Work Text:
Jongin finishes typing the last sentence of his specification on his computer and goes to save it but when he moves the mouse, the cursor doesn’t move. He frowns. “What?” he breathes and tries again, clicking the button a few times, but the cursor remains frozen on the screen. “What’s wrong with my computer? I can’t move the mouse at all,” he complains loudly, fruitlessly moving the mouse. He has a deadline.
“Another tech issue?” Baekhyun pipes up from the desk in front of Jongin, a little smirk grazing his lips. “Better call your boyfriend, then.”
Jongin flushes, sending a glare to Baekhyun. “Minseok is not my boyfriend,” he hisses as he reaches over to take the phone sitting near his computer. Minseok is the hot IT technician that Jongin can't stop thinking about and who makes Jongin's heart beat out of his chest. But certainly not his boyfriend.
“Could have fooled me.”
“Shut up,” Jongin hisses again. He presses the speed dial button for IT support and holds the receiver to his ear, biting his lip as he waits for the line to click.
“Kim Minseok, how can I help you?”
Jongin’s heart makes a little leap at the sound of that pleasant, professional voice. “H-Hi, Minseok, it’s Jongin.”
“Jongin,” Minseok’s voice takes a softer note and Jongin bites his lip once again, feeling a little gooey inside. He ignores the judging look on Baekhyun’s face. “What is it?”
“Um, somehow my mouse stopped working, I don’t know what happened.”
“Is that so? Hold on, I’ll be down in a second.”
Jongin can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. Minseok is always so nice and kind. “Thank you,” he murmurs. “I’ll be waiting.”
He ends the call and sighs dreamily as he leans back in his chair.
“You are so obvious, oh my god,” Baekhyun groans, shaking his head. “It’s a mystery how Minseok hasn’t yet realized how absolutely hopeless you are for him."
“Don’t say that!” Jongin flinches, eyes widening. The last thing he needs is for Minseok to find out about his crush. And he’s not obvious.
Baekhyun ignores him. “What’s even more of a mystery is how you haven’t realized that Minseok’s got it just as bad.”
“Stop!” Jongin straightens up in his chair. The mere idea is ridiculous and one Jongin’s heart is not strong enough to even try and entertain. “Kyungsoo tell Baekhyun to shut up.”
They both turn to Kyungsoo, who’s been sitting quietly at his desk the entire time, ignoring them and doing his work. He raises his head, wordlessly looking between Jongin and Baekhyun once before returning his attention to his computer.
“Baekhyun shut up.”
“Thank you,” Jongin says, directing a smug smile at a scoffing Baekhyun.
“Jongin will get there,” Kyungsoo continues without looking up. “Eventually.”
Jongin splutters as Baekhyun bursts out laughing.
“Kyungsoo,” Jongin starts to say, but right then the elevator dings and the doors slide open to reveal Minseok and Jongin perks up in his chair. “H-Hi!”
Minseok smiles at him as he makes his way to Jongin’s desk. “Hey, so you said you’re having problems with your mouse?”
Jongin nods. “Yes, it just stopped working all of a sudden, the cursor is frozen,” he explains and moves the mouse a little to show Minseok. “See?”
Minseok hums and reaches over to take the mouse. Jongin gulps when their hands brush together and he quickly drops his own on his lap, flushing slightly.
“The light is on, so it’s not a problem with the USB port,” Minseok muses as he looks down at the underside of the mouse. “This has probably something to do with the drivers.”
“The drivers?” Jongin asks shyly, looking up at Minseok. He has no idea what Minseok is talking about and it makes him feel self-conscious about his incompetence with everything technological.
Minseok gives him a sweet smile. “The drivers are what enable the computer to communicate with the mouse. Sometimes they like to stop working randomly, but don’t worry, it's a very easy issue to fix,” he reassures him.
Jongin nods in understanding, but his heart stutters in his chest when Minseok suddenly leans down to get a better look at the computer, putting himself awfully close to Jongin, their heads only a few centimeters apart.
“I just have to update them.”
Jongin straightens up in his chair, flustered. “D-Do you want to sit?”
