Wonder-Bar.
Wonder-Bar
boomtrack @ kiiteruno
reallycorking @ corkart
Homin; R (NC-17 for the art), AU lawyer!verse; ~7,740 words
Warnings: Strong language, sex, the usual.
Changmin takes a summer internship with the best laywer in town, Mr. Jung Yunho. Let's just say things don't quite go as planned.
AN: reallycorking and I teamed up again to participate in dbsk_secretgame's partner challenge. This was our entry. :D Somehow we managed to snag 2nd place for Best Yunho, and 1st Place for Best Changmin. :DDD eigohg pleased!
I'm not used to writing HoMin so this was a really fun challenge. With any luck you guys will enjoy it. :D
As always, if you like the art, why not go over to reallycorking's art journal, corkart, and leave a comment on her art post? :D
:::
June 2nd, 2010. 1:24 pm.
It would be fair to say that Jung Yunho knew he was going to hire Shim Changmin before the kid even stepped into his office.
His resume was unquestionably impressive. Changmin was near the top of his class - though not the top, as some freakish brainiacs with no social life (and, most likely, no social skills) had managed to snag that position. He was well-versed in a wide variety of subjects within criminal defense law, and his professor had assured Yunho that Changmin conducted himself with all the poise and good manners money could buy. Changmin had all the makings to become an exceptional defense attorney, and Yunho would have been an idiot to let an opportunity like this college student working under him pass by.
Likewise, it would also be fair to say that Shim Changmin knew he'd be hired before he even stepped into Jung Yunho's office.
For his summer internship, he'd gone straight to his professor and asked to be referred to the best criminal defense attorney in the city. The wizened old man had chuckled kindly (though in retrospect, Changmin wondered if the man's laughter had a bit less to do with mirth and more to do with latent sadism) and told him of Jung Yunho and his impressive track record. Mr Jung, it seemed, had never lost a case, and in that moment Changmin knew exactly who he wanted to work under. He sent his resume the next day, knowing that if Jung Yunho had even half the common sense he seemed to possess, he would snatch up this wunderbar student and Changmin would be well on his way to becoming the (second) best criminal defense attorney in the city; that is, just as soon as he passed the bar.
The moment Changmin stepped into Yunho's office, however, his enthusiasm for a summer internship spent working under the great Jung Yunho cooled a few degrees.
Disaster area was the first thought that jumped to mind. Stacks of papers and folders were scattered haphazardly throughout the tiny office, taking up every conceivable surface. File cabinets sat open, their contents exposed like a surgical patient abandoned half-way through the procedure. Coffee cups, Chinese take-out boxes, and other food and drink remains sat forgotten atop case files and other supremely important-looking documents. In the middle of it all, seated at a desk mostly camouflaged from the world by boxes and folders and lots and lots of handwritten notes, was Jung Yunho.
His hair was a tousled mess and his suit looked suspiciously slept-in. Changmin stood awkwardly at the door, waiting to be acknowledged, but Yunho seemed completely oblivious to his presence. He closed the door behind him and bowed when Yunho finally looked up at the sound.
"I'm sorry to bother you-" Changmin began, eyes straying to the paperwork Yunho was bent over. One of the documents had coffee ring stains in one corner.
"You must be Shim Changmin, right?" Yunho beamed and him and stood up. His suit was just as wrinkled as Changmin had imagined and his tie narrowly missed getting dunked in his coffee when he bowed.
"Yes-"
"Great, you're hired. Can you start today?"
"What?" Changmin blinked. "Uh, what about the interview?"
"There's really no need," Yunho replied as he sat back down at his desk, "Your resume was perfect and I could certainly use someone around to help out."
Changmin had to literally bite his tongue to keep from making any untoward remarks. Yeah, you could certainly use some help. His eyes slid around the office warily. If he said yes, he had an uncomfortable sinking feeling as to what exactly he'd be doing all summer long. Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Besides, Changmin was pretty sure there was some saying about there being a fine line between genius and insanity. Jung Yunho likely straddled that line and rode it hard, so some eccentricities were to be expected. Changmin took a deep breath, gathered his balls, and screwed on the best smile he could muster.
"Yes, Mr. Jung, I'm free today."
Yunho grinned. "Fantastic. The first thing I need you to do is find the file I have on Mr. Kim Junsu. I seem to have misplaced it and he's coming in about 10 minutes."
Considering the state of the office, Changmin was sure Yunho could have misplaced a body here and not find it for days.
"Kim Junsu?" He repeated the name to confirm and began peering around the horrific mess surrounding him for a folder with that name on the tab. "Why's he coming?"
"For a meeting. He's got a court date in a few days." Yunho was busy frowning down at the paperwork in front of him, fruitlessly wiping at the coffee stains he had apparently just noticed.
"Would it be alright if I stayed for the meeting?" Changmin asked. He got down on his knees and began sifting through a box of folders. His heart sank when he realized Yunho didn't bother writing the names of his clients on the tabs; rather, some of them had the name scrawled across the front in black Sharpie, while some folders were unlabeled altogether, forcing him to peer inside to see which client's files the folder contained. The neat freak inside him was screaming in horror.
"Of course. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you took notes for me." Yunho set aside the stained papers and tugged a drawer open at his desk. "I think I have a notepad you can use around here somewhere..."
"Thank you, Mr. Jung," Changmin replied, his smile turning a bit more genuine. If he could sit in on meetings then the internship wouldn't be a total loss. Being able to observe legitimate attorney-client interactions would be a valuable opportunity, after all, especially with an attorney as skilled and knowledgeable as Jung Yunho.
"Not a problem." Yunho pulled out a legal notepad and a pen that he set on his desk. "Let me know when you find that file."
It took him another 15 minutes of pawing through boxes and stacks of paperwork to locate it. Thankfully, Kim Junsu was running late, something that didn't seem to surprise Yunho in the least.
"Is this it?" Changmin asked as he plucked another folder from the box and let out a little sound of triumph at the Kim Junsu jotted haphazardly across the front. He peered inside the folder, skimming the legal paperwork. "A Mr. Kim Junsu who was arrested last week for-" his voice caught in his throat as he stared down at the printed letters in front of him. "-For public indecency?"
"That's the one!" Yunho got up from behind his desk and plucked the file from Changmin's hands. "Thanks. I can't believe I lost it. You found it over here?" Yunho frowned down at the box of folders. "I should really organize these things."
Changmin bit back a nearly hysterical laugh.
:::
June 2nd, 2010. 2:12 pm.
"Tell me about the person you exposed yourself to, Junsu."
Changmin glanced down at the notes in front of him before looking back up at Yunho and his client. They were seated on a small couch that Changmin had managed to excavate from the mountains of files and papers that cluttered the office, with Changmin himself sitting at Yunho's desk. He tapped the pen in his hand against the pad, frowning at his sparse notes so far. Kim Junsu, 24. Arrested for exposing himself to his neighbor. Kim Junsu's file sitting on Yunho's desk wasn't exactly thin. There was no way this was his first offense.
"Um, she's my neighbor," Junsu supplied oh-so-helpfully. He was picking at the styrofoam of his coffee cup with his thumbnail. Little bits of white foam were beginning to accumulate on the floor like freshly fallen snow.
"The college girl?" Yunho asked gently.
"Huh? Oh, well, she saw too but she's not the one who called the police. That was Mrs. Ook-"
Yunho stared at him. "Mrs. Ook? The retired orthodontist?"
Junsu nodded mutely.
"She's like 67 years old!"
Junsu cringed at Yunho's voice, his hand tightening around his empty styrofoam cup. Changmin sighed and added the woman's name and age to his notes.
Yunho crossed his arms and sat back on the couch, apparently lost in thought. "Can you tell me exactly which part of your body you exposed?"
"I can show you," Junsu offered, just a bit too quickly.
"That's entirely unnecessary. Just tell me."
Junsu looked disappointed. "I, uh, untied the drawstring on my sweats and pushed them down. I wasn't wearing any underwear."
"So you exposed your genitals to Mrs. Ook."
"To both of them," Junsu breathed, grinning up at Yunho at his confession. His voice was tinged with something close to arousal. "They saw everything."
Changmin set his pen down and buried his face in his hands.
"What did you do then?" Yunho asked.
"Um." Junsu shifted on the couch, crossing his legs while resting his hands and his empty, half-demolished cup in his lap. He swallowed hard. "I, uh, masturbated, on the fire escape. Outside their windows."
"Could they see you masurbating?"
Junsu nodded, still staring at his lap. He was squirming in his place on the couch, his breath coming just a bit too quickly. Yunho frowned and then promptly smacked him upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"You idiot! You realize this is the third time I'll be defending you?"
"I know!" Junsu whined. "I'm sorry, okay?"
"Then why do you keep doing this? You do know masturbating in public isn't acceptable, right?"
"Of course," Junsu muttered at his lap.
"Then quit doing it!"
Changmin frowned as he watched the two bicker, his notes now mostly forgotten on the desk.
:::
June 10th, 2010. 3:04 pm.
Changmin slid the last folder into the file cabinet and pushed the drawer shut with a slow, self-satisfied grin. He'd made a dent in the ungodly mess that constituted Jung Yunho's office. It was still neither clean nor professional, not by a long shot, but Changmin had managed to spend the last eight days organizing all of Yunho's pertinent cases into neat folders and arranging them in alphabetical order. While others would have seen it as a mind-numbingly boring task, Changmin had found it somehow therapeutic. Plus, it gave his hands something to do while his mind ran in circles.
Jung Yunho, Changmin had decided, was certainly talented. He had a way with people that somehow set them at ease, allowing them to open up and divulge information without too much prodding. Despite his complete lack of any organizational skills, his mind was like a steel trap, and in the short time Changmin had spent with him, he had yet to see Yunho forget the facts in a single case. To top it all off, he was easy-going and friendly with his clients, treating them more like old friends than criminals. They were certainly all qualities that made for a good lawyer, but they also left Changmin a bit baffled. With Yunho's impressive skill set and understanding of criminal law, Changmin could not for the life of him understand why Yunho seemed content with small, petty court cases and a cramped, trashed-out office.
