Archive of Our Own ^beta

Renjun is having a bad day.

Forget that he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, both figuratively and literally. (He had almost fallen off as his wake up call.)

Forget that his alarm hadn’t gone off since he forgot to charge his phone resulting in him showing up nearly an hour late to work. (Currently barely surviving at 3%, yay.)

Forget that he somehow immediately spilled his coffee all over himself as he sat down. (Thanks Jeno! for letting him borrow a spare shirt.)

This, this is the pinnacle of all his problems.

Renjun stares unflinchingly at the Teams message preview.

“Hi Renjun! I need…”

He steels himself, taking a deep breath before clicking on it.

Hi Renjun! I need your help.

Huang Renjun typing…

Is this an emergency?

Na Jaemin typing…

My computer won’t turn on. 🙁

Renjun doesn’t realize how loud it is when his head meets the surface of his desk until Jeno’s head pops up from the cubicle across from him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Jeno looks concerned enough that Renjun feels almost guilty.

“I’m totally fine. Don’t worry about it.”

He doubts he sounds convincing enough, not by the way the little crease of worry in Jeno’s forehead deepens instead of disappearing. (To be fair, this is at least the third time this week he has done a complete headdesk in front of Jeno. Hopefully this one won’t leave a mark. Terribly embarrassing last time.)

“I just—” Renjun hesitates. “—need to go upstairs again. To provide IT help.”

Jeno’s face softens into a sympathetic look.

“Him again?”

Renjun can barely keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“Yuuuuup.”

Correction, a bad week.

Fucking Na Jaemin.

An hour later, and Renjun regrets not leaving Jaemin on read.

“And you’re sure nothing happened between yesterday and today?”

Renjun does his best to avoid looking at the puppy pout and wide eyes Jaemin is shooting his way. (Completely unbecoming for someone in his position and dressed so fine in a nicely tailored suit and a shirt underneath with the top button popped open so carelessly. Completely unprofessional.)

“Not that I can think of.”

Jaemin whines helplessly like a maiden in distress.

“I just don’t know what I would do without you, Renjun.”

Renjun almost groans out loud.

(Thankfully it had stayed in his head.)

“Well, Mr. Na, I’m glad to help.”

If help means spending his next three hours sitting in Jaemin’s office trying to back up all his computer files manually on to a company-approved laptop after pulling out the harddrive, then sure.

For all his technological expertise, he had not managed to figure out why Jaemin’s computer would not turn on, and after thirty minutes, he had resigned himself to the rest of his afternoon wasted.

“Call me Jaemin.”

Renjun thinks Jaemin sounds far too cheery.

(And makes the conscious decision to ignore him.)

“Okay, Mr. Na, this might take a while so I’m afraid you’ll have to find another computer to work on.”

He kneels down to peer under Jaemin’s desk, eyeing the bulky technology that he’ll (unfortunately) have to lug all the way back to his office. (Inwardly groaning at the mess of wires he’ll seemingly have to untangle to extract it from the space.)

“And I’ll take this back so that I can replace it with another one.”

Renjun stops short in the middle of pulling the computer away from the wall.

What. The. Fuck.

“Is this thing not plugged in?”

Jaemin’s face comes dangerously close to his, close enough that Renjun can hear him breathing and feel his own cheeks warm from the proximity. (It is not him blushing, it really isn’t. Just Jaemin heating the air in his personal space.)

“Oh, I guess that’s why it wasn’t turning on.”

Renjun swears the unplugged charger lying on the ground not connected to the wall socket is mocking him.

Should definitely have left Jaemin on read.

“Umm, what did the meat do to you?”

Yangyang is giving him a scandalized look, and it’s at that point Renjun realizes the entire table is looking at him stabbing his chopsticks into his food with the murderous intent of a thousand suns exploding.

“Well, if you don’t want it, I’ll take it.”

His food disappears into Chenle’s mouth before he can protest, failing to ward off Chenle’s deft chopstick skills. Chenle belches, and Renjun wrinkles his nose in disgust.

“Keep that to yourself.”

“So what’s got you so angry?”

