The Harder The Work... (2/??)
two.
Spring brought showers and May flowers just like the reliable adage said. But it also brought Kim Junsu to Yoochun and Yunho’s shared office as a second pair of hands.
Much as Yunho hated to admit it, Yoochun - who was technically his assistant supervisor, but how could he think of Yoochun as one when they would joke around about their high school flings on a daily basis? - was a little too good at picking interns that were “easy on the eyes.”
Yunho didn’t (probably) swing that way, but he would be lying if he didn’t think Junsu was cute. Granted, he was cute like an over-caffeinated prairie dog or some equally small, wide-eyed, and bushy-tailed creature was cute. But still.
Overeager prairie dog described him much better, though.
Junsu was the exact opposite of Jaejoong in his work ethic. Junsu preferred to be constantly on his feet, running to everyone’s cubicle with copies and coffee balanced in his arms, serving each employee with an impossibly buoyant smile regardless of the occasion. Though he was quite the chatterbox, Junsu knew when to fall back and stay quiet while Yoochun did damage control during departmental meetings.
That was another thing that surprised Yunho about Junsu: how obedient the younger one was to Yoochun’s requests in particular.
Though Junsu was always enthusiastic to be of help to the other supervisors, he would drop everything to tend to Yoochun first. They were unusually close, that much Yunho could tell. But why? He knew for a fact Yoochun hadn’t known Junsu before this (because Yoochun would have introduced him to Yunho if he had), so what helped make these two to act like best friends within the short span of two weeks?
Jaejoong tipped his head back and chortled for a good minute when asked about it, apparently finding Yunho’s concern absurdly funny.
“Yunhoyah…you seriously haven’t figured it out yet?”
“Figured what out?” Yunho frowned, reaching for the sandwiches Jaejoong had brought back for lunch and taking a sound bite out of the first one he can grab. “You know I hate when you’re vague with me.”
“Yoochunah,” Jaejoong slowly intoned, “thinks Junsuyah is the earth, moon, and stars of his universe.” Waving his hands over Yunho’s stunned expression. “Hel~lo? Anyone home?”
“He likes Junsu.” It was more of a reassessment than a question.
Smirk. “It’s more than like, if you ask me.” A soft chuckle. “But that’s just my hunch. Don’t quote me on it, alright? Oh, and don’t say anything to Yoochun, either?” Jaejoong held his finger up to Yunho’s lips. “He knows I suspect something, so if he hears it from you…well, he’ll probably know where you got the idea from.”
Yunho shook his head. “‘Because we’re always together,’ right?” He was referring to an office rumor that had spread in the past months he and Jaejoong had started working together (partly Yoochun’s fault but mostly due to his own attachment).
He doesn’t expect Jaejoong to ruffle his hair, affectionate, as if he were some downcast puppy left in the rain. “Exactly. Now go finish your lunch - we’ve got a meeting in ten and we still have to print out the paperwork for our statement.”
Unbidden, the slightest quirk comes to Yunho’s mouth. “Well, not all of us can finish our meals in five seconds flat like Junsu can.”
Strident, unrestrained laughter from Jaejoong answered him, a reverberation that was music to Yunho’s ears.
Before the meeting, however, Jaejoong was pulled aside by the head supervisor’s secretary.
“I’ll be awhile,” said Jaejoong, tossing a fleeting smile over his shoulder once he handed Yunho the report portfolio. “I told Junsuyah to help you out. It’s fine,” he reassured the panicked-looking Yunho, “Junsuyah picks up on things fast. You know that.”
He watched Jaejoong retreat into Mr. Sooman’s office, turning around to see Junsu standing by the door of the meeting room, waving madly at him.
“Hi,” Junsu chirruped the instant Yunho reached his side. “So…we’ve gotta give the annual departmental finances report?” He nearly jumped when Junsu whipped out a flash drive from his pants pocket. “I’ve got us covered! Yoochunnie brought the laptop in already; we were just waiting on you.”
Yunho wasn’t sure whether he should have been this outright baffled by the thought. “Umm. O-Okay, then…let’s go in.”