The question had sat on his tongue for the better part of a week, but after watching the whole of Yunho's criminal defense talents and tricks get spent defending a serial flasher who can't seem to keep it in his pants, Changmin decided it was time to ask.
"Mr. Jung?"
"Yeah?" Yunho looked up at his name. He was bent over the coffee machine, meticulously pouring enough sugar and creamer into a single cup to shave a few months off the end of his life span.
"I was just wondering if you ever do... difficult cases."
"Such as?" Yunho gave him a friendly smile and turned back to his coffee cup, adding another packet of sugar. He was well on his way towards diabetes.
"Maybe like a murder trial." Changmin glanced at the next pile of folders and paperwork begging for his attention. They were going to need another file cabinet.
"Murder trial?" Yunho laughed and tossed the empty sugar packets into the office's already overflowing trashcan. "Why? Do you want to do one?"
"Of course." Changmin grinned at the older man. "It's kind of the dream of every law student, to try a murder trial."
Yunho nodded and sipped at his cup as he moved back to his desk and sat. "I tried a few, a long time ago. They're not something I'm really interested in doing anymore."
Changmin's heart sank. "Why not? My professor said you were the best in the city. You could probably get anyone off!"
The extended silence that followed made Changmin wonder if he'd said something wrong. Yunho stared at him, eyes roaming up and down his figure before he hid a smile behind his coffee cup.
"You really think so?" Yunho asked, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
Changmin grinned. "Absolutely. You're very talented."
Yunho chuckled and set his coffee cup aside, propping his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands. "What do you think happens in a murder trial?"
"You defend the innocent, or try to put the guilty in jail," Changmin replied. He dragged the next box of folders demanding to be organized to the couch and sat down.
"True," Yunho nodded, watching him work. "But what about the victims and their families?"
Changmin wondered what answer Yunho was looking for. Was this some kind of lawyer test to see if he was ready? "They get closure from justice."
"Do they?" Yunho asked, and Changmin stared at him. "If you put the murderer in jail, you ruin their life and their family's lives. If you let them stay free, then the victim's family suffers, and the murderer might kill someone else as well. And, no matter what the outcome, in the end, the dead are still dead. The victim's family has to live with that."
Changmin frowned. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that it's a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. There's no winning in a murder trial, just compensation for a crime. It's like a... a bandaid on a stab wound. It'll get you by, but it won't solve the problem. I didn't like handing out band-aids, Changmin. I wanted to solve problems."
Changmin let it sink in. "So what did you do?"
"This." Yunho sat back and spread out his arms, grinning.
"You went from prosecuting murderers to defending public masturbators?"
Yunho laughed. "Something like that."
"But why?"
"Look at it this way. When people come to my office, they're having a bad day. Maybe not a 'my sister just got stabbed'-day, or a 'I ran someone down with my car'-day, but it's still a bad day, right?"
"Right," Changmin agreed.
"But it's fixable. They're not past the point of no return. They don't have a dead body in their trunk; they have unpaid parking tickets. They accidentally put a dent in someone else's car and then panicked and ran away. They got caught putting graffiti on someone's front door. Or," Yunho grinned, tapping Kim Junsu's file still sitting on his desk, "they got caught with their pants down. It's all bad, yeah, but it's fixable. It can be paid off, erased, whatever. It's not just compensation, you know? We're actually fixing the problem."
Changmin watched Yunho for a long moment, the words rolling around in his head. "So you like doing this better?"
"I feel like this is more fulfilling than when I was defending murders and serial rapists," Yunho replied slowly. "I couldn't correct what they had done, but I can for these people."
"But you... you could have so much more than this," Changmin began, gesturing to the office. "You could have a huge office or-"
"I did. But I like this better. I don't hate myself at the end of the day." Yunho stood up and offered Changmin a smile. "These people aren't bad people. They're usually just good people who did stupid things. I enjoy defending them. I actually like my job."
Changmin bit back a grin. "A lawyer who likes his job. You might be a first, Mr. Jung."
"I'm a legend in my own time."
:::
June 14th, 2010. 11:49 am.
Yunho was helping himself to another cavity-inducing cup of coffee when a man literally burst into his office. The door collided hard enough into the wall to leave a dent, and the resulting crash startled Yunho into pouring half his coffee down the front of his shirt.
"They impounded my car," the man gasped, gripping at the doorframe with all the drama appropriate for someone losing their only mode of transportation.
Changmin wordlessly dug a towel out from under a pile of unsorted documents and handed it to Yunho.
"Why'd they do that?" Yunho asked absently, frowning down at the growing brown stain across his shirt and tie. He took the offered towel and began dabbing uselessly at the mess.
"Hell if I know! I-" The man cut off suddenly, his eyes zeroing in on Changmin standing at Yunho's side. "Who the fuck is that?"
"Huh? Who?" Yunho blinked at the man before looking around. It seemed to take him an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize the man was referring to Changmin. "Oh, him? That's my assistant, Shim Changmin. Changmin, this is Park Yoochun. Apparently the state has impounded his car."
Changmin gave Park Yoochun a half-hearted bow that went completely ignored.
"I was coming out of the courthouse and they just took it," Yoochun gasped, pacing back and forth in front of Yunho's desk. "Why would they take it? I need it!"
"Were you parked in a tow-away zone again?" Yunho asked, still dabbing helplessly at the stain on his shirt.
"No, of course not!"
"A handicapped parking spot?"
"No, I stopped doing that the last time they took it." Yoochun paused his pacing to chew ruthlessly at his thumbnail. "My car, Yunho!"
"Yes, they took your car." Yunho dropped the towel on his desk and heaved a sigh. "So where were you parked this time, then?"
"In a completely legal, legitimate parking spot! One with a meter and everything!" Yoochun waved his arms in the air as he spoke, as if trying to animate his drama for more effect. Changmin remained silent.
"Did you put money in the parking meter when you parked?" Yunho asked carefully.
"Yes, of course!"
"Did the meter... run out?"
Yoochun paused and slowly withdrew his abused thumbnail from his mouth. "I... oh. Maybe."
"Maybe," Yunho repeated as he sat down behind his desk. "Still, they don't usually impound cars for just for letting the meter run out."
"Well, they took mine!" Yoochun hissed, jamming his thumbnail back into his mouth as he took up pacing once more.
"I know they tend to run the license plate number when they're ticketing a car," Changmin offered. "They may impound the car if there's some underlying problem with it."
Yunho nodded slowly, glancing up at Yoochun. "You don't have any outstanding parking tickets or anything, do you?"
Yoochun frowned, staring down at the ground. "A few."
"How many is a few?"
Yoochun dropped his hand from his mouth once more, carefully avoiding Yunho's gaze. "About 50."
Changmin felt his jaw slowly dropping while Yunho began sputtering. "F-fifty?! What the hell, Yoochun! How do you have 50 unpaid tickets?!"
"I just kept putting them off," Yoochun whined. "Some of the due dates were really inconvenient!"
Yunho dropped his face into his hands and groaned. "No wonder they took your car."
"Hey, you're supposed to be helping me here, Yunho, not lecturing me!"
"I'll lecture you all I want." Yunho dropped his hands to his desk and looked up at Yoochun. "Do you still have all the tickets?"
"They're in a box at my office."
"Great. Get them all and bring them here. We can consolidate the debt to the city and pay them off in one go. Then they'll allow you to get your car back."
"I can't just get my car back now?"
Yunho quirked an eyebrow. "I doubt it. Not until the tickets are paid off."
"Can't we just-"
"Go." Yunho pointed at the door of his office. "Get your tickets and bring them here."
Yoochun turned and stomped out the door, slamming it behind him on his way out.
Changmin shifted from one foot to another before he spoke up. "Fifty tickets? That's got to be up in the... well, upwards of a million won."
"He can afford it," Yunho muttered, finally undoing his tie and sliding it off his neck. "He's a businessman. Some cubicle worker."
"Really," Changmin murmured. His eyes were trained on Yunho's fingers as the lawyer began to undo the buttons of his shirt.
"Mm-hmm," Yunho hummed in affirmative. "Can't you tell by how high-strung he is?"
Changmin nodded silently as Yunho stripped out of his shirt. The resulting bare arms and toned abs hidden by his undershirt were worth staring at.
"Can you get my spare shirt? It's over in the drawers," Yunho murmured.
Changmin took an extraordinarily long amount of time to find it.
:::
June 14th, 2010. 8:47 pm.
"I cannot believe," Changmin began, "that one person can have this many unpaid parking tickets and not have the police after them somehow."
"He probably does," Yunho snorted, pawing through the pile of ticket slips. "For all I know they have a warrent out for his arrest and he just failed to mention that."
Changmin wrinkled his nose before looking back down at the notes in front of him. "These things date back to last year."
"He just doesn't learn." Yunho frowned as he picked up another ticket. "Okay, here we go. This one is from last November, on the 16th. He got a ticket for parking in a fire truck zone. Twenty-five thousand won."
Changmin added the date, offense, and amount to his notes. "I hate to say it, but I think your client is an idiot."
"He is." Yunho grinned up at him. "But he's not a bad person. Just doesn't quite seem to think the rules apply to him all the time."
Changmin nodded slowly as he watched Yunho try to get the tickets into chronological order. "It's closing in on 9 o'clock, you know."
"I know." Yunho gave him a smile. "You can leave if you need to. I'll stay here."
Changmin frowned and sat up a bit straighter. "I just meant that maybe you needed to leave, Mr. Jung."
Yunho laughed. "Why would I?"
Isn't it obvious? Changmin thought to himself, shifting in his chair. "Well, I mean, your wife-"
"I'm not married." Yunho didn't even look up from the pile of tickets he was sifting through.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed-"
"It's quite alright." Yunho smiled as he picked up another ticket. "This is probably the next one. November 25th. He got a 30-thousand won ticket for parking in another handicapped spot."
Changmin added it to his notes, pausing for a long moment before he spoke again. "Mr. Jung, can I ask why you're not married?"
