Chapter Text
"Hello, everyone. I'm Ten Lee, an ex-character designer from Seventh Sense Studios." He formally bowed to his new co-workers with a playful grin, bluntly stating the rival gaming company 20 blocks north. "I hope we can all work hand in hand and keep the spies away from messing with our vision."
Ten wouldn't even laugh to that himself. How absurd would it be for him to find his own pun amusing? Still, the recruiter with the name tag Qian Kun burst out cackling like air-deprived, together with all the other employees.
"There you go. We got another sunshine in the quarters!" Mr. Qian commended looking at them, patting Ten's shoulder then as he smiled back at him. "Welcome to Visionaire, Mr. Lee. Those gorgeous men right there will cater all of your questions."
Ten looked straight to where Mr. Qian's hand was leading and he grinned walking to his college dorm mate, cheering beside the well-built one with trimmed brows thick and exquisite.
"Ten, long time no see!" He was greeted as they wrestled each other's arm. "How are you?"
"Hendery," Ten playfully drummed his back, vibrating lung-deep. "I'm good. Still a proud bottom."
"Still you and your secret boyfriend, I assume?" Hendery teased, and Ten just winked with a click of his tongue. "This is Dejun, in charge of sound effects. Don't worry, he makes sure the new ones won't feel out of place."
Both smiling, Dejun shook his hand firmly.
"I've heard from Mr. Qian... You've been there since the start of your career," Dejun casually conversed. "Commitment is boring, huh?"
"Not really... I was just bitter they didn't give me much work," Ten messed around to match the good tension, to which the two reacted with bafflement. He just cracked a brief chuckle. "I'm kidding. I was just... dodging a workmate."
"To the point of docking here?" Hendery asked slowly, seemingly disbelieving. "Hey I would die just to get paid like you."
Hearing a specific word, Ten got a little thrown off that it made his stomach churn a little.
"Just how much of an ogre is your workmate?" Dejun asked again, knitting his perfect brows. "Is Shrek a little better?"
"Oh- no, it's not like that," Ten scoffed to how he said it. "He looks a lot like Choi Min Ho."
"Bitch, what? He's handsome, then." Hendery cussed, eyes protruding with interest. "What's his name? I'll stalk him on Facebook."
"I'd rather not say," Ten chuckled a little. "Let's get to the orientation?"
The two then glided their chairs away after a quick discussion of the company rules and protocols. Several hours have passed and nearing 5PM, Dejun rolled his wheels back to Ten's area.
"Ten... Dery and I will go meet up with his sister's friends," he then wiggled his brows with his arm resting on Ten's armrest. "You wanna come?"
"Quit it, Dejun. Ten's taken," Hendery chimed in from his seat. "And he's never been into girls."
Ten just smirked and cleaned up his work space. "I'm sorry, I got stuff to do."
"Oh." Dejun muttered, his look quickly turning into teasing. "And what kind of stuff is that?"
With his face still gawking at him, Ten made an alibi and forced a sly smile too close for Dejun's own comfort. "Bed and boyfriend stuff."
Dejun withdrew his face back that instant, still grinning. "Well that sounds scandalous..."
Ten playfully bluffed. "You wanna see?"
"Yeees!" Dejun nodded in thrill.
"No, you're supposed to act reserved..." Ten said after a scoff of disbelief, but already digging through his gallery to show some non-explicit couple photos. "But that's him."
"Oh wow... Wow. Look at that face structure," Dejun looked too adored while holding his phone, saying how much of a perfect base Ten's boyfriend is for character designing. "He could be the hero and the villain..."
"It's just from a home pictorial we did with a friend," Ten gave a few details, smiling at the photo of him on a blood red long sleeve polo and his boyfriend wearing white. "Even the unskilled shots look stunning when he's on focus."
"Both of you, actually..." Dejun complimented as he swiped through the photos on the same album. "Hey, show me more."
"Ah, no," he whined in a chuckle as he took his phone away. "Your eyes might self-destruct."
"Fine, I respect that," Dejun rolled his eyes, together with his wheels back to his desk. "I could've tolerated, though."
Ten giggled softly, shaking his head. "Even if you could, doesn't mean you should."
