Work Text:
Junmyeon stared hard at his computer screen, searching for a sign of anything wrong. Why haven’t it developed a defect of some sort? Displays are supposed to go wrong after awhile, aren’t they? Why couldn’t it have acquired a couple of vertical pink lines or just refused to turn on at all?
Junmyeon sighed and turned his glare to the keyboard.
No. There’s not much that could be wrong with a keyboard, and he refused to be known as a person who spilled his tea on a keyboard twice. Of course, there was Chanyeol from accounting who was clumsy enough to manage it four times. But Junmyeon’s conscience clearly differentiated between an accidental if disastrous behavior and purposeful harm to corporate possessions.
He already had trouble with his stationary phone (twice), got a mouse not working (a clever trick of switching the good batteries with his two year old ones), had trouble logging into his computer and his e-mail account (he had to stop going in this direction or else he’ll make an impression of slowly going senile), got paper jammed in the printer, needed help with sending scanned documents (this one wasn’t made up actually, the scanner interface was so not user-friendly), and he was running out of excuses.
He looked forlornly at his tea cup. Would it be so bad to spill it a little?
It all started the day when the cleaning lady in a fit of rage (or innocent carelessness) displaced the cable connecting his computer to the company network. Arriving at work and finding his computer totally useless, stripped of its ability to download the newest corporate presentation templates, Junmyeon called up the IT department.
The soft voice at the other end of the line listened to him attentively and promised to get back to him as soon as possible. It did little to calm Junmyeon’s nerves. But when the owner of the voice came up to him flashing his dimpled smile, Junmyeon forgot all about templates, e-mails and reports. He was enchanted.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t even learned the name of the guy, apparently losing all ability to speak for awhile. So, setting aside his half-cooked presentation (his boss won’t remember about it for a while anyway), he spent some half hour searching the company database for the amazing human being who was so kind as to find the other end of the cable and stick it into the appropriate socket, smiling again. It wasn’t easy but he succeeded in learning the name of the object of his adoration (apparently you’re supposed to use the address book to find people by their name, not vice-versa).
The name of the IT angel was Zhang Yixing, and ever since then Junmyeon spent at least twenty minutes a day thinking up excuses to call IT support again.
Yixing looked hard in thought, his expression of concentration making him extra handsome.
“It is weird that your computer lost connection to the printer just like that. I’m sure we didn’t change any security policies recently.”
“Mmm,” Junmyeon drawled noncommittally. It was of course nothing strange to him since he made it happen, discovering in the process too much information about printers and networks that he ever wished to know.
Yixing clicked his tongue, his slender fingers flying over keyboard with the speed of light.
“And it’s done. What was it that you needed to print?”
“Huh?” Junmyeon stared dumbly at him for a moment, then shook himself with great difficulty. “Right. It’s this chart right here…”
Yixing pressed the print button and graciously leaped from the seat. He was back mere seconds later with the printed page and his perfect smile.
“Here you go. Don’t hesitate to call if something like that happens again.”
Oh, Junmyeon certainly wouldn’t hesitate. He just needed to think up of another idea.
“Did you get a virus on your computer?” Kyungsoo asked suddenly.
Junmyeon and he were sitting at their usual table, waiting for a waiter to bring them their lunch.
“No,” Junmyeon said cautiously.
“That IT guy visits you a lot, or is there another reason for that?”
Junmyeon thanked his genetics for his inability to blush bright red or he totally would right now.
“I guess I just have bad luck with computers. Technologically impaired or something…”
Kyungsoo looked at him suspiciously.
“I see. Although I didn’t notice you had any trouble with technology before. On the contrary, it seems to me that recently you’ve developed quite an interest in it.”
Kyungsoo was right, unfortunately. Junmyeon spent a good half hour every day browsing through tech websites, searching for inspiration.
“Well, you know. I’m trying to get a hang of it, but it still eludes me somehow. Maybe I’m just a bit unlucky.”
“Uh-huh,” Kyungsoo hummed, sounding not at all convinced.
Junmyeon was really proud of himself this Wednesday. He figured out how to roll back the system update even though it was done automatically.
He immediately called his most used phone number in the phone book (oh god, it was only one month), but there was no answer. That was troubling, but Junmyeon didn’t give up yet. He sent an e-mail to the IT support address, completely sure that Yixing will see it.
