand in front of him and had the sudden, fleeting realization that despite the slight churning in his gut, somehow he found this man even more attractive grinning and covered in animal guts and he had no idea what to do with that particular thought.
Kyungsoo was still staring at the bloodied hand when Dr. Cha seemed to register the state of his hand. “Oh!” he exclaimed, pulling his slimy hand back and laughing sheepishly, “whoops, sorry--ew, that’s gross, okay let me get cleaned up and we can talk in my office.” He turned to to the nearby sink, giving Kyungsoo a nice view of how the t-shirt stretched over back muscles, and the fact that he was wearing rather tight dark wash jeans. Lips pressing together, Kyungsoo quickly glanced away to his left and realized that Taekwoon had slipped off silently.
“You’re awfully small to be an FBI agent.” Kyungsoo turned sharply to the tall, gangly (seriously was everyone in this museum a giant?) kid, eyes narrowed. He took in the baggy ripped jeans, ratty sneakers, and anime convention t-shirt and decided that even with his height advantage and the scalpel, Kyungsoo could easily flatten him.
He was about to reply when Dr. Cha lunged over and smacked Hyuk in the head, spraying water everywhere and causing Hyuk to buckle over and drop the scalpel on the floor. “Hey! Don’t be rude!”
“Ow, shit, I wasn’t trying to be rude I was just wondering if he was the real deal ‘cause he’s so tin--” Hyuk yelped as Dr. Cha smacked him again.
“Rude!” Dr. Cha grabbed a paper towel and started drying his hands, glaring at Hyuk. “You used to be such a nice intern; I blame Ken and Binnie.” He sniffed and pointed at the fallen scalpel. “Wash that and continue skinning. But do not do the eyes until I get back, got it?” Hyuk rolled his eyes and nodded, rubbing at his head. Dr. Cha smacked him again for good measure, (ow, god!) and grabbed a blazer from where it was hanging by the fridge. His shirt rode up a little as he shrugged it on and Kyungsoo gulped hard, eyes skittering away from the thin patch of tanned skin above his jeans. Kyungsoo followed him outside, and when they were in the hallway, Dr. Cha turned to face him.
“So,” he said, grinning again, this time a little sheepishly. “Let’s try that again. I’m Hakyeon.” He stuck out his now clean hand.
“Special Agent Kyungsoo Do, San Diego FBI,” Kyungsoo took Hakyeon’s hand and shook it, trying not to think about how good the calluses on his fingertips felt or how nicely his golden skin contrasted with Kyungsoo’s paler skin tone.
“Well, Agent Do, it is very nice to meet you,” said Hakyeon, with a brief squeeze of Kyungsoo’s hand.
“Likewise,” said Kyungsoo. Hakyeon’s smile seemed to grow brighter and Kyungsoo felt his stomach churn.
Pairing/Characters: Kyungsoo (EXO)/Hakyeon (VIXX); various other kpop faces
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~1.9k
Warning: light swearing, very mild gore (animal only)
Summary: Special Agent Do meets his new consultant.
A/N: Well, here it is. The first fanfic I"ve written since....2010? And the first one I've posted since 2009. It's also the longest fanfiction I've ever written, let alone actually finished (and nothing really happens, aahahaha). This is a drabble result of playing fanfic roulette with naegastar, but I really like this AU so we will see what happens.
The sun beat down through the windshield of the car, baking Kyungsoo’s hands despite the AC. This time of year usually it wasn’t so hot yet but it was particularly bright today and Kyungsoo was beginning to wish he hadn’t worn his suit jacket. As he turned off the highway, he spotted a cafe on the other side of the intersection. He glanced at the dashboard clock--one o’clock, plenty of time for an iced coffee.
The place was moderately crowded; Kyungsoo ordered his coffee and managed to claim a chair by the window. Might as well take advantage of the shop’s AC, and he still had forty-five minutes or so before he needed to be at the museum. He scrolled through his phone, trying to play some catch-up on the mountain of emails in his inbox. He loved Amber, he really did, and he was incredibly happy that she’d made Special Agent in Charge, but dragging him out of the office to scope out a potential consultant hire right in the middle of a major staff upheaval--not to mention the recent increase in cartel activity along the border--was more than a little inconvenient.
As he scrolled, he found himself instead of focusing on emails, reflecting on the file he’d been handed this morning and told to “check out please, Kyungsoo, Washington is breathing down my neck and you’re going to be working with this guy anyway.”