🌼
Back to his apartment, Ten unfailingly got on his Virtual Reality set to relive a good old memory—in a form of an immersive video his boyfriend had developed with the Seventh Sense team just for him, just so Ten could still share his daily stories whenever his boyfriend couldn't make it home.
Choosing the app name Come Visit When You Miss Me, he enters a graphic world where the replica setting of his old unit looks too lifelike to be fake—with colors not too overwhelming like those in live fairytales, but just enough for it to look a little better than what's real.
"Tenie, you're home!"
He felt something as painfully good as making love, being called with that endearment only by his childhood crush—the husband material everyone could only beg of having and officially his for almost 8 years—
"Taeyong..." He murmured while walking to him near the stove, pretending to sniff on Taeyong's virtual back as he prepared their gourmet dinner. He used to smell Taeyong's shirt whenever he's cooking, but Ten has learned over time to be contented snuffling the same scent from his own. "I've been missing you so much... You and your pasta dishes."
Back then, Ten would even call himself a useless bitch in the kitchen. Taeyong on the other hand grew up homeschooled, spending most of his time with his chef nanny who served as his mother figure.
"Not as much as I have," he replied and Ten heard him smile saying that. "So tell me how your day went."
"Hmm. Guess who likes Visionaire way better..." Ten naughtily uttered in a soft murmur, and Taeyong responded with a laugh before he settled on his seat. "No offense to your dad."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Taeyong chuckled as he put vegetables on Ten's plate. "Hey, I won't be home this weekend, okay? Doyoung and l will be working on a new song."
Ten just couldn't be any prouder of his boyfriend. Mr. Lee Sooman, the founder of Seventh Sense, wanted his only son to stay involved in the game developing field, but Taeyong's urging passion had him asking his dad to pursue his interest in music-making after earning his Software Engineering degree.
"Alright..." Ten smiled too gentle as he keenly looked at Taeyong slicing his sirloin steak, repeating what he used to respond to that statement. "Just don't come home smelling like his perfume or else..."
"What? Ten!" Taeyong cutely complained covering his face with his veiny hand, shaking his head then with a laugh as he leaned back to his seat. "Baby, you're my Chanel no. 5, and I will only smell like you."
The answer was expected, but Ten still huffed with eyes lovesick—teary, almost—thinking he wouldn't mind hearing that even 'til the next lifetime. "God, I'm still this in love with you."
He finished the dining scene all throughout—consistent almost every day for nearly a year and a half. Going early for bed, he sent Taeyong a message before drifting to sleep just to wake up to another tiring day.
Good night. See you really really soon. <3
🌼
One week left, baby. :)
A few days have passed and delivering another text to Taeyong, Ten jolted with a sudden pat on the shoulder.
"Fuck, you scared me!" He yammered as he put a hand on his chest, playfully slapping Dejun's arm right after.
"Glad I did," he uttered jestingly and took a seat beside him. "Stop bugging your boyfriend for once. Let him miss you on his own."
"I've never been a bug to him."
"Sure," Dejun chuckled. "But keep your phone. Mr. Qian is making me submit a list of naughty employees."
"Then just don't... submit my name?" Ten questioned suggestively, simply putting his phone faced down on his desk before looking back to his monitor. "C'mon, Junie. Where's the thrill in being too honest?"
He could only sigh to Ten's stubbornness.
"Be glad I like you as a workmate," Dejun muttered, swiveling his chair side to side. "It's only been a week, but you've been working smoothly with everyone."
Ten just pursed a smile and lightly pushed his friend on the shoulder. "No, I like you all better. You and Dery."
"Huh. If so, then come with us tonight." Dejun invited once more. "You just always want to go home... Or hey, ask Taeyong to join along."
"Next time. He still got... duties to finish," Ten only reasoned, feeling dismayed just by the thought. "Gotta love the man's grinding."
"He fucks that good, huh?" Dejun pestered with an evil smile. "No wonder you're too attached..."
Ten realized he got the wrong context, though he is still right. "By grinding I meant hard work."
"Hah, whatever you say," Dejun then chuckled. "But Ten, I wanna ask you something..."
"What's new about you asking..." He weakly scoffed. "Go ahead."
"Have you ever thought for once what if, I don't know, he's cheating on you? He's got that face of a playboy. He could be flirting everywhere when he's away," Dejun sounded like a convincing demon, too eager to know since he told Ten he is not into commitments. "Don't you get, I don't know, paranoid?"