His bewilderment on seeing an unknown sourly-looking young man (not Yixing!) could not have been greater if his boss decided to start a cabaret-dancing competition in the middle of the open space. If he stopped to think rationally for a minute, he might’ve concluded that the IT department must have other employees. But it never even occurred to him since every single time before the only person who came to him was Yixing.
The new guy (Junmyeon didn’t bother to find out his name, disappointed as he was) sat himself at his computer, furrowing his brow and seemingly not requiring any small talk.
So Junmyeon had the leisure to think over and over (and over and over again) about what exactly went wrong. It didn’t take long for him to become completely sure that Yixing had finally realized that Junmyeon had this stupid crush on him and was shocked, uncomfortable, maybe even disgusted with him?
It was clear as light. There could not be any other reason.
The daily routine of Junmyeon changed drastically after that incident. He did in fact become used to browsing different tech sites in his desperate efforts to make his devices go wrong, and now his fingers were itching to click on those same sites again. Sometimes he did it, but then immediately closed the browser tabs, feeling guilty.
He solemnly promised to never call IT again. At all. Even if his computer stopped working completely. It’s one thing to have humiliatingly obvious crush on somebody, but it’s another to continue to pester them when they were obviously uncomfortable. The only good thing was that the IT department was on a completely different floor from Junmyeon’s office and he never saw Yixing in the canteen either.
Unfortunately, although Junmyeon had power over his actions, he had less power over his thoughts. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate on quarterly reports, he often caught himself daydreaming about seeing Yixing again (in an alternate universe where he didn’t make a fool of himself and could string more than four words together at a time while making small talk).
Kyungsoo, always perceptive, commented about Junmyeon’s dejected mood a time or two but stopped pressuring him, seeing as he was going nowhere with his questions.
And so the days continued in that steady dreary manner until a sudden event interrupted the course of the moping. Junmyeon got a message from the IT. Professional, and strictly to the point, it went on to inform him that he needed to go down there to sign some sort of information security notice.
Junmyeon felt the cold shivers starting to run up and down his back. That was bad. Really, really bad. What were the odds of not running into Yixing there? He never visited the IT department up to this point - when he started his job his computer was already at his desk, plugged in and everything.
He put if off for as long as he could, going through his meetings, buying his coffee in the cafe across the street instead of at the first floor of his building. He thought about it all through his lunch and even entertained an idea of pretending to not receive the summons. But his conscience turned out to be stronger than his fear.
Junmyeon cautiously rapped on the door, his heart thumping in his ears. Whatever happened next, he will remain poised and dignified.
“Come in,” said a voice from behind the door.
Junmyeon gulped, and opened the door. He soon found out the extent of his unluckiness. Yixing seemed to be the only person there at the moment. He wanted to fall underground, he really did. But he gathered his courage and went up to him.
Yixing looked up at him with his usual dimpled smile.
“Junmyeon,” said he softly, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Junmyeon something unintelligible. He scrambled his mind for something clever to say but come up with nothing.
Yixing continued to look at him. Junmyeon continued to look at Yixing.
“So I came here to sign that notice about security protocol.”
“I know,” Yixing nodded, “I wrote that e-mail. Although to tell you the truth, we have no such notice,” he shrugged sheepishly.
Junmyeon scrambled to try and understand what all that meant. The words separately made sense, but put all together - not so much. Did Yixing want or did he not want to see him? It was very confusing.
Yixing nervously ruffled his hand through his hair. Was that a blush on his face? No, that must’ve been the light from the micro-scheme that laid next to him on the table, blinking furiously.
Yixing stood up slowly and stepped closer to Junmyeon.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Junmyeon couldn’t say that he did.
“For such a smart person, you could be really dumb,” chuckled Yixing, leaned in and kissed him.
It was much later that Junmyeon found out that Yixing also had a crush on him since their first meeting and that’s why he was always the first to react if Junmyeon had any trouble. And the week when he was unavailable was just because he had a vacation (not by his own will by the way, HR was just threatening him with cutting his bonus pay).
Kyungsoo thought they were both stupid, but they were stupid together now and that was all that mattered.