Renjun graciously accepts the offering from Jisung. (The kid is new, green to their friend group and already Renjun has seen more kindness from him than from Chenle in the lifetime they’ve known one another. Bless his soul.) He chews furiously as he thinks of what to say. Or rather how to say it without it coming off as a hastily pulled together cacophony of angry noises.

“Na Jaemin.”

He says the name with punctuated flourish.

Only to get blank stares back at him.

“He is the guy that’s been calling me every day this week for IT support. And every time, it’s something utterly stupid. I’m pretty sure he’s just fucking with me at this point because there is no way.”

Renjun pops another piece of meat into his mouth. (He really thought coming to HaiDiLao for lunch would calm him down, but no such luck.)

“Wait—” Yangyang looks as if he’s trying to connect the dots in his head. Or do long division. “—Na Jaemin? You can’t be talking about—”

“Yup.” Chenle rolls his eyes. “Renjun is talking about that Na Jaemin, aka the CEO of our company. The overlord of our meager day to day existence that pays us biweekly so that he can afford to come to HaiDiLao and not starve.”

Renjun glares as Chenle steals more food off his plate and proceeds to rap him over the knuckles with his chopsticks.

“Ouch.” Chenle looks unimpressed. “Talk about picking fights you can’t win.”

“There must be something I can do.”

Huang Renjun
can i file a complaint?

Zhong Chenle
??
against me?

Huang Renjun
not you idiot
jaemin

Zhong Chenle
you wnat to file a complaint against jaemin
…

Huang Renjun
yes

Zhong Chenle
against our ceo

Huang Renjun
yes

Zhong Chenle
for telling you to fix his computer
because you’re IT
and that’s your job

Huang Renjun
yes
you’re part of HR
???

Zhong Chenle
???
find some other way to fix your big fat crush on our boss

Huang Renjun
it is NOT a crush

Renjun makes sure to send Chenle the biggest ‘F-U’ sticker he can find. And then sends it again. For extra emphasis.

Renjun can’t believe it.

20 unread Teams messages.

Twenty.

All from Na Jaemin.

He’d been gone just one day, a sudden cold striking him yesterday, too feverish to make it to work and calling out sick regretfully. (He absolutely hates missing work.) And the rest of the day had been spent in bed buried under an extra blanket drifting in and out of fitful sleep.

It’s a miracle that he made it this morning.

The sad fact is that Renjun still feels like shit, a box of tissues close at hand and a small treasure trove of cough drops next to his hot tea with honey.

He sneezes loudly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Jeno is one of the nicest people he knows.

“I’m— fine.”

The hacking cough that follows his reassurance seems to disagree.

“You sure you don’t want to just go home?” Jeno speaks to him kindly. “It’s okay if you do. I can handle everything for today.”

The guilt of calling in sick yesterday seeps into him.

“No, no, I’m fine.”

Renjun tries unsuccessfully to breathe through his nose.

“Just need to answer a few messages.”

Here goes nothing.

Renjun starts reading with dismay.

Hi Renjun! I need your help.

The messages start off like usual. Simple enough. And then there’s screenshots of the newest conundrum Jaemin has managed to coax from his computer. (Renjun is convinced that Jaemin himself is the problem.) Then the reality setting in.

[12:16 pm]
Renjun?
Are you ignoring me? 🙁

[13:34 pm]
Hello?

[15:23 pm]
I called, and Jeno told me you called in sick.
Sorry for all the messages.
Hope you feel better soon.

Renjun feels the headache starting to form.

(From being sick. Not Jaemin. This time at least.)

“Knock knock.”

Renjun groans, sure that the knocking sound isn’t supposed to be echoing around in his head like it is, doing his best to look up without aggravating his headache. Unsuccessfully.

He’s about five seconds away from yelling (or coughing) at whoever dared to wake him from his nap. (Jeno thankfully offered to bring him back some food after Renjun had deferred joining for lunch, opting instead to try and take a nap by laying his head down on his desk. Clearly not working.)

Instead screaming as if he’s seen a ghost as he raises his head, and Jaemin’s face is mere centimeters from his own. If it had been one of those cheesy romcoms, it would be the moment that Renjun accidentally kisses Jaemin. Or something like that. (But this is real life so Renjun just ends up looking silly. Not that he wanted a kiss to happen or anything.)