At Yunho’s admission, Junsu wordlessly took him by the hand beaming and dragged the older suit inside.
The meeting turned out to be quite a success. Junsu was calm and collected for the entire opening speech, standing once Yunho was finished and reciting every line of Jaejoong’s prepared point-by-point analysis of the PR department’s finances perfectly. When the entire conference room shook with applause from every supervisor seated in the back of the room, Junsu skittered back to the chair squeezed between Yoochun and Yunho at once.
“How’d I do?” Junsu whispered excitedly to Yunho, bearing pearly whites. Yoochun gave the teen a hard clap to his back, unable to keep the grin off his face.
“One hell of a job, that’s what you did.” And, for once, Yunho had no protests against Yoochun’s declaration.
After the meeting was finished, they met Jaejoong back in the office. Yoochun slung an arm over the older man the moment he saw him poised behind Yunho’s desk.
“Junsu was fucking brilliant, Jaejoongie - you should have seen the look on Advertisement’s face! This was the best idea ever!” This had apparently been Jaejoong’s original suggestion from the start.
“I told you,” Jaejoong was looking straight at Yunho as he spoke, “Junsuyah picks up on things fast.”
Yunho just smiled, coming over to Yoochun and Jaejoong’s side to embrace them both. Junsu joined them soon after, dark eyes alight with mirth over their shared victory, nuzzling into Yunho’s shoulder.
It was a warm moment - but it didn’t last long.
“…Okay.” Yunho looked at each of the others in turn. “Whose stomach was that?”
Junsu’s round cheeks were rosy as he pulled away from Yunho, a noise educed between a squeal and a squeak from the back of his throat. “M-Mine, I think?”
Jaejoong tweaked the younger one’s nose. “C’mere, then. I have some leftover sandwiches from lunch. Help yourself.” Junsu scampered to follow Jaejoong, thanking him profusely the entire way.
“…So you liked how your stand-in assistant handled that meeting?” Yoochun glanced at Yunho, crooked grin in place.
“Junsu really is something else,” Yunho shook his head, finding it a bit of a struggle to find the right words to describe him. “He’s really…quite the charmer, isn’t he?”
Again, Yunho found himself completely unsuspecting of Yoochun’s next actions: striding back to his own desk without a word, beckoning Junsu, chewing thoughtfully on a ham sandwich, to his side with a slight incline of the head. “Well. Hate to be the one tell you this, hyung-” Yunho couldn’t help but notice how Yoochun didn’t sound apologetic in the least. “-but Junsu’s my personal assistant.”
He tried his hardest not to consider the implications behind such a declaration. But when Junsu plopped right down on Yoochun’s lap, swinging his legs over the chair’s armrest as if it were the most comfortable place in the world, he could have sworn he saw Yoochun’s hand wandering southbound to settle on Junsu’s ample bottom. “-Right, Su?”
“Uh-huh!” Junsu managed to still look so terribly innocent, cheeks still flushed and crumbs lining the front of his suit jacket. Yunho wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when the biggest smile graced Junsu’s sanguine face. “Sorry, Yunho-nim.” Junsu rubbed at the back of his neck, sheepish. “But that’s the way the cake crumbles!”
“Cookie, Junsuyah.” A pair of arms encircle Yunho’s arm from behind - Jaejoong. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles.”
Yunho wondered why all this food talk wasn’t making him hungry yet strangely even emptier and more lost than when he started the day. He had a hunch as to why.
Office politics. Such a complicated and confusing thing.
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Spring into summer was a seasonal transition time. Apparently, it was also a time when the PR department had a flood of new interns.
One in particular approached them without any hesitation - a shock to Yunho, who was accustomed to dealing with the usual stammering and stumbling fresh-out-of-high-school prospect part timer - and even went as far as to shake each of the four members of the PR Management Committee’s (which included Yoochun, Junsu, Jaejoong, and himself) hands.
“Shim Changmin, ready to work, sir.” His brisk introduction even had Yoochun gaping. “I know I was assigned here on short notice, but I assure you,” the clean-cut youth adjusted horn-rimmed spectacles to sit higher on the bridge of his nose, “I won’t disappoint.”