Minseok turns his head and gifts Jongin with another gentle smile, positively stealing Jongin’s breath. “No need.”
“Alright,” Jongin squeaks out, nodding, and wills himself to relax. He chances a glance at Baekhyun and glares when he sees him trying to muffle a laugh behind his hand, shoulders shaking.
He turns his attention on his computer but whatever is happening on the screen just confuses him, lots of black windows with random text and symbols that just look weird, and his eyes stray helplessly to Minseok’s handsome face.
Minseok’s brow is furrowed in concentration as he types quickly on the keyboard and a pink tongue sneaks out to wet his lips from time to time, making Jongin want to die a little inside every time. He’s wearing a really nice pale blue shirt today, not too tight but snug around his shoulders and biceps, and it compliments his black hair nicely.
It’s honestly unfair how good Minseok looks. And this close, he’s almost painful to look at. Jongin and his poor heart don’t stand a chance.
“Done!” Minseok says with one last hit of the keyboard.
It startles Jongin out of his trance and he snaps his eyes to the screen, embarrassed. He can’t believe he’s just been staring at Minseok’s face the whole time, hopefully Minseok didn’t notice.
“Try moving your mouse.”
Jongin does as he’s told and gasps when the cursor starts moving around once again.
“You got it to work!” he says, turning to look at Minseok with eyes wide with awe. “Oh my god, thank you so much!”
Minseok’s smile is blinding as he straightens up. “This is my job. It was my pleasure.”
“You saved me! Now I’ll be able to turn in these documents on time!”
“I’m really glad,” Minseok says, his voice and expression soft as he looks into Jongin’s eyes and Jongin melts into his chair, completely lovestruck.
Minseok’s smartwatch goes off right at that moment, though, stealing his attention away from Jongin.
“I have to go,” he says, tapping at the small screen. He sounds a little reluctant. “They need me back upstairs.”
“Oh.” No, no, no, no, no Jongin’s mind protests loudly. “Of course.”
“I’ll see you around,” Minseok murmurs, smiling. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need help with anything.”
“Yes,” Jongin nods obediently, following Minseok with his eyes as he walks to the elevator. “And thank you again!”
Minseok flashes him another smile as he steps inside the elevator car and gives him a final wave as the doors slide shut.
Jongin lets out another dreamy sigh.
“Oh, Minseok, my saviour, what would I do without you!” Baekhyun moans, eyes closed and hands clasped to his chest. “Please let me express my endless gratitude with myー”
Jongin chucks a marker at him, hitting him straight in the forehead with a satisfying whack.
***
“Oh, what now?”
Jongin stares miserably at his computer screen, where Chinese characters appear every time he hits any key on the keyboard instead of the regular Korean ones.
One second. He got distracted one second listening to Chanyeol’s lame joke and the computer decides it’s the perfect moment to act up. Yet again.
“Stupid computer!” he exclaims, pushing his chair away from his desk, frustrated and absolutely done with technology. Why always him? Just why?
“Just call your boyfriend,” Baekhyun says with a shrug as he leafs through some documents. "Again."
“Minseok is not my boyfriend,” Jongin retorts exasperatedly, already reaching for the phone. He doesn’t need the reminder, thank you very much.
“Wait,” Chanyeol pipes up, a confused frown on his face. He’s perched on the edge of Kyungsoo’s desk and if he were anyone else, Kyungsoo would have already killed him for that by now. Jongin isn’t the only one with a crush in this office. “You two are not together?”
Jongin almost drops the receiver. “No!” he splutters incredulously, wide eyed.
What is with everyone?
“Oh…” Chanyeol breathes, surprised. “I just thought because he’s always... and you...” he fumbles over his words, turning helpless eyes at Kyungsoo, who only shakes his head solemnly.
“N-No, we’re not! Everybody stop saying that!” Jongin exclaims, flustered, his poor heart beating fast in his chest. He swivels his chair to the side resolutely, blocking the others from view, and calls IT support.
“Kim Minseok, how can I help?”
Just like that, Jongin forgets all about annoying colleagues and is back to pining in the blink of an eye. Not that he ever actually stopped.