Yunho kept his eyes on the tickets in front of him, swallowing carefully. He seemed guarded but his voice didn't waver. "I just think any woman I tried to settle down with would find our marriage bed pretty cold."
Changmin frowned. "You'd cheat on her?"
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant." Yunho laughed and squirmed around in his seat. "It's just that I would, ah, have no passion for her."
Changmin stared at him blankly. Yunho cleared his throat and tried again.
"Passion... for her."
It took a very long time for the implications to sink in. When they did, Changmin's eyes grew wide, a grin tugging at his lips. "Oh. Oh."
Yunho grinned and turned back to the tickets, while Changmin stared at his profile, his nose, the curve of his jaw, his lips. Jung Yunho was suddenly much more interesting.
:::
June 15th, 2010. 8:53 am.
"I can't believe I was here til midnight," Changmin hissed, trailing after Yunho as they made their way towards his office.
"Why? Lawyers put in long hours," Yunho grinned over his shoulder as he tugged open the door of the office building.
Changmin mumbled something unflattering as Yunho ushered him inside.
"You have to have fun with your job, Changmin! Don't think of it as putting parking tickets into chronological order. Think of it as helping out a good friend."
"Park Yoochun is not my good friend," Changmin muttered. "I don't want to be friends with someone who can't park their car without being fined."
Yunho rolled his eyes. "I know. You have to pretend, okay? You have to enjoy your job or you'll be burned out before the end of the summer."
The two rounded the corner to find Kim Junsu standing shame-faced in front of Yunho's office. Changmin licked his lips and glanced at the lawyer.
"Are we having fun yet?" he asked, smirking when Yunho closed his eyes and groaned.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 1:48 am.
"Kim Junsu is filing a lawsuit," Yunho said as he moved to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"What kind of lawsuit?" Changmin peered at the files Yunho had just brought into the office, rolling his chair up to Yunho's desk.
"He's suing someone."
"Who's he suing?"
"His ass," Yunho replied gravely, back to Changmin as he loaded his cup with sugar and cream.
Changmin nodded sagely. "I see. But why? Why would he sue his ass?"
"He claims it's too hot for him to restrain himself. He's suing it for emotional stress from all the times he's been arrested for exposing it in public." Yunho sighed as he moved over to Changmin, cup of scalding hot coffee in hand. "This will be a very difficult case."
Changmin nodded slowly. "I'll do my best to help, Mr. Jung."
"Just call me 'Yunho'," the lawyer breathed into Changmin's ear, lips brushing against his cheek. Suddenly, for no explicable reason, his coffee cup tilted, sending a rush of hot, brown liquid into Changmin's lap.
Changmin jumped, yelping softly as the hot coffee sank into his pants. He stood up quickly, reaching out for a nearby towel to dab at his crotch.
"Oh no," Yunho gasped, setting the coffee aside before taking the towel from Changmin's hands, "I'm so sorry! Let me help you with that." He dropped to his knees and began dabbing gently at Changmin's crotch.
Changmin bit his lip, trying to hold back his arousal at the sight of his boss on his knees in front of him. "M-M..... Yunho...."
"Changmin," Yunho breathed, setting the towel aside before slowly unbuttoning the college student's pants. "Your pants need to come off. Let me help you out of them." Changmin watched in awe as Yunho undid the zipper and slid the pants down his thighs. For no apparent reason, he was wearing no underwear.
"Yunho, you don't need to do this," Changmin began.
"No, I need to clean all the coffee up," Yunho whispered, his breath tickling Changmin's hardening cock, "but this towel is too rough to use on such tender parts of your body. Let me use my mouth instead."
Before Changmin could say a single word, Yunho wrapped his lips around the head of his cock, eyes focused on Changmin's face as he began to suck. He bobbed his head slowly, humming deep in his thoat, and Changmin had to place his hands on Yunho's shoulders to keep his balance.
"Yunho," Changmin gasped as the older man worked to take every bit of his cock past his lips, "You feel so good, oh Yunh----"
---
click me i am just a thumbnail!
Changmin's eyes popped open at his phone buzzing wildly on his bed. He sat up slowly, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes before his hand fumbled to grab the offending device and bring it to his ear.
"'lo?" he muttered sleepily, still scrubbing at his eyes while frowning down at the boner pitching a fantastic tent in his sheets.
"Changmin!" Yunho's voice was harsh. "Get dressed. We have to go bail someone out."
"Now?" He blinked big, cheeks burning as fragments of his completely inappropriate dream about his boss played out behind his eyelids. "I-"
"Yes, right now. I'll be there in ten minutes." The line went dead.
Changmin snapped his phone shut and dropped it on his sheets, his free hand cupping his erection. He whimpered.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:06 am.
Changmin peered into the side mirror and tried to finger-comb his hair into obedience. At 2 am, he was pretty sure no one cared how he looked, but such a proper, strict upbringing by his parents demanded nothing less.
"Who are we going to see?" he finally dared to ask. Yunho had been tense ever since he'd gotten into the car, and Changmin was less than inclined to pry.
"We're bailing someone out," Yunho corrected.
"Alright, who are we going to bail out?" Changmin sighed and peered out the window. They had already reached the downtown area. The street lights were on, people stumbling up and down the streets in various levels of inebriation.
"An old friend."
Changmin frowned at Yunho's terse replies and gave up, still staring out the window. After a moment he sat up straighter and blinked. "Is that Park Yoochun?"
"What?" Yunho pulled to a stop at a red light and peered out the passenger window. A car was being towed away from a No Parking zone in front of a bar. Someone who very much indeed resembled Park Yoochun was arguing with a cop, and as the tow truck began to pull away with a somewhat expensive-looking car attached, the man began chasing after the tow truck down the street.
"Yes," Yunho finally sighed, looking forward and hitting the gas when the light turned green, "that was Park Yoochun."
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:29 am.
Changmin couldn't, for the life of him, imagine who was so important that Yunho would be willing to come down to the police station at 2 in the morning to bail someone out with his own money, but that's exactly what he was doing.
He watched as the clerk confirmed the account transaction and sent a cop to go fetch the person in question from holding. Yunho looked tense, shoving his account information back into his pocket before crossing his arms and pacing. Changmin wanted to ask his boss questions but Yunho's entire attitude discouraged them, so he did his best to keep his mouth shut.
Another ten minutes later saw the cop returning with someone in tow. Changmin took one look and promptly did a double take, followed by a triple take.
The man being brought out - for surely this was a man, right? - had to be a hooker; there was no other way Changmin could rationalize someone going out into public dressed like that. His hair was badly in need of a new dye job; the man's black roots were painfully obvious from under the platinum blond locks. He was wearing some sort of black coat, with the collar and cuffs lined in soft, fluffy fur. His shorts were short enough to nearly be crawling up his ass, and his knee-high boots looked like they weighed twenty pounds each. He had a heavy coat of makeup on his face as well; a bright sheen of lip gloss on his lips and deep black lining his eyes.
"Yunho!" The man squealed and trotted to the lawyer, giving him a warm hug. "Thank you! I knew you'd come!"
Changmin opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again. Yunho sighed and turned towards the door.
"Let's go."
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:57 am.
If Changmin had thought the ride with Yunho earlier had been tense, then it was cheery compared to the atmosphere in the car now. He shifted in the backseat, somehow thankful he was not in the middle of the storm he could tangibly feel brewing.
The hooker - that probably wasn't the politically-correct term for someone of his profession, but Changmin couldn't bring himself to care - pulled out a cigarette, taking a moment to crank down the window before he lit up.
"Who's the kid?" The man finally asked, jerking a thumb back towards Changmin. Yunho glared at him.
"Shim Changmin. He's my assistant."
The man pouted slightly. "You didn't tell me you had picked up some cute errand boy."
"And for good reason! Dammit, Jaejoong," Yunho hissed, slamming on the brakes when the light turned red, "get serious! I thought I told you to stop doing shit like this! Go get a real job!"
"I'm good at this! I like my job," the man, Jaejoong, sniffed, sucking at his cigarette while staring out the window.
"It's not even safe," Yunho continued to rant, "There's crazy clients and abusive pimps-"
"Hey, he doesn't beat me, okay?" Jaejoong turned to look at Yunho then, pointing a finger in his face. "It's not economical. And I'm safe about it now! I use condoms every time like you said! Last thing I need is some weird disease or AIDS or something."
"That's not the point! You know, if you keep doing this, I'm gonna stop bailing you out and then who are you going to call, huh? You'll be stuck in a holding cell overnight with drunks and drug addicts-"
"You wouldn't do that to me." Jaejoong's voice was firm and confident as he stared at Yunho, cigarette smoldering forgotten in his hand.
"Mr. Jung," Changmin finally spoke up, his voice barely audible, "the light."
"'Mr. Jung'?" Jaejoong laughed, glancing back at Changmin before looking back at Yunho. "What's this 'Mr. Jung' shit? Just call him 'Yunho'."
Memories of his dream just a few hours prior reared their heads and Changmin let out an embarrassed little mew. Thankfully, it went largely unnoticed.
"Dammit, Jaejoong, I worry about you." Yunho eyed the green light and hit the gas, sighing as he tightened his grip on the wheel. "If you're going to keep doing this at least stop picking up undercover police officers, alright?"
"I didn't know he was a cop!"
Yunho scoffed. "Right, I'm sure you didn't."
Jaejoong sniffed and didn't reply.
"Why're you still doing this, huh?" Yunho glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, hands flexing on the steering wheel. "I got you that job as a bartender. What happened to that?"
"I'm still doing it," Jaejoong breathed, turning to stare out the window. "We just needed a bit more money, that's all."
"What? Why? What's up with Heechul?"
"Who's Heechul?" Changmin spoke up once more.
"My roommate," Jaejoong explained easily. "He's fine. We just... needed some extra cash."
Yunho leveled a stare at him. Jaejoong rolled his eyes and looked back out the window.
"Alright, fine, we have someone living with us and we need extra money to pay for him to eat and shit." Jaejoong took a long drag and slowly sighed it back out.