“...are you okay?”

Somehow Jaemin asking the same thing as Jeno doesn’t come off the same, and Renjun feels hot, heart racing too quickly, getting breathless and dizzy all at once.

He must be really sick.

“I brought you soup. It’s chicken noodle.”

Renjun stares at the offering placed on his desk, wondering how Jaemin had known what his favorite soup is.

“Uhhh, thanks.”

(He isn’t really sure what else to say.

He’s almost more surprised that Jaemin even knows where the IT department is than the soup.)

“I hope you feel better, Renjun.”

Jaemin sounds sincere.

Renjun feels himself getting warmer. From the almost certain fever.

(After Jaemin leaves, he checks his temperature. No fever. He checks it again just in case. Then one more time to be absolutely sure.)

“Do you want me to talk to Jaemin?”

Jeno covers the mouthpiece of the office phone tactfully, giving him a careful knowing look, and Renjun inwardly groans. (He’s mildly alarmed that Jeno has caught on now too. He wasn’t sure Jeno would any time soon.)

“He’s asking for you. It’s the second time he’s called.”

Renjun mentally pats himself on the back for being away from his desk the first time.

He’s not trying to avoid Jaemin.

Right.

“If you could?” Renjun musters his best ‘please help me’ look. “I still have a mountain of work to finish.”

(It’s not technically a lie. He’s been running reports all morning and still only about halfway done.)

Jeno nods enthusiastically. Message received.

And Renjun lets out a sigh of relief and buries his head in his work so he doesn’t have to think about Jaemin.

Zhong Chenle has added you to the group.
Zhong Chenle has added Liu Yangyang to the group.
Zhong Chenle has added Park Jisung to the group.
Group has been renamed to ‘sipping tea 🍵’

Zhong Chenle
what happened
did you get into a lover’s quarrel?

Liu Yangyang
jeno told us 🙁

Huang Renjun
??
are you talking to me

Park Jisung
he’s asking about jaemin
ignore his nosy ass

Zhong Chenle
stfu

Park Jisung
make me

Zhong Chenle
maybe i will
later 😉

Huang Renjun
first off, EW
tmi

Liu Yangyang
ditto

Huang Renjun
second, lover’s quarrel??
we are not even dating

Zhong Chenle
then why does he call you every day
jeno said you’ve been avoiding him
last three weeks

Huang Renjun
BECAUSE HE NEEDS IT HELP??
and i am NOT avoiding him
i’ve been busy

Park Jisung
every time he calls? 🤔

Liu Yangyang
denial is a river in egypt

Huang Renjun
you can’t even find egypt on a map

Liu Yangyang
😠😠😠

Zhong Chenle
so he hasn’t asked you out yet?

Huang Renjun
he’s not interested
he clearly just likes annoying me

Zhong Chenle
you’re just BLIND

Park Jisung
i’m sure someone wants date you *pats*
you’re cute enough, hyung!!
even if it’s not jaemin

Huang Renjun
excuse me???

Liu Yangyang
do you like him though?

Huang Renjun
absolutely not

Zhong Chenle
lies
i know a liar when i see one

Huang Renjun
like when you look in a mirror?

Zhong Chenle
🤪🤪🤪
anyways
gonna start a betting pool

Park Jisung
???

Zhong Chenle
to see how long it takes before they get together
duhhhh

Renjun doesn’t even dignify Chenle with a reply.

(Because Chenle is wrong.

He doesn’t like Jaemin. Jaemin doesn’t like him.

And they are most certainly not getting together.)

He’s not avoiding Jaemin.

He’s really not.

Shit.

Renjun is, in fact, avoiding Jaemin.

He comes to terms with this in the exact instance he locks eyes with Jaemin at the office holiday party. The music slows as if he’s in some cheesy romcom, and the male lead is crossing the room to sweep Renjun off his feet. (He swears he’s not imagining everyone in the room parting to make way for Jaemin to get to him.)

Renjun considers himself a smart person.

Usually.