"I would be if he thinks like you."
"Hey."
"Fine... Never," Ten beamed after a time, feeling so assured that wherever Taeyong would be, he could only tell people of how much he wanted to come back home to him. "I used to tease him at times, but I know he wouldn't play me dirty..." Then he just quietly babbled the rest. "Well except in bed but yeah that's it."
"Aw," Dejun got too comfortable, leaning on Ten's armrest with his hand supporting his neck. "You're just too sure it's forever, huh?"
Ten gave a smile of yearning. He looked at Dejun, bobbing his head too subtle yet could never be more certain. "One day, you'll be just as in love and you'd know it yourself."
"So," a grumpy voice loomed closer behind them, hands pressing firm on their shoulders. It’s Mr. Qian. "Who's this dreamy man we're fan-gaying about?"
🌼
"Ten, I think that's the Choi Min Ho guy outside...?"
Hendery casually grabbed Ten's arm closer to him as they were walking to the biometrics machine at 5:15PM.
"He's hot and crispy... Ah- I mean creepy! God I'm really starving." Hendery blabbered in humiliation. "He's really staring at you, Ten."
Looking at the sliding doors several meters from them, Ten sighted his towering height right away.
"Let's hurry up." After scanning their faces to the machine, Ten sternly muttered as they headed to the exit partition.
They used to be as close as fingers crossed and Ten could only offer him a brotherly kinship. But this workmate just dreams to be something more than that.
"Ten," he called, and Ten halted inevitably. "Please talk to me."
"Hello, giant baby," Ten mockingly responded, sickened. "Can I go now?"
"Ten, I just wanted to check up on you." He looked awkward saying that, peeking at Dejun and Hendery waiting for Ten beside the mission and vision board of their building. "You don't answer my calls. How have you been?"
"I'm fine, obviously," Ten said as civil as he could. "I have to go home now."
"Let me guess," he tried to confirm as soon as Ten turned away. "To Taeyong?"
He smiled tired in annoyance, looking so done. "Always to Taeyong. Goodbye, Lucas."
Ten just dashed to his friends, pulling them both in haste. He assumed Lucas knew he would look dumb catching up, and so he just went the opposite way as the three of them crossed the road and waited on the bus stop.
"Should we inform the guards next time?" Hendery suggested in concern. "They'll have a hard time strangling him but at least they can try."
"No need." Ten shortly muttered. "He's not a threat."
"Just tell your boyfriend you got a stalker so they could wrestle one on one." Dejun urged impatiently. Ten wanted to cry laughing to the thought, but he just didn't. "Let him show Min Ho who's the real boss."
"We're not in the good old David and Goliath era, dummy. It's 2023." Hendery preached gawking at Dejun, and then at Ten. "That Mean Hoe should know Taeyong owns your heart."
"And you, my friend, owns the corniest lines." Dejun told Hendery, deadpan.
"He's well aware of that," Ten sighed and forced a confident smile of assurance to his friends. "I can kick him back in behalf of Taeyong. I'm a black belter in case I haven't mentioned."
"Pff. Okay, Tenkwondoist. Just say if he's going overboard, okay?" Hendery then shook his shoulder. Sweetly whispering in secrecy, he creepily flashed a divine smile close to Ten's face. "We can learn how to dispose bodies... Together."
The two looked at each other, petrified as Ten pulled Dejun's arm and teasingly left Hendery on the waiting shed. They came back, of course. Hendery might pay for their fare again.
"Hey, can't go to work next Monday, okay?" Ten forewarned as they got on the bus. "Just going somewhere..."
"Alright. But hey!" Dejun excitedly shook Ten's shoulder as they settled at the back seat. "You still haven't told us how you guys started."
"Right, you just told me back then it wasn't safe to disclose his name," Hendery said and leaned to the bus window, taking some Chew & Real sweet potato chips to ease his hunger.
"It's gonna be longer than this bus ride, so maybe next time..." Ten chuckled, taking some from Hendery's snack. "Unless you skip your night-out and join me home for dinner."
Though the two would always whine about him always eager to go home after work, Hendery and Dejun are just the kind of companion that Ten wanted—friends who are actually happy hearing his love story not known by social media—friends who wouldn't even dare take advantage of Taeyong's absence.