"Why can't he get his own job?" Yunho asked.
"He's a foreigner. From China."
Yunho blinked wide eyes at Jaejoong. "Is he illegal?"
"Not yet, but he will be soon. His visa runs out next week."
"Are you, uh, planning to do anything about that?"
"We don't know what to do," Jaejoong sighed, crossing his legs. "I told Heechul to just let him go back to China and come back here again on another tourist visa, but Heechul thinks they won't let him back into the country. He just wants him to hide out at our apartment."
"That's a bad idea," Yunho said slowly, and Jaejoong laughed.
"Don't you think I know that? But Heechul is stubborn, you know that. He doesn't want to let Hankyung go back."
Yunho shook his head. "So why not get him a permanent visa to stay here legally?"
"We don't know how," Jaejoong snapped, turning to glare at Yunho. "God, why do you ask so many questions?"
"Because I'm worried about you, okay? Why didn't you come to me about this?"
Jaejoong shook his head, staring down at his lap. "You already do too much. I couldn't ask for more."
Yunho finally pulled the car to a stop in front of an apartment building. "That's what friends do, you idiot. Why else would I bail you out at 2 in the morning?"
Jaejoong stared at Yunho and smiled. "Do you really think you can figure something out? For Hankyung."
"I have a few ideas. How old is he?"
"I'm not sure. Heechul knows. Somewhere in his 20's, I think."
"Good enough." Yunho grinned. "I'll call you in a few days, alright?"
"Thanks." Jaejoong grinned and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Yunho's cheek. "I'll see you later, then." He turned around in his seat and waved at Changmin, smirking. "You too, kid. Come find me sometime and I'll give you a freebie."
"A freebie?" Changmin blinked and looked Jaejoong over. He could feel his crotch tighten.
"He doesn't need one, but I'm sure he appreciates the offer, right, Changmin?" Yunho cut in, grinning just a bit dangerously.
Jaejoong rolled his eyes and pushed the door open, crawling out of the car. "Fine, fine. See you later, Yunho. And thanks again!"
Changmin crawled into the front seat, closing the car door and watching Jaejoong disappear into the apartment complex. He slowly turned to look at Yunho, quirking an eyebrow in question. He was ignored. Yunho tightened his hands on the wheel as he pulled away from the curb and turned his car back towards Changmin's apartment. Neither of them said a word.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 3:17 pm.
Changmin tried to cover his yawn as he stepped into Yunho's office. Their night-time adventure to bail a hooker out of jail had left him exhausted, and he'd slept in far later than he'd intended.
Yunho looked up when he stepped in, giving him a kind smile. "About time you showed up."
"Well, you had me up late," Changmin muttered, smothering another yawn before going to make himself a fresh pot of coffee. "What're you doing?"
Yunho grinned down at the paperwork on his desk before smirking up at Changmin. "I think I have an answer for our problem with Hankyung."
Changmin nodded slowly. "Oh?"
"Yeah. A friend of mine, well, a former client, he's the superintendent at the college. I called him earlier and he's willing to have Hankyung enroll as an exchange student. I just have to send him Hankyung's details and he'll handle the rest."
"That's... generous of him," Changmin murmured, turning from the coffee pot and frowning at Yunho. "And generous of you, too. You don't even know the guy."
"Well, no, but I know Jaejoong, and Jaejoong knows Heechul. They're good people. I don't mind helping them out." Yunho turned back to the paperwork, frowning at his writing and erasing a few lines.
"Yunho..." Changmin trailed off, licking his lips before clearing his throat. "I mean, Mr. Jung-"
"You can call me 'Yunho,' it's fine."
"Yunho, then... why are you doing this? I mean... Jaejoong couldn't even afford his own bail, right? He's not going to be able to pay you back for all this, either."
Yunho shrugged, eyes still focused on the papers in front of him. "No, probably not."
"So why do it?"
Yunho stayed quiet for a long moment. "Because it's not about the money, Changmin. It's just about helping people, and fixing problems. This is their problem, and I can fix it."
"It's not about Jaejoong?"
Yunho frowned and looked up, surprised. "What about Jaejoong?"
"He just-" Changmin cleared hs throat. "I mean, you two seemed really close, that's all."
Yunho laughed. "We're just friends."
"Nothing more?"
Yunho blinked a few times, eyebrows creeping towards his hairline as he sat back in his chair. "You sound jealous, Changmin."
He couldn't stop the blush that began to bleed into his cheeks. "I'm not jealous, Mr.-... Yunho."
"Really, we're just friends." Yunho hid a smile as his eyes trailed over Changmin's form where he stood next to the coffee maker. "You don't need to worry about him."
"I'm not worried about him," Changmin muttered, grinning down at the coffee pot.
Yunho scoffed in the back of his throat, staring outright at his assistant. "Did anyone tell you you're an awful liar?"
Changmin couldn't even summon up the indignation to be upset. "Yeah, sometimes." He grinned at Yunho, coffee momentarily forgotten.
"Mm, well, you're an awful liar." Yunho gifted him with a wink before turning back to his paperwork, making a little whine of disgust when he noticed coffee stains on one paper.
:::
June 23th, 2010. 9:03 pm.
"This isn't my normal routine," Yunho said slowly as he eyed the bottle of champagne Changmin had set on his desk.
"I know," Changmin said, smirking as he pulled out two plastic wine glasses from the grocery store bag in his hands, "but you have me now, and we have to reward ourselves after a case every now and then."
Yunho rolled his eyes and stood up, easing his suit coat off his shoulders and tossing it over the back of his chair. "I don't think getting one foreigner to stay in the country counts as a 'big case' or anything, Changmin."
"I'm not saying it was a big case. Stop trying to kill the mood." Changmin smiled as he took the champagne bottle and wandered over to the garbage. He didn't trust Yunho to be able to open the bottle and not ruin half of his records or put someone's eye out in the process. He could feel the man's eyes on him as he pried the cork out, managing to get the majority of the liquid that sprayed out into the plastic bag lining the trash can.
"Nice," Yunho said, loosening his tie as he sat down on the couch. Changmin grabbed the wine glasses and joined him, pouring each of them a drink. "So what're we toasting?"
"Um," Changmin shrugged as he set the bottle aside. "I don't know. Anything you want to toast to?"
Yunho looked around the office, his eyes crinkling as he grinned back at Changmin. "To my clean office?"
Changmin laughed, his eyes sliding around the office as well. In the month he'd spent with Yunho, he'd managed to get the majority of the man's files in order. He wasn't finished, not by a long shot, but with any luck Yunho wouldn't be getting rid of him any time soon.
"Alright, to your clean office."
"And... to my assistant who cleaned it?"
Changmin felt a grin split his face. "Sounds good."
Yunho nodded and lightly clinked his glass against Changmin's before sipping at the champagne. Changmin did the same, eyes trained on Yunho's face as he watched the man drink; the way he closed his eyes, the bob of his adam's apple with each swallow. Changmin set his glass aside and when Yunho lowered his own he reached out, grabbing Yunho's tie and pulling him close.
"Changmin?" Yunho watched him steadily, not bothering to stop him, and Changmin did the same thing he'd done the first time he'd met Yunho: took a breath, gathered his balls, and went for it.
The moment their lips touched, he knew he had made the right choice. He couldn't fight the grin that spread across his lips and he slid his other hand up to Yunho's shoulder, pulling him just that much closer. When he felt Yunho's lips stretch into a smile as well he moaned, hand tightening on Yunho's shoulder as he deepened the kiss.
click me i am just a thumbnail!
Changmin began to ease closer, pushing Yunho back on the couch and sliding into his lap. He straddled Yunho's thighs and promptly grinded against him, his hand still wrapped tightly around Yunho's tie to keep him close. Yunho moaned loudly into the kiss, champagne glass dangling forgotten between his fingers before being dropped altogether. Neither of them paid attention to the growing wet spot on the carpet.
:::
June 24th, 2010. 8:07 am.
The office phone began shrieking around the same time the creeping sunlight hit Changmin's eyes. He squirmed weakly on the couch, Yunho's heavy weight pinning him down.
"Yunho," Changmin growled, poking the man atop him. "Answer your damn phone."
Yunho groaned in return, thrusting a hand out blindly towards his desk. He was about a foot short of reaching the phone. He sighed and extracted himself from Changmin to stand up and shuffle the necessary foot forward to reach his desk. Changmin shielded his eyes from the light and took the opportunity to admire Yunho's naked ass.
"Hello?" Yunho yawned into the phone, scratching at his messy hair. He listened for a moment before closing his eyes and rubbing his face. "I see. Who's suing you this time?"
Changmin caught his gaze and Yunho rolled his eyes, mouthing Kim Junsu with an exasperated frown. Changmin did his best to keep his laughter inaudible.
"I see," Yunho said again, nodding even though Kim Junsu couldn't see him. "Well, why don't you come down to the office in uh... in a few hours, and we can discuss our options, okay? Try to keep your penis in your pants in the meanwhile."
He hung up the phone abruptly before shuffling back to the couch, where Changmin watched him shamelessly.
"Make room for me."
"There's not even enough room for one person on here, let alone two."
"We managed it last night." Yunho smirked and Changmin couldn't help returning the smile.
"True enough." Changmin oofed slightly as Yunho crawled atop him again and snuggled down. "So are you going to fire me now?"
"Why would I do that?"
"No affairs between co-workers?"
"I'll let that rule slide," Yunho murmured, pressing his face against Changmin's neck, "as long as you remember you're still my assistant. I expect the rest of this office clean by the end of the week."
"Slave-driver," Changmin whined, without any real malice. He eyed the remaining piles of paperwork and folders, the overflowing trashcan, even the glass Yunho had dropped last night. For once, the messes didn't bother him. He had something better to focus on, after all.
As for Yunho? Well, Changmin was quite pleased to note that his original estimation of the lawyer was correct. Jung Yunho rode the line between genius and insanity just like he rode everything else: hard, fast, and incredibly well.