But if he was a smart person, he would have anticipated that the CEO of their company would of course be at their holiday party. And if he had realized that Jaemin would be there, maybe he wouldn’t have let Yangyang bully him into wearing a tacky Christmas sweater to the party. Or let Chenle keep handing him eggnog spiked with alcohol.

He’s really only on his second drink. (So sue him, he’s a lightweight.)

He also has on a silly reindeer headband to go with his painted red nose. (You can be Rudolph! Thanks a lot, Yangyang.)

And to his horror, he looks down and is reminded that his sweater lights up.

Before Renjun can fully process everything and before his feet can decide to unglue themselves from the ground and start walking his body towards the door, Jaemin is already in front of him.

Of course, Jaemin looks dashing put together.

“Hi.”

Jaemin seems breathless and is staring at him earnestly as if he’s waiting for Renjun to say something.

“Hi.”

Renjun cannot think of anything better to say.

(He inwardly kicks himself.)

“—how’s the party going?”

It seems Jaemin can’t think of anything to say either.

“Umm, great.”

The silence stretches on too long, and Renjun watches as Jaemin shifts uncomfortably, face scrunched up as if he has something to say but isn’t sure how to say it. (Renjun really hopes that he isn’t getting fired. That would be unfortunate.)

“What do you want?”

Renjun blurts it out, unwilling to let the awkwardness keep going, the same time Jaemin finally speaks.

“Did you come with anyone?”

Oh.

“No, I didn’t.” Renjun is bewildered. “Why are you asking?”

(Renjun wonders if Jaemin has been drinking too. His cheeks are a pretty rosy pink. Scratch that. Not pretty. Just pink.

Maybe he’s had too much to drink. Damn Chenle.)

Jaemin proceeds to ignore him, instead changing the subject.

“Are you ignoring me?”

Renjun groans.

“Why does everyone think that?”

(He really needs to clear the air between them.)

“So you aren’t ignoring me?”

“I answer your calls when I’m not busy working on other things, Mr. Na.” Renjun crosses his arms across his chest, hoping to be taken seriously. “That’s my job. What’s not my job is to come running every time you try to bother me with silly things.”

Renjun wobbles slightly before righting himself, straightening up to his full height. (At least he thinks he does since the room tilts for an instant. Oh wow, Jaemin is tall.)

“I don’t want to waste my time seeing you every day.”

“You don’t like seeing me?”

Jaemin looks, well, disappointed.

(Renjun thinks maybe whatever he said didn’t come out right. At all. Because he doesn’t mind seeing Jaemin. Not really.

And maybe, he’s missed seeing Jaemin’s face in the last few weeks.

Just maybe.)

Renjun suddenly feels the need to explain himself.

“There you are.”

The unfamiliar face appears out of nowhere, and Renjun feels his stomach churn when the stranger links arms with Jaemin, leaning into his side. (Renjun feels like he might just throw up.)

“You’re needed, Nana.”

And before Renjun can utter another word, Jaemin is whisked away to lead the toast on stage.

Renjun makes it to the bathroom just in time.

Zhong Chenle
did you talk to him after

Huang Renjun
no he seemed busy

Park Jisung
so you didn’t explain?

Liu Yangyang
🙁

Huang Renjun
explain what

Zhong Chenle
that you have a crush on him
duh

Liu Yangyang
shoot your shot
!!!

Renjun doesn’t bother to respond.

[09:36 am]
Hi Renjun!
I need your help! 🙂

Huang Renjun is typing…

[09:42 am]
Did you try turning it off and back on?

Read 09:43

“He hasn’t messaged in a week.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Jeno adds on. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

Renjun struggles to put together the words explaining why it’s, in fact, not a good thing. (And how it’s not what he wanted. Not exactly.) In the end, he can’t formulate anything coherent and just groans instead, bundling his head into his arms on the table.

“What if he’s dead?”

“It’s very unlikely that he’s dead.”

Renjun pops his head up to glare at the boy sitting next to Jeno. Mark Lee. The New Boyfriend™. First time meeting. And currently not making the best impression. (He’s not sure if Mark got the memo, but he’s supposed to just agree with Renjun on this.)

“Donghyuck went out drinking with him last night.”

