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Youngwoo knew Junho had a jealous streak. It was something she’d noticed early on - and for her to pick up on something like that when she hadn’t even been particularly looking for it, he must have been obvious.
She hadn’t minded it to start - it had even given her a pleasant little buzzing feeling inside, to know Junho desired her attention so burningly that it upset him to see her giving it elsewhere.
However. She and Junho had been dating for months now, and Youngwoo found it a little tiresome - and even a bit insulting when he displayed such obvious jealousy now.
Especially when it was over a client.
“So this day was the first time you met the defendant?” She asks her new client. They’re in his spacious office, her and Junho, conducting her first interview with Mr. Lin, and she and her colleague (boyfriend - it had been four months and she still couldn’t get used to that term) are seated next to each other on a sofa, while her client sits in the chair opposite.
“Yes, that’s right, he answers, leaning over the coffee table between them. “Can I pour you more tea? I have coffee if you’d prefer.”
“No thank you. Can you describe how you were feeling that day?”
“Tired. A little down to be honest - I’d not long broken up with my fiancé you see. - She looked a little like you, actually, Attorney Woo, she always wore her hair short too.”
Youngwoo nods. “Right. So would it be fair to say your mood was lower than usual?”
“Yes. I didn’t -“
“Sorry,” Junho interrupts, not sound sorry at all, “but you need to stick to details about the case. What your ex-fiancé did or did not look like isn’t important.”
Youngwoo glances at him with a frown. Even she could tell he was being rude.
“Ah - right. Yes.”
“After all, any unnecessary detail will be disregarded in court, and only cause the case to be more drawn out,” Junho continues. “Isn’t that right, honey? - Sorry, Attorney Woo. Forgive me,” he throws a wide smile at the client. “I try to remember to be formal at work but it’s easy to slip up when we’re together so much.”
Mr. Lin looks startled. “Oh - are you two…?”
“Together, yes,” Junho says immediately, still smiling, he throws an arm around Youngwoo’s shoulder and she shrinks away, frowning. “Four months now.”
She squirms out from under his arm, shuffling along on the sofa to put some distance between them.
“We should get back to our discussion. Can you tell me the time of day when you left your house that day, Mr. Lin?”
“Ah, yes. Well it was after lunch, I remember that because I had gimbap, my neighbour had brought it over the night before when they made too much.”
Youngwoo’s eyes light up. “Gimbap! I eat gimbap every day for lunch, it’s one of my favourite foods!”
“Oh me too! I like that you can see all the ingredients.”
Her eyes bulge a bit, and she has to resist the urge to flap her hands, fingers tensing. “Yes! It’s reliable and easy to eat and there are no surprises hidden inside. Sometimes depending on the type of ham the ham isn’t very good, but it can be easily removed -“
Her excited ramble is halted mid sentence by Junho clearing his throat loudly next to her. “I think we should focus on the case. We don’t have all afternoon, after all.”
“Ah - yes, yes,” says Mr. Lin, “you must be very busy.”
Youngwoo opens her mouth to answer but Junho beats her to it.
“We are.”
“Right,” her client says. “Well - where was I? Ah yes. After lunch…”
They get through the rest of the interview mostly without incident (apart from Junho scoffing and covering it with a loud fake cough when the client laughs at something Youngwoo says), and bid him goodbye, shaking hands. She’s become much better at shaking hands since she started working as an attorny, and can almost do it now with her whole hand instead of just the tips of her fingers. They leave his office, and head out of the building, stepping into the elevator to take it down to the ground floor. The doors close behind them, and they’re plunged into silence, alone.
Taking a deep breath, Youngwoo turns to face him. “Junho. Your behaviour today embarrassed me in front of a client. Please try to control yourself when you feel jealousy in future.”
There. She’d said what she needed to. And what needed to be said. With a firm nod, she turns away again.
The breath is knocked out of her, when in the next second, her back hits the wall of the elevator, and Junho is leaning over her, arms caging her in on either side of the wall. He reaches out and smacks the stop button, and she jumps, giving a yelp as her hands come up by her ears and the lift jolts to a stop.
“Try to control myself? Myself? I had to sit there for thirty minutes Youngwoo, thirty minutes while he stared at you like you were something on the menu, making eyes at you across the table while you flirted with him!”
Youngwoo splutters, eyes wide. “Wha - flirted!? Flirted? I was not flirting with him! He’s a client, we’re were having a client-attorney conversation about the case.”
“So why were you smiling at him so much? Why did you blush when he complimented your suit, huh?”
“I was being polite.” She brushes her hands over herself. “It is a nice suit.”
He scoffs. “Yeah, sure. I told you you looked nice the other day, and you said you looked the same as every day and walked off!”
“I did look the same.”
“That’s not the point!” He snaps, slapping one hand against the wall by her head the way Attorney Jung smacked his desk sometimes to get her attention. She jumps again, eyes wide, looking up at his face as he towers over her panting.