:::
boomtrack @ kiiteruno
reallycorking @ corkart
Homin; R (NC-17 for the art), AU lawyer!verse; ~7,740 words
Warnings: Strong language, sex, the usual.
Changmin takes a summer internship with the best laywer in town, Mr. Jung Yunho. Let's just say things don't quite go as planned.
AN: reallycorking and I teamed up again to participate in dbsk_secretgame's partner challenge. This was our entry. :D Somehow we managed to snag 2nd place for Best Yunho, and 1st Place for Best Changmin. :DDD eigohg pleased!
I'm not used to writing HoMin so this was a really fun challenge. With any luck you guys will enjoy it. :D
As always, if you like the art, why not go over to reallycorking's art journal, corkart, and leave a comment on her art post? :D
:::
June 2nd, 2010. 1:24 pm.
It would be fair to say that Jung Yunho knew he was going to hire Shim Changmin before the kid even stepped into his office.
His resume was unquestionably impressive. Changmin was near the top of his class - though not the top, as some freakish brainiacs with no social life (and, most likely, no social skills) had managed to snag that position. He was well-versed in a wide variety of subjects within criminal defense law, and his professor had assured Yunho that Changmin conducted himself with all the poise and good manners money could buy. Changmin had all the makings to become an exceptional defense attorney, and Yunho would have been an idiot to let an opportunity like this college student working under him pass by.
Likewise, it would also be fair to say that Shim Changmin knew he'd be hired before he even stepped into Jung Yunho's office.
For his summer internship, he'd gone straight to his professor and asked to be referred to the best criminal defense attorney in the city. The wizened old man had chuckled kindly (though in retrospect, Changmin wondered if the man's laughter had a bit less to do with mirth and more to do with latent sadism) and told him of Jung Yunho and his impressive track record. Mr Jung, it seemed, had never lost a case, and in that moment Changmin knew exactly who he wanted to work under. He sent his resume the next day, knowing that if Jung Yunho had even half the common sense he seemed to possess, he would snatch up this wunderbar student and Changmin would be well on his way to becoming the (second) best criminal defense attorney in the city; that is, just as soon as he passed the bar.
The moment Changmin stepped into Yunho's office, however, his enthusiasm for a summer internship spent working under the great Jung Yunho cooled a few degrees.
Disaster area was the first thought that jumped to mind. Stacks of papers and folders were scattered haphazardly throughout the tiny office, taking up every conceivable surface. File cabinets sat open, their contents exposed like a surgical patient abandoned half-way through the procedure. Coffee cups, Chinese take-out boxes, and other food and drink remains sat forgotten atop case files and other supremely important-looking documents. In the middle of it all, seated at a desk mostly camouflaged from the world by boxes and folders and lots and lots of handwritten notes, was Jung Yunho.
His hair was a tousled mess and his suit looked suspiciously slept-in. Changmin stood awkwardly at the door, waiting to be acknowledged, but Yunho seemed completely oblivious to his presence. He closed the door behind him and bowed when Yunho finally looked up at the sound.
"I'm sorry to bother you-" Changmin began, eyes straying to the paperwork Yunho was bent over. One of the documents had coffee ring stains in one corner.
"You must be Shim Changmin, right?" Yunho beamed and him and stood up. His suit was just as wrinkled as Changmin had imagined and his tie narrowly missed getting dunked in his coffee when he bowed.
"Yes-"
"Great, you're hired. Can you start today?"
"What?" Changmin blinked. "Uh, what about the interview?"
"There's really no need," Yunho replied as he sat back down at his desk, "Your resume was perfect and I could certainly use someone around to help out."
Changmin had to literally bite his tongue to keep from making any untoward remarks. Yeah, you could certainly use some help. His eyes slid around the office warily. If he said yes, he had an uncomfortable sinking feeling as to what exactly he'd be doing all summer long. Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Besides, Changmin was pretty sure there was some saying about there being a fine line between genius and insanity. Jung Yunho likely straddled that line and rode it hard, so some eccentricities were to be expected. Changmin took a deep breath, gathered his balls, and screwed on the best smile he could muster.
"Yes, Mr. Jung, I'm free today."
Yunho grinned. "Fantastic. The first thing I need you to do is find the file I have on Mr. Kim Junsu. I seem to have misplaced it and he's coming in about 10 minutes."
Considering the state of the office, Changmin was sure Yunho could have misplaced a body here and not find it for days.
"Kim Junsu?" He repeated the name to confirm and began peering around the horrific mess surrounding him for a folder with that name on the tab. "Why's he coming?"
"For a meeting. He's got a court date in a few days." Yunho was busy frowning down at the paperwork in front of him, fruitlessly wiping at the coffee stains he had apparently just noticed.
"Would it be alright if I stayed for the meeting?" Changmin asked. He got down on his knees and began sifting through a box of folders. His heart sank when he realized Yunho didn't bother writing the names of his clients on the tabs; rather, some of them had the name scrawled across the front in black Sharpie, while some folders were unlabeled altogether, forcing him to peer inside to see which client's files the folder contained. The neat freak inside him was screaming in horror.
"Of course. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you took notes for me." Yunho set aside the stained papers and tugged a drawer open at his desk. "I think I have a notepad you can use around here somewhere..."
"Thank you, Mr. Jung," Changmin replied, his smile turning a bit more genuine. If he could sit in on meetings then the internship wouldn't be a total loss. Being able to observe legitimate attorney-client interactions would be a valuable opportunity, after all, especially with an attorney as skilled and knowledgeable as Jung Yunho.
"Not a problem." Yunho pulled out a legal notepad and a pen that he set on his desk. "Let me know when you find that file."
It took him another 15 minutes of pawing through boxes and stacks of paperwork to locate it. Thankfully, Kim Junsu was running late, something that didn't seem to surprise Yunho in the least.
"Is this it?" Changmin asked as he plucked another folder from the box and let out a little sound of triumph at the Kim Junsu jotted haphazardly across the front. He peered inside the folder, skimming the legal paperwork. "A Mr. Kim Junsu who was arrested last week for-" his voice caught in his throat as he stared down at the printed letters in front of him. "-For public indecency?"
"That's the one!" Yunho got up from behind his desk and plucked the file from Changmin's hands. "Thanks. I can't believe I lost it. You found it over here?" Yunho frowned down at the box of folders. "I should really organize these things."
Changmin bit back a nearly hysterical laugh.
:::
June 2nd, 2010. 2:12 pm.
"Tell me about the person you exposed yourself to, Junsu."
Changmin glanced down at the notes in front of him before looking back up at Yunho and his client. They were seated on a small couch that Changmin had managed to excavate from the mountains of files and papers that cluttered the office, with Changmin himself sitting at Yunho's desk. He tapped the pen in his hand against the pad, frowning at his sparse notes so far. Kim Junsu, 24. Arrested for exposing himself to his neighbor. Kim Junsu's file sitting on Yunho's desk wasn't exactly thin. There was no way this was his first offense.
"Um, she's my neighbor," Junsu supplied oh-so-helpfully. He was picking at the styrofoam of his coffee cup with his thumbnail. Little bits of white foam were beginning to accumulate on the floor like freshly fallen snow.
"The college girl?" Yunho asked gently.
"Huh? Oh, well, she saw too but she's not the one who called the police. That was Mrs. Ook-"
Yunho stared at him. "Mrs. Ook? The retired orthodontist?"
Junsu nodded mutely.
"She's like 67 years old!"
Junsu cringed at Yunho's voice, his hand tightening around his empty styrofoam cup. Changmin sighed and added the woman's name and age to his notes.
Yunho crossed his arms and sat back on the couch, apparently lost in thought. "Can you tell me exactly which part of your body you exposed?"
"I can show you," Junsu offered, just a bit too quickly.
"That's entirely unnecessary. Just tell me."
Junsu looked disappointed. "I, uh, untied the drawstring on my sweats and pushed them down. I wasn't wearing any underwear."
"So you exposed your genitals to Mrs. Ook."
"To both of them," Junsu breathed, grinning up at Yunho at his confession. His voice was tinged with something close to arousal. "They saw everything."
Changmin set his pen down and buried his face in his hands.
"What did you do then?" Yunho asked.
"Um." Junsu shifted on the couch, crossing his legs while resting his hands and his empty, half-demolished cup in his lap. He swallowed hard. "I, uh, masturbated, on the fire escape. Outside their windows."
"Could they see you masurbating?"
Junsu nodded, still staring at his lap. He was squirming in his place on the couch, his breath coming just a bit too quickly. Yunho frowned and then promptly smacked him upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"You idiot! You realize this is the third time I'll be defending you?"
"I know!" Junsu whined. "I'm sorry, okay?"
"Then why do you keep doing this? You do know masturbating in public isn't acceptable, right?"
"Of course," Junsu muttered at his lap.
"Then quit doing it!"
Changmin frowned as he watched the two bicker, his notes now mostly forgotten on the desk.
:::
June 10th, 2010. 3:04 pm.
Changmin slid the last folder into the file cabinet and pushed the drawer shut with a slow, self-satisfied grin. He'd made a dent in the ungodly mess that constituted Jung Yunho's office. It was still neither clean nor professional, not by a long shot, but Changmin had managed to spend the last eight days organizing all of Yunho's pertinent cases into neat folders and arranging them in alphabetical order. While others would have seen it as a mind-numbingly boring task, Changmin had found it somehow therapeutic. Plus, it gave his hands something to do while his mind ran in circles.
Jung Yunho, Changmin had decided, was certainly talented. He had a way with people that somehow set them at ease, allowing them to open up and divulge information without too much prodding. Despite his complete lack of any organizational skills, his mind was like a steel trap, and in the short time Changmin had spent with him, he had yet to see Yunho forget the facts in a single case. To top it all off, he was easy-going and friendly with his clients, treating them more like old friends than criminals. They were certainly all qualities that made for a good lawyer, but they also left Changmin a bit baffled. With Yunho's impressive skill set and understanding of criminal law, Changmin could not for the life of him understand why Yunho seemed content with small, petty court cases and a cramped, trashed-out office.