“Do well on that promise, then,” Jaejoong intervened, stepping between the shell shocked Yunho and the now interested Yoochun, “and tidy up your desk. If you plan on doing any work, you have to move in properly, right?”
Their office became more and more cluttered as the days went on after that, but fuller and livelier too. Yunho had to admit that having Junsu, the butt of everyone’s jokes, and Changmin, whose sharp wit and even sharper tongue were as welcome as the vast amount of work he could produce in the least amount of time, were wonderful additions to the team. They were the committee’s “adolescent power,” as Jaejoong routinely took to calling the Junsu-Changmin pair.
Their office was re-shifted and reorganized at Jaejoong’s suggestion. Yoochun and Junsu’s desks on the far left, Yunho and Jaejoong’s adjacent to the window overlooking the city skyline, and Changmin’s on the far right.
An even uneven balance that somehow always got the job done.
It was amazing how ever since Yunho had met Jaejoong that he had made more friends in Seoul than he ever made in his entire life. Friends that he felt quite relaxed around, at that; he couldn’t recall the last time he felt so content in four others’ company before.
Granted, Yoochun had been his friend since high school - but he had been learning more about Yoochun in the past seven months than he ever had in the seven years he’d known him. Yunho, who was withdrawn and somewhat stiff with large groups of people, admired his upfront attitude with everyone and the general ease with which he could meld into a mass of people and just act natural.
With Junsu, he discovered the lad was much more than his carefree persona let on - a remarkably intelligent thinker with much to say about his many past experiences in work. Yunho, who preferred to keep his judgments and reservations to himself for the most part, admired Junsu’s ability to draw people in like magnets even over the phone, his husky tenor gentle yet so very unwilling to let a customer with a complaint leave without properly voicing what they had to say.
With Changmin, he discovered age was hardly a factor in relationships - if anything, the fact that the boy was so blunt made it so Yunho always knew what to expect from him. Yunho, who desired honesty from his fellow officemates above all else, didn’t ever approach Changmin to question whether he was pulling his weight in the group because he knew their manknae always would, no matter what the situation.
And what’s more, Changmin had connections to a nearby restaurant that meant free catering to their department at no extra charge. A hard-working and causal member to the team with very few weaknesses.
--Well, visible ones, anyway.
“Changminnie. My stapler just ran out.” Yoochun leaned over the younger man’s desk. “You’re still going strong, rig-?”
“Supply closet’s closer to you, hyung.” To this retort, Yoochun frowned but got up and retrieved the box of spare staples, anyway. Apparently, he didn’t feel like arguing with Changmin today.
The very same day, not even three minutes later, Junsu tiptoed over to Changmin’s desk.
“Min-ah, something’s stuck in my stapler.” Yunho looked up to see Junsu sending their manknae a downcast glance - no, he was pouting, practically making puppy-dog eyes at him. “Fix it for me?”
A beat. Changmin dropped his pen, snatched the stapler from Junsu, and within a few seconds pressed the top of the stapler down onto a stack of his own papers to prove he had done his job. “There you go.” Junsu beamed. “Happy now?”
“You’re amazing, Min-ah-no, you’re a genius!” Yunho expected Junsu’s thanks to come as one breath, but he didn’t expect the older teen to run over Changmin’s desk to give their manknae a tight hug. “Thank you so much…!”
Jaejoong nudged Yunho’s shoulder. “Now you see what I was talking about?”
Yunho just shook his head. “Let’s just hope Yoochun doesn’t,” he mumbled back, passing his assistant the filed report papers. “The last thing we need right now is a fight over someone’s schoolboy crush and somebody’s possessiveness over his secretary.”
“Less talking, more work please, the ever-conspiring YunJae pair.” Despite his brusque remark, Changmin was grinning from ear to ear. Yoochun had his head bowed, still trying to catch up on his pile of work documents. Junsu was none the wiser.
And the aforementioned pair spent the remainder of the day at their desk working silently, exchanging knowing smiles and sidelong glances the entire afternoon.
- Part Two // FIN -
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Part Three: http://sakuranbokissx.livejournal.com/11055.html