Mark chews loudly with his mouth open.

(Renjun is not impressed.)

“You can ask him yourself. Donghyuck is supposed to be coming to lunch.”

Great, just what Renjun needs. Another stranger to bear witness to his misery.

“That’s not the point.” Renjun declares. “It’s just that he never doesn’t message me. I’m just concerned, that’s all.”

Renjun shoots The New Boyfriend™ a glare when he slurps his drink too loudly.

“What did you last talk about?”

Jeno tries to redirect him.

“You know, the usual. There was a problem, he messaged, and I responded.”

Renjun makes a face.

“And that asshole left me on read.”

“Well, what did you say?”

(He’s trying his hardest not to acknowledge the existence of The New Boyfriend™, but it’s quite difficult when he keeps interjecting.)

“I asked if he tried turning it off and back on.”

Renjun feels the prickly sensation of something being off when he sees both Jeno and Mark staring at him, mouths agape.

Jeno starts gently.

“Umm, Renjun, maybe that came off, you know, a bit—” Jeno hesitates. “—mean? Like you didn’t want to talk to him or something?”

Renjun looks at Jeno blankly.

“But that’s actually happened before? So I thought it best to ask first before anything else.”

“What’s actually happened before?”

Mark makes a noise of irritation as the new stranger squeezes into the booth next to the couple, squishing Mark in the middle. It takes Renjun a few moments to realize where he’s seen the new guy before aka linking arms with Jaemin at the holiday party.

(He feels an unexpected pang of jealousy.)

“Donghyuk, Renjun. Renjun, Donghyuck.”

Mark grumbles, waving his hand by way of introduction.

“And we’re talking about Jaemin, just so you know.”

Jeno nods sagely.

“He’s been calling Renjun constantly for IT help the last month or two.”

Donghyuk laughs.

“Haha, very funny. Jokes on me.”

Mark protests as Donghyuk swipes a fry off his plate, grumbling when Jeno hands over the rest, and Donghyuk looks around in confusion when no one laughs along.

“Why would Jaemin need IT help? He’s lowkey a computer whiz.”

Renjun double checks about five times that Donghyuk isn’t fucking with him.

But there it is.

Na Jaemin. Graduate of Yonsei University with a Bachelor’s, major in Economics, minor in Computer Science. Graduate of Seoul National University with a Master’s in Business Administration.

Minor in Computer Science.

Jaemin most definitely knows how to turn on a computer.

(Renjun internally screams.)

“Are you okay?”

Jeno’s voice brings him back.

Mark looks mildly terrified, Donghyuk delighted and intrigued.

Whoops, apparently out loud too.

“I’m fine. Just gotta… you know.”

Jeno doesn’t look convinced.

Renjun quickly gets up from his seat, the excuse of having some work to do urgently sufficing as he makes a beeline for the door, whipping out his phone as he walks. (Jeno gives him a weird look. Probably because they have meetings all afternoon and nothing left to work on. But alas.)

Renjun is typing…

[12:30 pm]
Hi Mr. Na, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Please let me know if you have some free time.

Renjun makes it all the way back to his desk before he hears his Teams notification go off. (He never thought he’d be so happy to hear the sound.)

[12:58 pm]
Did you know that a shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes?

Fucking Chenle.

Renjun waits, chewing on a hangnail nervously.

And waits.

And waits some more.

Eyeing the little dot next to Jaemin’s name, finally turning green. Online. Bingo.

Read 13:14

Only to feel his stomach sink as the seconds and then minutes tick by without any indication that Na Jaemin is typing… and his chat devoid of any response.

(He doesn’t really think about it.)

It’s almost surprising how his fingers automatically find the numbers to dial, the number to Jaemin’s office coming to mind almost as easily as Jaemin’s face. Courtesy of Jaemin calling him directly every day for weeks.

It rings three times before Renjun hears the click of the phone being picked up.

Renjun doesn’t waste any more time.

“Jaemin, do you want to go out to dinner with me?”

Huang Renjun is typing…

[14:02 pm]
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WAS ON SPEAKER?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE ON THIS CALL?

[14:04 pm]
Excited for our date tonight! 😀💗