The question had sat on his tongue for the better part of a week, but after watching the whole of Yunho's criminal defense talents and tricks get spent defending a serial flasher who can't seem to keep it in his pants, Changmin decided it was time to ask.
"Mr. Jung?"
"Yeah?" Yunho looked up at his name. He was bent over the coffee machine, meticulously pouring enough sugar and creamer into a single cup to shave a few months off the end of his life span.
"I was just wondering if you ever do... difficult cases."
"Such as?" Yunho gave him a friendly smile and turned back to his coffee cup, adding another packet of sugar. He was well on his way towards diabetes.
"Maybe like a murder trial." Changmin glanced at the next pile of folders and paperwork begging for his attention. They were going to need another file cabinet.
"Murder trial?" Yunho laughed and tossed the empty sugar packets into the office's already overflowing trashcan. "Why? Do you want to do one?"
"Of course." Changmin grinned at the older man. "It's kind of the dream of every law student, to try a murder trial."
Yunho nodded and sipped at his cup as he moved back to his desk and sat. "I tried a few, a long time ago. They're not something I'm really interested in doing anymore."
Changmin's heart sank. "Why not? My professor said you were the best in the city. You could probably get anyone off!"
The extended silence that followed made Changmin wonder if he'd said something wrong. Yunho stared at him, eyes roaming up and down his figure before he hid a smile behind his coffee cup.
"You really think so?" Yunho asked, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
Changmin grinned. "Absolutely. You're very talented."
Yunho chuckled and set his coffee cup aside, propping his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands. "What do you think happens in a murder trial?"
"You defend the innocent, or try to put the guilty in jail," Changmin replied. He dragged the next box of folders demanding to be organized to the couch and sat down.
"True," Yunho nodded, watching him work. "But what about the victims and their families?"
Changmin wondered what answer Yunho was looking for. Was this some kind of lawyer test to see if he was ready? "They get closure from justice."
"Do they?" Yunho asked, and Changmin stared at him. "If you put the murderer in jail, you ruin their life and their family's lives. If you let them stay free, then the victim's family suffers, and the murderer might kill someone else as well. And, no matter what the outcome, in the end, the dead are still dead. The victim's family has to live with that."
Changmin frowned. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that it's a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. There's no winning in a murder trial, just compensation for a crime. It's like a... a bandaid on a stab wound. It'll get you by, but it won't solve the problem. I didn't like handing out band-aids, Changmin. I wanted to solve problems."
Changmin let it sink in. "So what did you do?"
"This." Yunho sat back and spread out his arms, grinning.
"You went from prosecuting murderers to defending public masturbators?"
Yunho laughed. "Something like that."
"But why?"
"Look at it this way. When people come to my office, they're having a bad day. Maybe not a 'my sister just got stabbed'-day, or a 'I ran someone down with my car'-day, but it's still a bad day, right?"
"Right," Changmin agreed.
"But it's fixable. They're not past the point of no return. They don't have a dead body in their trunk; they have unpaid parking tickets. They accidentally put a dent in someone else's car and then panicked and ran away. They got caught putting graffiti on someone's front door. Or," Yunho grinned, tapping Kim Junsu's file still sitting on his desk, "they got caught with their pants down. It's all bad, yeah, but it's fixable. It can be paid off, erased, whatever. It's not just compensation, you know? We're actually fixing the problem."
Changmin watched Yunho for a long moment, the words rolling around in his head. "So you like doing this better?"
"I feel like this is more fulfilling than when I was defending murders and serial rapists," Yunho replied slowly. "I couldn't correct what they had done, but I can for these people."
"But you... you could have so much more than this," Changmin began, gesturing to the office. "You could have a huge office or-"
"I did. But I like this better. I don't hate myself at the end of the day." Yunho stood up and offered Changmin a smile. "These people aren't bad people. They're usually just good people who did stupid things. I enjoy defending them. I actually like my job."
Changmin bit back a grin. "A lawyer who likes his job. You might be a first, Mr. Jung."
"I'm a legend in my own time."
:::
June 14th, 2010. 11:49 am.
Yunho was helping himself to another cavity-inducing cup of coffee when a man literally burst into his office. The door collided hard enough into the wall to leave a dent, and the resulting crash startled Yunho into pouring half his coffee down the front of his shirt.
"They impounded my car," the man gasped, gripping at the doorframe with all the drama appropriate for someone losing their only mode of transportation.
Changmin wordlessly dug a towel out from under a pile of unsorted documents and handed it to Yunho.
"Why'd they do that?" Yunho asked absently, frowning down at the growing brown stain across his shirt and tie. He took the offered towel and began dabbing uselessly at the mess.
"Hell if I know! I-" The man cut off suddenly, his eyes zeroing in on Changmin standing at Yunho's side. "Who the fuck is that?"
"Huh? Who?" Yunho blinked at the man before looking around. It seemed to take him an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize the man was referring to Changmin. "Oh, him? That's my assistant, Shim Changmin. Changmin, this is Park Yoochun. Apparently the state has impounded his car."
Changmin gave Park Yoochun a half-hearted bow that went completely ignored.
"I was coming out of the courthouse and they just took it," Yoochun gasped, pacing back and forth in front of Yunho's desk. "Why would they take it? I need it!"
"Were you parked in a tow-away zone again?" Yunho asked, still dabbing helplessly at the stain on his shirt.
"No, of course not!"
"A handicapped parking spot?"
"No, I stopped doing that the last time they took it." Yoochun paused his pacing to chew ruthlessly at his thumbnail. "My car, Yunho!"
"Yes, they took your car." Yunho dropped the towel on his desk and heaved a sigh. "So where were you parked this time, then?"
"In a completely legal, legitimate parking spot! One with a meter and everything!" Yoochun waved his arms in the air as he spoke, as if trying to animate his drama for more effect. Changmin remained silent.
"Did you put money in the parking meter when you parked?" Yunho asked carefully.
"Yes, of course!"
"Did the meter... run out?"
Yoochun paused and slowly withdrew his abused thumbnail from his mouth. "I... oh. Maybe."
"Maybe," Yunho repeated as he sat down behind his desk. "Still, they don't usually impound cars for just for letting the meter run out."
"Well, they took mine!" Yoochun hissed, jamming his thumbnail back into his mouth as he took up pacing once more.
"I know they tend to run the license plate number when they're ticketing a car," Changmin offered. "They may impound the car if there's some underlying problem with it."
Yunho nodded slowly, glancing up at Yoochun. "You don't have any outstanding parking tickets or anything, do you?"
Yoochun frowned, staring down at the ground. "A few."
"How many is a few?"
Yoochun dropped his hand from his mouth once more, carefully avoiding Yunho's gaze. "About 50."
Changmin felt his jaw slowly dropping while Yunho began sputtering. "F-fifty?! What the hell, Yoochun! How do you have 50 unpaid tickets?!"
"I just kept putting them off," Yoochun whined. "Some of the due dates were really inconvenient!"
Yunho dropped his face into his hands and groaned. "No wonder they took your car."
"Hey, you're supposed to be helping me here, Yunho, not lecturing me!"
"I'll lecture you all I want." Yunho dropped his hands to his desk and looked up at Yoochun. "Do you still have all the tickets?"
"They're in a box at my office."
"Great. Get them all and bring them here. We can consolidate the debt to the city and pay them off in one go. Then they'll allow you to get your car back."
"I can't just get my car back now?"
Yunho quirked an eyebrow. "I doubt it. Not until the tickets are paid off."
"Can't we just-"
"Go." Yunho pointed at the door of his office. "Get your tickets and bring them here."
Yoochun turned and stomped out the door, slamming it behind him on his way out.
Changmin shifted from one foot to another before he spoke up. "Fifty tickets? That's got to be up in the... well, upwards of a million won."
"He can afford it," Yunho muttered, finally undoing his tie and sliding it off his neck. "He's a businessman. Some cubicle worker."
"Really," Changmin murmured. His eyes were trained on Yunho's fingers as the lawyer began to undo the buttons of his shirt.
"Mm-hmm," Yunho hummed in affirmative. "Can't you tell by how high-strung he is?"
Changmin nodded silently as Yunho stripped out of his shirt. The resulting bare arms and toned abs hidden by his undershirt were worth staring at.
"Can you get my spare shirt? It's over in the drawers," Yunho murmured.
Changmin took an extraordinarily long amount of time to find it.
:::
June 14th, 2010. 8:47 pm.
"I cannot believe," Changmin began, "that one person can have this many unpaid parking tickets and not have the police after them somehow."
"He probably does," Yunho snorted, pawing through the pile of ticket slips. "For all I know they have a warrent out for his arrest and he just failed to mention that."
Changmin wrinkled his nose before looking back down at the notes in front of him. "These things date back to last year."
"He just doesn't learn." Yunho frowned as he picked up another ticket. "Okay, here we go. This one is from last November, on the 16th. He got a ticket for parking in a fire truck zone. Twenty-five thousand won."
Changmin added the date, offense, and amount to his notes. "I hate to say it, but I think your client is an idiot."
"He is." Yunho grinned up at him. "But he's not a bad person. Just doesn't quite seem to think the rules apply to him all the time."
Changmin nodded slowly as he watched Yunho try to get the tickets into chronological order. "It's closing in on 9 o'clock, you know."
"I know." Yunho gave him a smile. "You can leave if you need to. I'll stay here."
Changmin frowned and sat up a bit straighter. "I just meant that maybe you needed to leave, Mr. Jung."
Yunho laughed. "Why would I?"
Isn't it obvious? Changmin thought to himself, shifting in his chair. "Well, I mean, your wife-"
"I'm not married." Yunho didn't even look up from the pile of tickets he was sifting through.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed-"
"It's quite alright." Yunho smiled as he picked up another ticket. "This is probably the next one. November 25th. He got a 30-thousand won ticket for parking in another handicapped spot."
Changmin added it to his notes, pausing for a long moment before he spoke again. "Mr. Jung, can I ask why you're not married?"