“Junho. You’re scaring me…”
His own eyes widen at that, and after a beat his arms drop from either side of her, and he staggers back. One step, two. Runs a hand through his hair and over his face. Youngwoo’s eyes track it, and it trembles a little. She’s never seen him wound up like this, and she doesn’t quite know how to handle it.
She take a breath, eyes darting around the small space. Junho is always patient, and kind and caring, she’s never known him to get riled like this. He’s always patient, she thinks again. He has endless patience with her - even when things overwhelm her, in the moments when it all becomes too much and she’s reduced to curling in on herself, hands over her ears as she rocks herself until the feeling passes. Junho had learnt quite quickly what she needed in those moments, and though she doesn’t think she’s ever expressed it to him, she appreciates him deeply for the way he quickly passes her her headphones, leads her hastily away from the situation that’s caused it, and sits beside her, silent but there until she settles down.
Youngwoo wouldn’t be much of a partner if she didn’t help him in a moment when he’d lost it a little in return, would she?
“Do you want my headphones?” Is the first thing she can think of, and she’s fumbling in her bag, yanking them out and rushing over to place them on his head.
“Youngwoo,” he stops her with his hands out. “Youngwoo, what…”
“You don’t have any of your own so you can borrow mine. Shall we sit down on the floor? Sometimes it helps if I recite every type of whale, dolphin and their respective terms. Since your knowledge on them isn’t very good I’ll recite them for you.”
“Youngwoo -“
“Blue whale, sperm whale, humpback whale, grey whale, fin whale, killer whale - although actually despite the name killer whales are of the dolphin family also known as orcas - sei whale, bottleno -”
“Youngwoo!” He stops her with his hands on her arms, and she opens her eyes, halting mid word to stare at him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m helping you calm down,” she says like it’s obvious. Isn’t it?
“Helping me to - weren’t we arguing a minute ago?”
“You’re very upset, so much so that your hand is shaking - when I get upset you always help me and stay with me until it passes, so I’m doing the same for you. You should put these on.” She tries to place her headphones over his ears again, reaching up on tiptoes, but he stops her, hands gentle round her own as he brings them down, resting between them. She stares up at him, quite at a loss.
“I don’t need your headphones,” he says after a pause. “But I appreciate the gesture. His shoulder slump a bit, frame relaxing, and he squeezes his eyes shut before he opens them again. “I’m sorry. I never meant to lose my cool like that. I’m sorry I scared you.”
Youngwoo nods. “Okay.” She looks down where his hands still cover her own, clutched round her headphones.
“Are you sure you don’t want the headphones? I have some calming whale noises I can play into them, usually I listen to them in crowds and it’s very helpful -“
“No,” he says firmly, touching her hand again before she can reach into her bag for her phone. He sighs. “Those are things that help you when you’re feeling stressed. The same things wouldn’t necessarily be helpful to someone else.”
He says the words gently - patiently - and how relieved Youngwoo is to have his patience back. She thinks on what he said… yes, she knows that, or knew it. She’d forgotten. Things that help her wouldn’t necessarily be helpful to someone else. She repeats it, muttering it quietly with her eyes closed; “things that help me wouldn’t necessarily be helpful to someone else.” There. She’ll remember that now - or she’ll certainly try. She opens her eyes. “What sort of things would help you calm down, Junho?” She asks.
“Oh, do I still need calming down?” He replies, and there’s a playful edge to his words, a lightness in his eyes when she glances at them.
“You were very angry. You pushed me against the wall and hit the stop button on the elevator, and then you snapped at me and hit the wall.”
He winces a bit. “I did. You’re right; I’m sorry. But it’s hard for me to watch you with someone like that client - you’re so… oblivious. You don’t even realise.”
She frowns, looking up at him. “Don’t realise? What don’t I realise?”
“You don’t realise,” he says, a little louder before clearly getting control of his tone and lowering it again, “how damn attractive you are.”
Her eyes widen, and she breaks the gaze, snapping them away from his to search the elevator with a frown. “I think you’re the only person who thinks that, Junho.”
He scoffs, running a hand over his face. “I’m really not. Other people notice too - all the time. You just never realise. It’s hard to watch, is all.”
She’s still frowning, trying to absorb what he’s saying. She shakes her head. “Hmm, I think in this case, your bias is ruling your thoughts. I have autism, and the way I speak and my mannerisms are often strange for other people - it isn’t something people find attractive, and anyone who might initially like the way I look would soon be put off once they speak to me.”
“I wasn’t.”
Her gaze flicks to his again, eyes wide. She doesn’t have a response for that, opens her mouth then closes it again.
Junho steps closer to her. “In fact…. the fact you are so unique - so brilliant, is what makes you even more attractive.”
He takes another step forward and Youngwoo steps back on instinct. He’s watching her closely with a dark glint in his eye, and it’s making her heart race and her legs feel a bit weak, and what he has said circles her brain and makes her feel a little dizzy too. Her back hits the elevator wall, and Junho places his hands either side of her head again, but slowly this time, one then two, until she’s once again caged in by him again. She exhales, and the headphones still clutched in her hands press against her abdomen between them.