Kyungsoo scowled a little. There was no reason he had to work with the new consultant. Sure, he and the previous consultant Ryeowook had been attached at the hip (“he’s more your partner than I am,” Yixing had said once, after a few post-case beers, and Kyungsoo had spluttered apologetically before Yixing had laughed dreamily and ruffled his hair), but it wasn’t like Kyungsoo was the Special Agent in Charge of Consultants Who Like Bugs A Little Too Much. And he certainly wasn’t bitter about Ryeowook’s retirement--the entomologist was happy as a clam in Hawai’i with his beloved damselflies and Kyungsoo already had plans to visit later in the summer.
But apparently everyone assumed that because he’d worked with the previous consultant, he’d be working with this one, too, whether he liked it or not. Or whether they liked him or not.
I suppose I should be flattered that they want me to pick, he thought, slurping his coffee and sucking only air and melted ice. Ryeowook had handpicked these candidates, so they couldn’t be all bad.
Then again, Ryeowook thought damselflies having sex was the height of beauty and wonder.
Kyungsoo tossed his empty cup and got back in the car, pulling back out into traffic. This candidate, Ryeowook’s first choice, was an old student of his, and he certainly looked promising on paper. Hakyeon Cha, Ph.D in Entomology, San Diego native aged 29, already head of the Entomology Department at the SD Natural History Museum despite his young age, as well as manager of the Specimen Prep Department. Teaches dance classes on the weekends at a local studio, and volunteers once a month at the local Boys and Girls Club. No dependents.
Kyungsoo snorted at the thought--another workaholic for their branch. Well, Agent Byun wasn’t a workaholic but Kyungsoo tried not to think about Agent Byun too much lest he trigger a migraine.
With that thought, he turned up the radio in his car and attempted to drown out his reflexive spike of annoyance by humming along to the latest R&B hits.
At quarter to two he pulled into the museum lot and got out of the car, straightening his jacket in the San Diego sun and adjusting his sunglasses, patting his pocket for his badge and phone. He hopped up the front stairs, bouncing a little to build up his confidence. It was a weekday so the only people at the museum were school groups and Kyungsoo smiled a little as he sidled around a babbling troupe of preschoolers, led by a loud tour guide who kept making funny voices to make the kids laugh.
He made his way over to the inquiries desk. “Special Agent Do, here to see Dr. Cha,” he said, flashing his badge. The woman simply smiled at him brightly, “Oh! Yes, Taekwoon’s been waiting for you over there. He’ll bring you back to the offices.” She gestured over at a large, impassive looking man sitting on a bench by the entrance who appeared to be watching the school groups, and handed Kyungsoo a visitor’s pass. He started to thank her before she suddenly leaned over the counter and yelled “Taekwoon! He’s here!” The man’s head snapped in their direction and he stood up, towering over the children in the lobby as he carefully picked his way over.
“This way,” was all he said in a surprisingly soft voice before he turned again and headed for a door off to the side. Kyungsoo hurriedly followed, thanking the woman at the desk as he left.
Taekwoon said very little as they wound their way through the halls of the museum administrative offices, except to answer simple questions about his job at the museum (prep collections manager, sometimes assistant to Dr. Cha). Rather than find his short, blunt answers disconcerting, Kyungsoo found Taekwoon’s silence rather soothing. He was still a little intimidated by the man’s sheer size, but Kyungsoo wasn’t a field agent for nothing. With his quiet demeanor Taekwoon reminded him a little of Yixing, and that thought further calmed him.
Finally, they reached a door labeled “Prep Room,” and Taekwoon opened it with the keycard around his neck. The smell of bleach and preservative chemicals hit Kyungsoo along with a blast of cold air. The room was mostly blue paint and stainless steel, shelves filled with an assortment of jars and bottles and the occasional taxidermied creature. A large set of antlers took up a section of shelving, and an entire cabinet seemed devoted to jars of what appeared to be preserved snakes. The other wall was dominated by a gigantic fridge decorated with magnets and a massive freezer. An owl and a tropical bird loomed from the top of the fridge. Kyungsoo could hear voices and saw figures at the other end of the lab, but that end was mostly hidden by the rows of tables and stations in the middle of the room. Taekwoon began to move down the side of the tables towards the back, and Kyungsoo hurriedly followed, the heavy door shutting behind him.
They rounded the final corner and Kyungsoo had to brace himself slightly on the nearby counter. “Oh, god, urgh, “ he croaked.