Yunho kept his eyes on the tickets in front of him, swallowing carefully. He seemed guarded but his voice didn't waver. "I just think any woman I tried to settle down with would find our marriage bed pretty cold."
Changmin frowned. "You'd cheat on her?"
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant." Yunho laughed and squirmed around in his seat. "It's just that I would, ah, have no passion for her."
Changmin stared at him blankly. Yunho cleared his throat and tried again.
"Passion... for her."
It took a very long time for the implications to sink in. When they did, Changmin's eyes grew wide, a grin tugging at his lips. "Oh. Oh."
Yunho grinned and turned back to the tickets, while Changmin stared at his profile, his nose, the curve of his jaw, his lips. Jung Yunho was suddenly much more interesting.
:::
June 15th, 2010. 8:53 am.
"I can't believe I was here til midnight," Changmin hissed, trailing after Yunho as they made their way towards his office.
"Why? Lawyers put in long hours," Yunho grinned over his shoulder as he tugged open the door of the office building.
Changmin mumbled something unflattering as Yunho ushered him inside.
"You have to have fun with your job, Changmin! Don't think of it as putting parking tickets into chronological order. Think of it as helping out a good friend."
"Park Yoochun is not my good friend," Changmin muttered. "I don't want to be friends with someone who can't park their car without being fined."
Yunho rolled his eyes. "I know. You have to pretend, okay? You have to enjoy your job or you'll be burned out before the end of the summer."
The two rounded the corner to find Kim Junsu standing shame-faced in front of Yunho's office. Changmin licked his lips and glanced at the lawyer.
"Are we having fun yet?" he asked, smirking when Yunho closed his eyes and groaned.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 1:48 am.
"Kim Junsu is filing a lawsuit," Yunho said as he moved to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"What kind of lawsuit?" Changmin peered at the files Yunho had just brought into the office, rolling his chair up to Yunho's desk.
"He's suing someone."
"Who's he suing?"
"His ass," Yunho replied gravely, back to Changmin as he loaded his cup with sugar and cream.
Changmin nodded sagely. "I see. But why? Why would he sue his ass?"
"He claims it's too hot for him to restrain himself. He's suing it for emotional stress from all the times he's been arrested for exposing it in public." Yunho sighed as he moved over to Changmin, cup of scalding hot coffee in hand. "This will be a very difficult case."
Changmin nodded slowly. "I'll do my best to help, Mr. Jung."
"Just call me 'Yunho'," the lawyer breathed into Changmin's ear, lips brushing against his cheek. Suddenly, for no explicable reason, his coffee cup tilted, sending a rush of hot, brown liquid into Changmin's lap.
Changmin jumped, yelping softly as the hot coffee sank into his pants. He stood up quickly, reaching out for a nearby towel to dab at his crotch.
"Oh no," Yunho gasped, setting the coffee aside before taking the towel from Changmin's hands, "I'm so sorry! Let me help you with that." He dropped to his knees and began dabbing gently at Changmin's crotch.
Changmin bit his lip, trying to hold back his arousal at the sight of his boss on his knees in front of him. "M-M..... Yunho...."
"Changmin," Yunho breathed, setting the towel aside before slowly unbuttoning the college student's pants. "Your pants need to come off. Let me help you out of them." Changmin watched in awe as Yunho undid the zipper and slid the pants down his thighs. For no apparent reason, he was wearing no underwear.
"Yunho, you don't need to do this," Changmin began.
"No, I need to clean all the coffee up," Yunho whispered, his breath tickling Changmin's hardening cock, "but this towel is too rough to use on such tender parts of your body. Let me use my mouth instead."
Before Changmin could say a single word, Yunho wrapped his lips around the head of his cock, eyes focused on Changmin's face as he began to suck. He bobbed his head slowly, humming deep in his thoat, and Changmin had to place his hands on Yunho's shoulders to keep his balance.
"Yunho," Changmin gasped as the older man worked to take every bit of his cock past his lips, "You feel so good, oh Yunh----"
---
click me i am just a thumbnail!
Changmin's eyes popped open at his phone buzzing wildly on his bed. He sat up slowly, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes before his hand fumbled to grab the offending device and bring it to his ear.
"'lo?" he muttered sleepily, still scrubbing at his eyes while frowning down at the boner pitching a fantastic tent in his sheets.
"Changmin!" Yunho's voice was harsh. "Get dressed. We have to go bail someone out."
"Now?" He blinked big, cheeks burning as fragments of his completely inappropriate dream about his boss played out behind his eyelids. "I-"
"Yes, right now. I'll be there in ten minutes." The line went dead.
Changmin snapped his phone shut and dropped it on his sheets, his free hand cupping his erection. He whimpered.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:06 am.
Changmin peered into the side mirror and tried to finger-comb his hair into obedience. At 2 am, he was pretty sure no one cared how he looked, but such a proper, strict upbringing by his parents demanded nothing less.
"Who are we going to see?" he finally dared to ask. Yunho had been tense ever since he'd gotten into the car, and Changmin was less than inclined to pry.
"We're bailing someone out," Yunho corrected.
"Alright, who are we going to bail out?" Changmin sighed and peered out the window. They had already reached the downtown area. The street lights were on, people stumbling up and down the streets in various levels of inebriation.
"An old friend."
Changmin frowned at Yunho's terse replies and gave up, still staring out the window. After a moment he sat up straighter and blinked. "Is that Park Yoochun?"
"What?" Yunho pulled to a stop at a red light and peered out the passenger window. A car was being towed away from a No Parking zone in front of a bar. Someone who very much indeed resembled Park Yoochun was arguing with a cop, and as the tow truck began to pull away with a somewhat expensive-looking car attached, the man began chasing after the tow truck down the street.
"Yes," Yunho finally sighed, looking forward and hitting the gas when the light turned green, "that was Park Yoochun."
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:29 am.
Changmin couldn't, for the life of him, imagine who was so important that Yunho would be willing to come down to the police station at 2 in the morning to bail someone out with his own money, but that's exactly what he was doing.
He watched as the clerk confirmed the account transaction and sent a cop to go fetch the person in question from holding. Yunho looked tense, shoving his account information back into his pocket before crossing his arms and pacing. Changmin wanted to ask his boss questions but Yunho's entire attitude discouraged them, so he did his best to keep his mouth shut.
Another ten minutes later saw the cop returning with someone in tow. Changmin took one look and promptly did a double take, followed by a triple take.
The man being brought out - for surely this was a man, right? - had to be a hooker; there was no other way Changmin could rationalize someone going out into public dressed like that. His hair was badly in need of a new dye job; the man's black roots were painfully obvious from under the platinum blond locks. He was wearing some sort of black coat, with the collar and cuffs lined in soft, fluffy fur. His shorts were short enough to nearly be crawling up his ass, and his knee-high boots looked like they weighed twenty pounds each. He had a heavy coat of makeup on his face as well; a bright sheen of lip gloss on his lips and deep black lining his eyes.
"Yunho!" The man squealed and trotted to the lawyer, giving him a warm hug. "Thank you! I knew you'd come!"
Changmin opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again. Yunho sighed and turned towards the door.
"Let's go."
:::
June 20th, 2010. 2:57 am.
If Changmin had thought the ride with Yunho earlier had been tense, then it was cheery compared to the atmosphere in the car now. He shifted in the backseat, somehow thankful he was not in the middle of the storm he could tangibly feel brewing.
The hooker - that probably wasn't the politically-correct term for someone of his profession, but Changmin couldn't bring himself to care - pulled out a cigarette, taking a moment to crank down the window before he lit up.
"Who's the kid?" The man finally asked, jerking a thumb back towards Changmin. Yunho glared at him.
"Shim Changmin. He's my assistant."
The man pouted slightly. "You didn't tell me you had picked up some cute errand boy."
"And for good reason! Dammit, Jaejoong," Yunho hissed, slamming on the brakes when the light turned red, "get serious! I thought I told you to stop doing shit like this! Go get a real job!"
"I'm good at this! I like my job," the man, Jaejoong, sniffed, sucking at his cigarette while staring out the window.
"It's not even safe," Yunho continued to rant, "There's crazy clients and abusive pimps-"
"Hey, he doesn't beat me, okay?" Jaejoong turned to look at Yunho then, pointing a finger in his face. "It's not economical. And I'm safe about it now! I use condoms every time like you said! Last thing I need is some weird disease or AIDS or something."
"That's not the point! You know, if you keep doing this, I'm gonna stop bailing you out and then who are you going to call, huh? You'll be stuck in a holding cell overnight with drunks and drug addicts-"
"You wouldn't do that to me." Jaejoong's voice was firm and confident as he stared at Yunho, cigarette smoldering forgotten in his hand.
"Mr. Jung," Changmin finally spoke up, his voice barely audible, "the light."
"'Mr. Jung'?" Jaejoong laughed, glancing back at Changmin before looking back at Yunho. "What's this 'Mr. Jung' shit? Just call him 'Yunho'."
Memories of his dream just a few hours prior reared their heads and Changmin let out an embarrassed little mew. Thankfully, it went largely unnoticed.
"Dammit, Jaejoong, I worry about you." Yunho eyed the green light and hit the gas, sighing as he tightened his grip on the wheel. "If you're going to keep doing this at least stop picking up undercover police officers, alright?"
"I didn't know he was a cop!"
Yunho scoffed. "Right, I'm sure you didn't."
Jaejoong sniffed and didn't reply.
"Why're you still doing this, huh?" Yunho glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, hands flexing on the steering wheel. "I got you that job as a bartender. What happened to that?"
"I'm still doing it," Jaejoong breathed, turning to stare out the window. "We just needed a bit more money, that's all."
"What? Why? What's up with Heechul?"
"Who's Heechul?" Changmin spoke up once more.
"My roommate," Jaejoong explained easily. "He's fine. We just... needed some extra cash."
Yunho leveled a stare at him. Jaejoong rolled his eyes and looked back out the window.
"Alright, fine, we have someone living with us and we need extra money to pay for him to eat and shit." Jaejoong took a long drag and slowly sighed it back out.
