Work Text:
The heavy doors closed behind with little to no resistance; the sound resonating through the empty corridors amongst the ambience of clicks and beeps of machinery running around the room. Stooped at the bench is none other than Mingi, donning an ill-fit lab coat and bulky safety glasses over his eyes as he smacked the machine which was lacking in its performance considering the technique's whole government name as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Footsteps rounded the corner and leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed is none other than Yunho, his hair swept up, and a smile settling pleasantly on his stupidly handsome face. His eyes noticeably softened at the sight of the busy scientist behind the machine, little mutters and curses directed at the lacking technology. It was rather late. The car keys dangled carefree from Yunho's fingers, catching under the sterile fluorescent lights overhead.
Once Mingi's torso straightened and a huff of relief left his lips, he turned his head and squinted at the newcomer standing at the door.
"Oh, you're here."
"What's with that tone?" Yunho clutched his chest, playing up at the dramatics. "Aren't you glad to see me? I'm here to drag your ass back home before who knows when you'd leave this place."
Yunho swung the car keys around his finger, the adjacent keys jangling as they collided with each other. The other rounded the machine after adjusting other parameters, checking the software and hummed in satisfaction when the computer gave a finalised ding.
"And if you don't leave this place, who knows when you'd start breathing unfunny puns." Yunho continued, egging Mingi on, though his eyes traced over Mingi's slight slouch — the ever-so-subtle indication of fatigue.
"What's wrong with my puns?" Mingi strode over to the locker area just off the boundary of the dry lab.
"Alright then, Yunho straightened up, arms uncrossing and relaxing at his side, "what do you have to offer?"
Mingi shrugged the coat off, still pristine white, a testament of his detail-oriented approach and professionalism. He hummed before building suspense. Yunho, being Yunho, simply entertained his long-time companion's antics.
"This one will blow your mind away, like nuclear fission," Mingi took off his safety glasses, building the suspense further by slowly folding the side arms into the glasses, "why don't scientists trust atoms?"
The expectant gaze from the scientist caused the smile of amusement to grow on Yunho's face. It was sometimes hard to take Mingi's attention away from work and bring him to the present. Knowing each other for more than a decade had the perks of being able to anticipate something nerdy and perhaps a sigh-worthy nature of a pun.
"Why?" Yunho tilted his head with a fond smile.
"Because they make everything up!"
It was obvious Mingi was fighting back a smile to watch the other's reaction, gaze still expectant. Yunho didn't give in easily however, pushing off the wall and rolled his eyes in return with a dry, "that's so unfunny, Princess Mingles the third."
That comment earnt the man a flash of a cheeky middle finger, though the pointer finger was directed at him and thumb resting orthogonal to the other fingers.
"Real mature, Mingles." Yunho further commented dryly.
"Real mature to assume it was the bird, maybe I was using Fleming's rule to adjust the plates for mass spectrometry."
Yunho shook his head at the equally nerdy excuse, "whatever you say, quite horrific you managed two nerdy puns in a row."
Mingi 'demonstrated' Fleming's hand rule again, "and the direction of force induced would be up, up your ass."
Yunho chose not to react to that comment, imperceptibly shaking his head at the threat. He didn't expect such a crass joke. Alas, fatigue gets to anyone and the very loosely defined filter was simply not there. Mingi joined Yunho's side after the locker was secured, walking in tandem down the empty corridors, and out of the workplace.
The pair made it out of the sterile hallways. The echo and remnant beeping from unsupervised automation left behind as the security double doors closed behind. The cold blue lights managed to leak out from the windows of some late workers, casting shadows and contours of exhaustion on the scientist's features.
"What's your excuse for staying behind? Overtime again?"
"A certain someone held me up." The elder of the pair walked at a faster pace, unlocking the vehicle.
The aforementioned certain someone clambered clumsily into the passenger seat as the driver started the engine up though he couldn't help but complain, "I could drive myself back, you know."
It was a relief that the workplace had employee benefits of free parking, even overnight parking wasn't really something they limited since the institution sometimes saw night shifts, long hours or urgent calls to address.
"Fatigue behind the wheel can be just as bad as drunk driving."
Mingi hummed in concession; he had to admit he was fatigued from the long hours and unintentional overtime. The car descended into comfortable silence. The radio hummed lowly, easily washed out and ignored in the background as the scenery out of the window whizzed by in blurs of the concrete jungle the world had become.
