Chapter Text
“Mr …Mr Lee, sir?”
Taeyong’s gaze slowly travelled up, intense and piercing eyes blazing down the intern in front of him. The young man, twenty at most, resembled a frightened mouse now; hands wringing nervously behind his back, skin pale and clammy. He trembled under Taeyong’s stare, and the Korean could essentially smell his fear.
“I … uh … -“ The intern – Adam, if Taeyong remembered correctly. A foreigner. – was cut off when Taeyong lifted a hand, flipping around a piece of paper and tapping on a sentence underlined in red. Adam walked over, knees threatening to buckle with every step. He leant over the desk slightly and processed the words printed, mouth dropping wide and desperate eyes flicking back up to Taeyong.
“No – p-please, sir, I-I’m sorry!” Adam’s protests faded in Taeyong’s ears as he made eye contact with Jaehyun – his trusted personal assistant and one of his closest friends – and made another hand motion.
Take him away.
Jaehyun stepped forward and began to lead Adam out, the man’s protests turning angry and threatening. (Threatening to a lesser man than Taeyong, at least)
“I-I’ll ruin you! I have connections! My dad, he’ll –“ The door shut with finality, and Taeyong slumped back in his chair and scrubbed a hand over his face. He picked up the paper and flicked it in the bin, the underlined “attempted theft and extortion” crumpled and hidden from his sight. Taeyong opened his laptop up, booting up his emails, when a text came through on his phone.
(TEXT) “Yuta” – 13:54, Monday.
Yuta: you did it?
Yuta: i can hear jaehyun’s voice and he sounds MAD
Me: He’s gone.
Me: I don’t know how he thought he’d get away with stealing from us.
Me: And threatening to bribe us.
Yuta: americans
Yuta: we got the only good one and that’s jaehyun and hes not even really american
Yuta: he just lived there
Me: That’s MY P.A you’re complimenting. Go be nice to your own.
Yuta: jaehyun is also MY best friend. doyoung is just a pain
Me: Whatever.
Me: I have reports to finish and a call to make later.
Me: I may be home late – later than you, yes.
Yuta: okay; i’ve got a meeting anyway in 20min
Yuta: love u baby, see u later
Me: Love you too.
Me: See you later.
Yuta had just gotten home from his meeting – the meeting that had drastically ran overtime. He was in the elevator, already loosening his tie and running a hand through gelled, honey-brown hair. A glimpse in the mirror reflected just how tired the Japanese man felt – too tired for his twenty-five years of living.
The meeting had been with an important company, an important and potential business partner. Yuta had been planning for this meeting for months, working the CEO with his sweet words and charisma, and it had all boiled down to this moment.
The elevator let out a soft ding! and the doors opened, the hallway to Yuta and Taeyong’s apartment appearing.
Their penthouse apartment.
The floor – the fiftieth floor of the apartment complex – was completely void except for the short hallway and one door, the door that lead into the humongous apartment that Taeyong and Yuta both lived in.
It took only five minutes for Yuta to move and unlock his door, letting it shut with a soft click! behind him and the small whirring of the automatic gears securing the door.
Quiet footsteps padded across the floor and Yuta whipped around, a tired grin spreading across his face when he saw Taeyong – sweet, loving Taeyong. Taeyong who was freshly showered and changed out of his corporate suit, Taeyong who was wearing grey sweats and a ratty, holey college hoodie that Yuta knew was his.
Taeyong that had completely changed from intense and tough Lee Taeyong, co-CEO of NakaLee Technology, to Lee Taeyong, Yuta’s loving boyfriend of ten years.
“Tae!” The only warning Taeyong got before Yuta jumped into his arms was his frantic removal of his shoes and the wicked grin in his eyes. “I got it! I got us the deal!”
Taeyong gently pushed Yuta back to search his eyes, mirroring Yuta’s own grin when he detected nothing but the truth. Yuta was pulled back in for a long kiss, of loving and “I knew you could do it,”.
“We got Samsung, Tae. We got Samsung with us.”
A few hours later, and Taeyong was curled up against Yuta on the couch. He was half-asleep, letting out soft crooning sounds whenever Yuta dragged his fingers through his black strands, still slightly damp from his shower.
“You did the right thing, Yong,” Yuta whispered, fingers occasionally trailing down to trace his boyfriend’s chiselled jaw before returning to soft hair. “I’m never able to do what you can do – fire people like that, even when they deserve it. Especially when they deserve it.”
Taeyong lightly tapped his knee in rapid succession, Yuta chuckling softly and smoothing his thumb over the other’s temple.
“I am a bleeding heart, baby – I’m your bleeding heart, though.” Yuta could hear the soft exhale of air, could feel Taeyong’s silent giggles. He made up for his boyfriend’s silence with his own laughter, tugging him up and into his lap. Taeyong whined softly – a quiet sound, bubbling from his throat – as Yuta peppered his face in kisses. He squirmed and moved until he was more comfortable; legs thrown over the side of the couch, head nestled into Yuta’s shoulder and his back supported by his boyfriend’s arm.
“You feeling okay, baby? I haven’t heard you speak since this morning.” Taeyong shrugged, tapping Yuta’s chest this time. “Anxiety? Nightmares?”
When Taeyong nodded, tapping only once, Yuta could feel his heart constricting and pulled the older male closer, dropping a kiss to his crown.
“Well … I’ll tell you what. I know how much you love finding new interns – that can be our focus for the next few days,” Yuta murmured, laughing softly when Taeyong shot him a ‘really?’ look. “You know you love it, Yong. It’s fine, I trust you.”
A series of taps on Yuta’s chest, above his heart, conveyed to Yuta all that he needed to know.
I love you too.