"Why can't he get his own job?" Yunho asked.
"He's a foreigner. From China."
Yunho blinked wide eyes at Jaejoong. "Is he illegal?"
"Not yet, but he will be soon. His visa runs out next week."
"Are you, uh, planning to do anything about that?"
"We don't know what to do," Jaejoong sighed, crossing his legs. "I told Heechul to just let him go back to China and come back here again on another tourist visa, but Heechul thinks they won't let him back into the country. He just wants him to hide out at our apartment."
"That's a bad idea," Yunho said slowly, and Jaejoong laughed.
"Don't you think I know that? But Heechul is stubborn, you know that. He doesn't want to let Hankyung go back."
Yunho shook his head. "So why not get him a permanent visa to stay here legally?"
"We don't know how," Jaejoong snapped, turning to glare at Yunho. "God, why do you ask so many questions?"
"Because I'm worried about you, okay? Why didn't you come to me about this?"
Jaejoong shook his head, staring down at his lap. "You already do too much. I couldn't ask for more."
Yunho finally pulled the car to a stop in front of an apartment building. "That's what friends do, you idiot. Why else would I bail you out at 2 in the morning?"
Jaejoong stared at Yunho and smiled. "Do you really think you can figure something out? For Hankyung."
"I have a few ideas. How old is he?"
"I'm not sure. Heechul knows. Somewhere in his 20's, I think."
"Good enough." Yunho grinned. "I'll call you in a few days, alright?"
"Thanks." Jaejoong grinned and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Yunho's cheek. "I'll see you later, then." He turned around in his seat and waved at Changmin, smirking. "You too, kid. Come find me sometime and I'll give you a freebie."
"A freebie?" Changmin blinked and looked Jaejoong over. He could feel his crotch tighten.
"He doesn't need one, but I'm sure he appreciates the offer, right, Changmin?" Yunho cut in, grinning just a bit dangerously.
Jaejoong rolled his eyes and pushed the door open, crawling out of the car. "Fine, fine. See you later, Yunho. And thanks again!"
Changmin crawled into the front seat, closing the car door and watching Jaejoong disappear into the apartment complex. He slowly turned to look at Yunho, quirking an eyebrow in question. He was ignored. Yunho tightened his hands on the wheel as he pulled away from the curb and turned his car back towards Changmin's apartment. Neither of them said a word.
:::
June 20th, 2010. 3:17 pm.
Changmin tried to cover his yawn as he stepped into Yunho's office. Their night-time adventure to bail a hooker out of jail had left him exhausted, and he'd slept in far later than he'd intended.
Yunho looked up when he stepped in, giving him a kind smile. "About time you showed up."
"Well, you had me up late," Changmin muttered, smothering another yawn before going to make himself a fresh pot of coffee. "What're you doing?"
Yunho grinned down at the paperwork on his desk before smirking up at Changmin. "I think I have an answer for our problem with Hankyung."
Changmin nodded slowly. "Oh?"
"Yeah. A friend of mine, well, a former client, he's the superintendent at the college. I called him earlier and he's willing to have Hankyung enroll as an exchange student. I just have to send him Hankyung's details and he'll handle the rest."
"That's... generous of him," Changmin murmured, turning from the coffee pot and frowning at Yunho. "And generous of you, too. You don't even know the guy."
"Well, no, but I know Jaejoong, and Jaejoong knows Heechul. They're good people. I don't mind helping them out." Yunho turned back to the paperwork, frowning at his writing and erasing a few lines.
"Yunho..." Changmin trailed off, licking his lips before clearing his throat. "I mean, Mr. Jung-"
"You can call me 'Yunho,' it's fine."
"Yunho, then... why are you doing this? I mean... Jaejoong couldn't even afford his own bail, right? He's not going to be able to pay you back for all this, either."
Yunho shrugged, eyes still focused on the papers in front of him. "No, probably not."
"So why do it?"
Yunho stayed quiet for a long moment. "Because it's not about the money, Changmin. It's just about helping people, and fixing problems. This is their problem, and I can fix it."
"It's not about Jaejoong?"
Yunho frowned and looked up, surprised. "What about Jaejoong?"
"He just-" Changmin cleared hs throat. "I mean, you two seemed really close, that's all."
Yunho laughed. "We're just friends."
"Nothing more?"
Yunho blinked a few times, eyebrows creeping towards his hairline as he sat back in his chair. "You sound jealous, Changmin."
He couldn't stop the blush that began to bleed into his cheeks. "I'm not jealous, Mr.-... Yunho."
"Really, we're just friends." Yunho hid a smile as his eyes trailed over Changmin's form where he stood next to the coffee maker. "You don't need to worry about him."
"I'm not worried about him," Changmin muttered, grinning down at the coffee pot.
Yunho scoffed in the back of his throat, staring outright at his assistant. "Did anyone tell you you're an awful liar?"
Changmin couldn't even summon up the indignation to be upset. "Yeah, sometimes." He grinned at Yunho, coffee momentarily forgotten.
"Mm, well, you're an awful liar." Yunho gifted him with a wink before turning back to his paperwork, making a little whine of disgust when he noticed coffee stains on one paper.
:::
June 23th, 2010. 9:03 pm.
"This isn't my normal routine," Yunho said slowly as he eyed the bottle of champagne Changmin had set on his desk.
"I know," Changmin said, smirking as he pulled out two plastic wine glasses from the grocery store bag in his hands, "but you have me now, and we have to reward ourselves after a case every now and then."
Yunho rolled his eyes and stood up, easing his suit coat off his shoulders and tossing it over the back of his chair. "I don't think getting one foreigner to stay in the country counts as a 'big case' or anything, Changmin."
"I'm not saying it was a big case. Stop trying to kill the mood." Changmin smiled as he took the champagne bottle and wandered over to the garbage. He didn't trust Yunho to be able to open the bottle and not ruin half of his records or put someone's eye out in the process. He could feel the man's eyes on him as he pried the cork out, managing to get the majority of the liquid that sprayed out into the plastic bag lining the trash can.
"Nice," Yunho said, loosening his tie as he sat down on the couch. Changmin grabbed the wine glasses and joined him, pouring each of them a drink. "So what're we toasting?"
"Um," Changmin shrugged as he set the bottle aside. "I don't know. Anything you want to toast to?"
Yunho looked around the office, his eyes crinkling as he grinned back at Changmin. "To my clean office?"
Changmin laughed, his eyes sliding around the office as well. In the month he'd spent with Yunho, he'd managed to get the majority of the man's files in order. He wasn't finished, not by a long shot, but with any luck Yunho wouldn't be getting rid of him any time soon.
"Alright, to your clean office."
"And... to my assistant who cleaned it?"
Changmin felt a grin split his face. "Sounds good."
Yunho nodded and lightly clinked his glass against Changmin's before sipping at the champagne. Changmin did the same, eyes trained on Yunho's face as he watched the man drink; the way he closed his eyes, the bob of his adam's apple with each swallow. Changmin set his glass aside and when Yunho lowered his own he reached out, grabbing Yunho's tie and pulling him close.
"Changmin?" Yunho watched him steadily, not bothering to stop him, and Changmin did the same thing he'd done the first time he'd met Yunho: took a breath, gathered his balls, and went for it.
The moment their lips touched, he knew he had made the right choice. He couldn't fight the grin that spread across his lips and he slid his other hand up to Yunho's shoulder, pulling him just that much closer. When he felt Yunho's lips stretch into a smile as well he moaned, hand tightening on Yunho's shoulder as he deepened the kiss.
click me i am just a thumbnail!
Changmin began to ease closer, pushing Yunho back on the couch and sliding into his lap. He straddled Yunho's thighs and promptly grinded against him, his hand still wrapped tightly around Yunho's tie to keep him close. Yunho moaned loudly into the kiss, champagne glass dangling forgotten between his fingers before being dropped altogether. Neither of them paid attention to the growing wet spot on the carpet.
:::
June 24th, 2010. 8:07 am.
The office phone began shrieking around the same time the creeping sunlight hit Changmin's eyes. He squirmed weakly on the couch, Yunho's heavy weight pinning him down.
"Yunho," Changmin growled, poking the man atop him. "Answer your damn phone."
Yunho groaned in return, thrusting a hand out blindly towards his desk. He was about a foot short of reaching the phone. He sighed and extracted himself from Changmin to stand up and shuffle the necessary foot forward to reach his desk. Changmin shielded his eyes from the light and took the opportunity to admire Yunho's naked ass.
"Hello?" Yunho yawned into the phone, scratching at his messy hair. He listened for a moment before closing his eyes and rubbing his face. "I see. Who's suing you this time?"
Changmin caught his gaze and Yunho rolled his eyes, mouthing Kim Junsu with an exasperated frown. Changmin did his best to keep his laughter inaudible.
"I see," Yunho said again, nodding even though Kim Junsu couldn't see him. "Well, why don't you come down to the office in uh... in a few hours, and we can discuss our options, okay? Try to keep your penis in your pants in the meanwhile."
He hung up the phone abruptly before shuffling back to the couch, where Changmin watched him shamelessly.
"Make room for me."
"There's not even enough room for one person on here, let alone two."
"We managed it last night." Yunho smirked and Changmin couldn't help returning the smile.
"True enough." Changmin oofed slightly as Yunho crawled atop him again and snuggled down. "So are you going to fire me now?"
"Why would I do that?"
"No affairs between co-workers?"
"I'll let that rule slide," Yunho murmured, pressing his face against Changmin's neck, "as long as you remember you're still my assistant. I expect the rest of this office clean by the end of the week."
"Slave-driver," Changmin whined, without any real malice. He eyed the remaining piles of paperwork and folders, the overflowing trashcan, even the glass Yunho had dropped last night. For once, the messes didn't bother him. He had something better to focus on, after all.
As for Yunho? Well, Changmin was quite pleased to note that his original estimation of the lawyer was correct. Jung Yunho rode the line between genius and insanity just like he rode everything else: hard, fast, and incredibly well.
:::