“Minseok, it’s Jongin,” Jongin answers and can’t help sounding a little whiny. “The keyboard is writing in Chinese!”
There’s a short silence on the other end of the line and then a little chuckle. It sounds awfully fond.
“Wait for me.”
Jongin almost turns into goo right then and there. Minseok is just too much. With his damned sweet voice and his perfect face and his kindness.
“Okay, thank you,” he manages to say, twirling the phone cord around his fingers. “I’ll see you in a bit, then.”
He hangs up with a smile but it slides off when he looks back up. Everyone’s eyes are on him.
“What?”
“Uh...” Chanyeol sends a quick sideways glance to Kyungsoo.
Baekhyun sighs.
Jongin gives his colleagues one more look, still confused and a little weirded out, before turning to his computer to wait for Minseok. He doesn’t have to wait long, though, because Minseok steps out of the elevator not even two minutes later, looking like all of Jongin’s dreams personified, as usual.
Jongin breathes deeply as he watches Minseok make his way over to him, who smiles gorgeously when he meets Jongin’s eyes. Oh, god.
“Good morning,” Minseok greets him. “So, what's this about your computer spontaneously becoming Chinese?”
It takes a moment for Jongin to answer, thoroughly dazzled by Minseok.
“Uh, yeah,” he says with a little cough. “Yeah, I don’t know how it happened, it was working fine and then it suddenly switched language, it’s so weird,” Jongin hits a few random keys as he explains. “See?” he turns helpless eyes up at Minseok, lips settling into an involuntary pout.
Minseok seems to falter at that, swallowing a little as his eyes flit all over Jongin’s face, and Jongin hesitates, worried that he maybe managed to say something stupid somehow, but Minseok appears to recover a moment later and clears his throat.
“Yeah, um, I know what happened,” he says, nodding quickly, if a little jerkily. “You must have pressed CTRL+SHIFT by accident. It’s a keyboard shortcut that makes the keyboard layout change language. It’s more annoying than useful, honestly.”
“Oh,” Jongin breathes, looking down at the keyboard.
“It’s alright, it’s really easy to hit it by mistake, especially if you don’t know about it.” Minseok reassures him with a smile, sweet as ever. “I’ll just disable it for you here, but if it ever happens again while you’re using another computer, just keep pressing the combination and soon you should get back to the correct setting,” he says, hitting the shortcut a few times in demonstration before setting the layout back to Korean. “Try now.”
Jongin taps a few random keys and sure enough, Korean characters appear on the screen. “It’s working again!” he smiles up at Minseok. “You’re the best.”
Minseok chuckles. “Just doing my job,” he says and leans his hand against the desk to get closer to the screen. “Now I’ll just disable the shortcut so you won’t have to deal with this again.”
Jongin nods, a little tongue tied because Minseok is too close, again, and remains quiet to leave Minseok to work his magic. He can’t help staring, though. The sleeves of Minseok’s white shirt are rolled up at his elbows today. It’s… it’s a lot.
“Okay, all done.” Minseok announces too soon, straightening up.
“Thank you so much for helping,” Jongin beams.
Minseok’s eyes crinkles. “My pleasure.”
“Hey, Minseok,” Baekhyun pipes up, swiveling idly back and forth in his chair. “How come you always use Teamviewer to remotely access our computers when we have trouble but you always come running when Jongin calls you?”
Minseok seems to fluster at that for some reason, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Well, I mean…”
Baekhyun has a shit-eating grin going on as he watches Minseok fidget and Jongin couldn’t be more confused, looking between the two.
“What’s a Teamviewer?” he asks timidly.
“Nothing,” Minseok replies quickly, without meeting Jongin’s eyes, and steps away from Jongin’s desk. “Anyway, um, I have to go back now.”
“Oh...” Jongin breathes, unable to stop a pout from pursing his lips. “Alright. Thank you again.”
“No problem,” Minseok says, flashing a quick smile in Jongin’s direction, still pointedly avoiding his eyes. “Bye.”
And with that he scurries off, leaving Jongin perplexed, and maybe also a little disappointed for having what already little time he has to see Minseok cut short.