"What's the current project you're working on?" Yunho inquired out of the blue.
Mingi, who was about to doze off, sat up straighter and exhaled heavily, "union inquiry into pharmaceutical waste in water ways."
"...must be difficult." Yunho took the next exit effortlessly, the passing headlights of other cars illuminating the enviable side profile.
Whether it be from the slope of his nose or defined cheekbones or pursed lips of focus, Mingi sighed in appreciation at the view, slipping up on his words with his loose tongue, "what a sight."
If Yunho heard it, he didn't comment on it, instead focusing on driving through the moderate traffic of the main road. Having shared too many moments for over a decade and the promise of more in the near future meant that Mingi no longer felt any shame in staring, audaciously propping his elbow up on the side panel of the car door as the elder concentrated on the road.
Much to the mild disappointment and reluctance of the younger, the car rolled to a stop in front of an apartment complex. The engine idled as Yunho turned to Mingi in mild confusion before jokingly asking, "does our princess need to be personally escorted up?"
Despite the joking and lighthearted tone, Mingi nodded seriously. Instead of the usual mockery that followed the nickname, especially by their group of friends, Yunho obliged with a patient expression. The car rolled forward before slowly turning into the building's underground carpark, plunging the interior into darkness.
The hum of electricity passed overhead and the yellowed fluorescence followed dainty, delayed flickers of the lights, contributing to the eeriness of potential miscreance. The car easily slotted into one of the parking spaces quite a far bit away from the building access elevators due to how late it was. Yunho got out first, rounding the bonnet to open the door for 'his' princess. He made an affair out of it, a hand smoothly flicking in the air and finally rested on his hip in a slight bow. Mingi paid no heed to the act, just grateful for not having to walk alone up; he didn't even know where the relief was coming from.
Without needing assistance, Mingi hauled himself up and out from the seat with a groan. Yunho closed the car door behind and made sure to lock the car, never straying too far from Mingi's side, an arm loosely raised behind Mingi's lower back in a protective gesture. They made it into the elevator and pressed the button to their respective levels.
"Do you have to go?" Mingi scrunched his nose at the notion, staring at the buttons as if they personally offended him.
"We live in the same building." Yunho turned his head to face his equal (height-wise).
"So?" Mingi practically had a petulant expression donning his normally sharp features.
"Burnout?" Yunho deduced, having seen similar patterns of behaviour in the past, especially around assessment period.
Mingi huffed and looked away, silence telling of his experience. No further words were needed. Yunho exited the elevator with Mingi, waiting for the passcode to be punched in at the door.
As they both entered the unit, Mingi's roommates (San and Seonghwa) were occupying the living area, busy with different activities, but didn't bat an eye since visits within their shared friends weren't of a strange occurrence. Even when Mingi's door clicked shut softly behind, the two roommates remained unperturbed and continued to lounge on the couch.
The pair immediately made their way to the bed. Yunho shrugged off his jacket and stripped off his long pants, opting to steal a pair of shorts from the wardrobe as Mingi changed into his pyjamas. Like clockwork, the two slid under the covers and huddled close. It was natural for Yunho to sling an arm around Mingi's waist, cuddling and sleeping over since high school. The tense and stubborn muscles continued to ache even when he reached over to rub at the commonly sore area on his lower back. Working conditions in the labs, especially for someone tall with a longer torso meant more strain on the lower back. The miniscule relief was better than no relief as Mingi shifted to accommodate for the second weight in his bed.
"Hey, princess," Yunho mumbled sleepily, "take it easy."
Mingi simply hummed, tuckered out from the long day of dealing with numbers and samples as well as the headache of interns and management.
"I could arrange your schedules if you want." Yunho continued to mutter despite the agreement to leave work matters at work.
"You can't use your position in management to tweak everyone's assignments." Mingi murmured back, already on the edge of being pulled under by sleep.
"You're burning out-"
"And nosy because it's not looking good for the company the union is trying to dig dirt up on. After this project, I'm taking a break, I promise."
Yunho hummed in acknowledgement, kneading his fingers into the younger's lower back. Mingi relaxed further, tipped over the edge of wakefulness and tumbled over into dreamland. Yunho listened out for the rhythm of breathing to deepen and, he too, followed suit to dreamland where his hand remained at the other's waist even in the morning when the alarm blared for the two to depart for work.