Two men stood at a large steel table with a shallowly sunken center and a drain at one end. The taller, lighter haired one was holding a scalpel in his bloody surgical gloves and watching as the other wrestled with a large mass of flesh and bone that Kyungsoo thought might have been a zebra once, but was now just a head and upper torso, and appeared to have most of its skin folded up over its face. A large bucket stood on the floor near the end of the table, full of what appeared to be fatty, fleshy remains. The darker haired man looked up at the noise from where he was quite literally up to his elbows in the zebra’s neck, a confused look on his face as he spotted Taekwoon.
“Taekwoonie, you’re supposed to be meeting th--oh!” He turned to Kyungsoo, and straightened a little, right arm still buried in the mass of shiny pink flesh. “You must be from the FBI. Sorry, I would’ve met you myself but Hyuk needed to see this prepped properly and his usual mentor is out sick.” He pulled his arm free with a loud squelching noise that made Taekwoon wrinkle his nose and Hyuk groan loudly (ew man that’s so gross come on) and extended his gloveless and bloody hand out to Kyungsoo to shake. “Hakyeon Cha, nice to meet you.” Then he smiled, and Kyungsoo could feel his heart quite literally skip a beat.
Kyungsoo had seen Dr. Cha’s unsmiling photo in the file but this...this was different. A dark fitted t-shirt stretched over bronze skin that looked too healthy to be a tan, flushed lightly in his face. His eyes, catlike and glimmering, were scrunched up in genuine happiness and Kyungsoo wondered if he was hiding a lamp under his skin because that smile seemed to light up his whole face. His hair was dark and shiny, and his neck...well his neck was very, very long. Judging by his height, Kyungsoo was willing to bet his legs were long, too. Kyungsoo looked down at the hand in front of him and had the sudden, fleeting realization that despite the slight churning in his gut, somehow he found this man even more attractive grinning and covered in animal guts and he had no idea what to do with that particular thought.
Kyungsoo was still staring at the bloodied hand when Dr. Cha seemed to register the state of his hand. “Oh!” he exclaimed, pulling his slimy hand back and laughing sheepishly, “whoops, sorry--ew, that’s gross, okay let me get cleaned up and we can talk in my office.” He turned to to the nearby sink, giving Kyungsoo a nice view of how the t-shirt stretched over back muscles, and the fact that he was wearing rather tight dark wash jeans. Lips pressing together, Kyungsoo quickly glanced away to his left and realized that Taekwoon had slipped off silently.
“You’re awfully small to be an FBI agent.” Kyungsoo turned sharply to the tall, gangly (seriously was everyone in this museum a giant?) kid, eyes narrowed. He took in the baggy ripped jeans, ratty sneakers, and anime convention t-shirt and decided that even with his height advantage and the scalpel, Kyungsoo could easily flatten him.
He was about to reply when Dr. Cha lunged over and smacked Hyuk in the head, spraying water everywhere and causing Hyuk to buckle over and drop the scalpel on the floor. “Hey! Don’t be rude!”
“Ow, shit, I wasn’t trying to be rude I was just wondering if he was the real deal ‘cause he’s so tin--” Hyuk yelped as Dr. Cha smacked him again.
“Rude!” Dr. Cha grabbed a paper towel and started drying his hands, glaring at Hyuk. “You used to be such a nice intern; I blame Ken and Binnie.” He sniffed and pointed at the fallen scalpel. “Wash that and continue skinning. But do not do the eyes until I get back, got it?” Hyuk rolled his eyes and nodded, rubbing at his head. Dr. Cha smacked him again for good measure, (ow, god!) and grabbed a blazer from where it was hanging by the fridge. His shirt rode up a little as he shrugged it on and Kyungsoo gulped hard, eyes skittering away from the thin patch of tanned skin above his jeans. Kyungsoo followed him outside, and when they were in the hallway, Dr. Cha turned to face him.
“So,” he said, grinning again, this time a little sheepishly. “Let’s try that again. I’m Hakyeon.” He stuck out his now clean hand.
“Special Agent Kyungsoo Do, San Diego FBI,” Kyungsoo took Hakyeon’s hand and shook it, trying not to think about how good the calluses on his fingertips felt or how nicely his golden skin contrasted with Kyungsoo’s paler skin tone.
“Well, Agent Do, it is very nice to meet you,” said Hakyeon, with a brief squeeze of Kyungsoo’s hand.
“Likewise,” said Kyungsoo. Hakyeon’s smile seemed to grow brighter and Kyungsoo felt his stomach churn.