“You asked me what would help calm me down,” he says, his voice lower now, quiet and soft in the space between them. He glances at her lips. “I can think of something.”
Eyes wide, Youngwoo meets his gaze then looks away, then back to him. “W-what is it?” She manages.
He kisses her. At first she thinks it’s just because he wants to (and honestly, she feels the same way; proximity to him always seemed to have that effect), until his tongue strokes over her lips, coaxing them to part, and when he gives a content sounding groan into her mouth it clicks. This is what he means.
Gasping a little, she pushes him back. “Junho! I can’t kiss you when you get jealous in front of clients!” She says, aghast.
He grins, shaking his head. “No, you’d better not,” he agrees. “But you can kiss me afterwards, when we’re alone like this, if you like.”
“To calm you down?” She confirms.
“Yes.”
She think a moment. “Hmm. I still think controlling your jealousy in the first place would be the best course of action.”
Junho sighs, dropping his forehead to her shoulder.
“I’m your girlfriend now, so there’s really no need to worry about attention from other men, anyway,” she reminds him.
“Mmm, yes you are,” he rumbles, turning his head and letting his lips trace over her neck, breath hot on her skin. Her lips part, and her eyes squeeze shut, body flooding with that familiar warmth he caused when he touched her like this.
She’s just about to tell him to pack it in until he got them both wound up to a state they had no business being in during working hours, when he lifts his head and kisses her again, deep and slow and thorough, until her toes curl in her shoes. One of his hands leaves the wall to cup her face, fingers sliding into her hair and gripping it, keeping her head angled to his liking as his mouth slants over hers.
Youngwoo has completely forgotten anything she’d been about to say or do - or indeed, where they were - and lets the wall behind her back take her weight, sinking into the kiss. They’re broken apart by a clatter - her headphones hitting the floor - and she’s still blinking, leaning against the wall with her chest heaving a little as Junho gives a gasp and bends to pick them up. He brushes them off, holding them out to her.
“I think they’re fine. Sorry.”
She shakes her head, still a little dazed. “It was my fault, I dropped them.”
“Mm, but I think I was responsible for making you though,” he says, and winks. She looks away, biting her lip. “You should put them in your bag,” he suggests. “Or wear them, if you’d prefer while we walk to the station.”
“Wait!” She finds herself blurting out before he can press the start button on the elevator again. He pauses, hand hovering over the numbers and looks at her expectantly.
“I… maybe you can wait another minute until you start the elevator?”
Junho raises his eyebrows, a smirk on his lips. He moves back towards her. “Another minute, huh?”
She nods, looking up at him as he approaches again.
“And what would we do with this minute?”
“I thought, maybe we could…” He stops right in front of her again, still smirking. “Continue?”
“Continue?” He echos, still with that same smirk, and lifts a hand to brush back her hair. “My Woo Youngwoo. Who didn’t like to be touched a few months ago.”
She lifts her chin defiantly. “I never minded when it was you,” she counters. “And kissing is nice.”
“Kissing is nice,” he agrees.
Her chin tilts up further, and her eyes shut expectantly. “So?” She prompts.
He chuckles, leans in and kisses her again, and Youngwoo melts into the feeling of his lips against hers.
He was right - she didn’t like to be touched by anyone just a few short months ago, but somehow it had always felt different when it was Junho. She’s got better at shaking hands, but only because she’s required to do it so often and because she’s managed accustom herself to grasping the offered hand and giving it a firm shake and releasing as quickly as possible. She still doesn’t think she’d like to be touched in any other way by anyone - and certainly could never imagine doing this with some else. Silly Junho. He thought he had to worry her attention might be taken by someone else, but didn’t he know he was the only one she cared to be close to?
“Kissing is a good way to calm you down,” she affirms again once they draw apart, and she’ll stash that piece of information away carefully inside her head so that its easily retrievable should she need it in the future. But - “But,” she continues, “You are the only one I would like to kiss, and you’re the only person I like, so I think you need to work on your jealousy issues anyway, since they are very misplaced.”
“Oh, is that so?” He says teasingly.
“Yes.” She lifts her gaze to his. He’d told her once, that he knew that was when she was saying something serious, when she looked him in the eye, and she utilises that knowledge now. “Promise me?”
The light smile fades from his lips then, and he nods honestly. “Alright. I promise.”
“Good.” She steps around him, and moves over to the buttons on the lift, pressing the one next to the stop button and sending them lurching into motion again. She places her headphones on her head, the doors open and she holds out her hand, and waits until Junho takes it with his own until they step forwards together out of the elevator, and head towards the exit.
He squeezes her hand as they walk, and Youngwoo has never been very good at reading signals, but she thinks it feels like an apology.
She squeezes back, and Junho is smiling when she glances round up at him.
--