Baekhyun snorts and Jongin turns to him, silently asking for an explanation, but he doesn’t say anything else otherwise and spins back towards his own computer, a ghost of a smirk still on his lips.
“Um, I gotta go too,” Chanyeol says awkwardly and pushes off Kyungsoo’s desk. “I’ll see you guys later.”
Kyungsoo only looks amused when Jongin glances at him and gives Jongin a kind smile before returning his attention to his paperwork.
With a defeated sigh, Jongin turns back to the screen in front of him, confused and feeling annoyingly out of the loop.
***
Baekhyun flops down on Jongin’s desk on his forearms, hands clasped. “Jongin.”
“Mh?” Jongin says distractedly without looking away from the document he’s typing.
“Hear me out.”
“Mh-hm.”
“Ask Minseok out.”
Jongin stops typing and shoots Baekhyun an unimpressed look. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Ask Minseok out?” Junmyeon, their department director, pauses as he was passing by. “Aren’t you already dating him, Jongin?”
Jongin’s mouth opens and closes as he stares at Junmyeon. “... No.”
“Oh,” Junmyeon frowns. He really sounds surprised. Him too. “But then… you two...” he trails off, gesturing awkwardly in Jongin’s direction.
“It’s complicated,” Baekhyun interjects. “But we’re getting there.”
“We’re getting nowhere!” Jongin exclaims indignantly, almost giving himself whiplash for how fast he whips his head around to glare at Baekhyun.
“Alright,” Junmyeon says, giving the two of them a funny look. “I don’t know what’s going on, but don’t get too distracted, please. Baekhyun, send me those ITS specs as soon as possible, thanks.”
“You got it, boss.” Baekhyun smiles innocently as Junmyeon turns to head into his office.
“Go do your job, Baekhyun,” Jongin grits out, trying to push Baekhyun off his desk, but he doesn’t budge.
“Jongin, will you trust me?”
“No.”
Jongin glances over to Kyungsoo’s desk, hoping Kyungsoo will get rid of Baekhyun for him, but he’s not there, apparently having stepped out for a short break.
Baekhyun cornered him, the bastard.
“Jongin, ask Minseok out. You’ll be glad you did, believe me. You’ll want to take me out to dinner after. To thank me.”
Jongin snorts. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Okay, you know what?” Baekhyun straightens suddenly. “This is what you get for being obstinate and not recognizing my kindness and exceptional selflessness.”
He grabs Jongin’s keyboard and hits keys too quickly for Jongin to see and the screen suddenly turns upside down. Jongin gasps.
“Baek!” he shoves Baekhyun away. “Baek, what did you do?!”
Baekhyun only shrugs, going back to his desk and plopping on his chair. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Minseok will be able to help you,” he grins devilishly, impervious to Jongin’s mounting panic.
***
“Seriously, just ask him out.”
Jongin sighs as he grabs his yogurt and closes the fridge. “Baekhyun, no.”
He’s honestly still a little irritated about the stunt Baekhyun pulled yesterday, he’s just lucky Minseok managed to fix it in no time and looked incredible enough while doing it to distract Jongin.
Baekhyun shakes his head exasperatedly as he sits at one of the small tables in the office break room, Kyungsoo in the chair next to him. “Why?”
“Because,” Jongin replies impatiently without looking up, busying himself with removing the foil seal from the yogurt. “It’s not like you guys say, alright? You’re reading too much into it. He helps me out because that’s literally his job and he always comes down to show me in person because he’s just that nice and because by now he knows I’m totally useless at technology. He probably takes pity on me,” he mumbles with a shrug, halfheartedly stirring the yogurt with his spoon, not that hungry anymore. “And… and he’s probably got someone already, a boyfriend. I mean... how could he not? He’s handsome and sweet and so smart, he knows all this cool, useful tech stuff, he’s… he’s just so cool.”
Baekhyun raises his eyebrows pointedly. “Once you smiled at him and he tripped.”
Kyungsoo snorts around the bite of his muffin.
“Baek,” Jongin sighs, closing his eyes in an attempt to block out his friend’s words and the small glimmer of hope they ignite. He sets the yogurt aside and turns to grab a cup. “This is just a work crush anyway, I’ll get over it.”
“You’ve been saying so for months.”
Jongin turns around to retort but he closes his mouth shut because of course Minseok enters the break room in that exact moment.
“Hey, guys,” Minseok greets with a smile and Jongin’s heart starts thumping as Minseok makes his way towards the counter. He stops right beside Jongin and his smile turns softer when he meets Jongin’s eyes. “Hi,” he says and his voice, too, is softer.
“Hi,” Jongin breathes, feeling a little weak in the knees at the sudden proximity, and he can’t tear his eyes away from Minseok’s face. He blindly reaches for the coffee pot and startles when his hand brushes with Minseok’s, having reached for it at the same time as Jongin.
“Oh,” Jongin utters with a shy smile and Minseok huffs out a small laugh as they retreat their hands.
Baekhyun groans and rolls his eyes, but none of them notice.
“D-Did you want coffee?” Jongin asks and bites his lip when Minseok smiles back.
“Let me grab a cup for you,” Minseok says.
“Oh, um, I already have one,” Jongin holds it up and hates that he already has it.
“Ah, let me pour for you, then.”
“Oh my god, you guys just get a room,” Baekhyun interrupts and oh, Jongin is going to murder him later.
Minseok laughs, throwing Baekhyun a glance that’s maybe got a little edge to it, and Jongin forgets about his embarrassment in favour of getting lost in Minseok all over again. He looks so handsome today. Oh screw that, he looks handsome always and Jongin can’t take it anymore, everything just builds inside him, his heart feeling fit to burst.
“Go out with me.”
It tumbles out without warning, before Jongin can even think of stopping it, and he slaps a hand over his mouth, horrified.
Miseok’s eyes widen. “What?”
“N-Nothing, uh, y-you wanted coffee right?” Jongin stammers, panicked, and he grabs the coffee pot in a desperate attempt to distract Minseok.
“That wasn’t what he said! He asked you out on a date!”
Baekhyun’s voice rings loud and clear in the room and Jongin feels his cheeks catch on fire.
“Oh my god...” he whispers, mortified, and weakly sets the pot back on the counter, training his eyes on the floor.
“Okay, you know what, we’re imposing,” Kyungsoo says, standing up. He grabs a smug Baekhyun by his shirt and drags him out of the room, closing the door behind them.
“So...” Minseok says and Jongin very, very slowly trails his eyes up to face him, swallowing. He can’t quite bring himself to meet Minseok’s eyes though, so he settles on staring at a point over his shoulder.
“I…” he starts to say with a wince, but Minseok interrupts him.
“I would love to.”
Jongin freezes and glances sharply up at Minseok, stunned. There’s a smile spreading slowly on Minseok’s lips and oh my god?
“What?” he repeats dumbly, blinking.
The smile stretches handsomely. “I would love to go out on a date with you,” Minseok repeats, eyes crinkled.
Jongin stays frozen, gaping, as his mind desperately tries to catch up. Minseok said yes... Minseok said yes to going out with him... Minseok likes him?!
Minseok chuckles and gently cups Jongin’s face in his hands. “Okay?”
The warm touch breaks Jongin out from his dumbstruck spell and his brain finally reboots. He positively melts and a wide, definitely smitten smile spreads over his face.
“Okay,” he nods, feeling all kinds of fuzzy inside.
From outside the closed door, Baekhyun’s voice. “They did it y’all!”
There are a few groans of relief. Jongin feels as if he could die from embarrassment.
“I’m going to kill him,” he mutters, looking down.
Minseok chuckles. “Then let me do this first before you go,” he says and pulls Jongin into a kiss, a gentle but secure press of lips that make butterflies spark in Jongin's stomach and his heart start and stop.
It doesn’t last long, might end a little too soon if you ask Jongin.
“Well, I mean,” Jongin mumbles shyly after they part, hands reaching over to grip the sides of Minseok’s shirt as he steps closer. “I don’t have to do it right now.”
“Good,” Minseok murmurs, smiling, and pulls him into another kiss.
Jongin sighs into it.
Maybe, just maybe he won’t kill Baekhyun.