Chapter Text
Seungkwan's first impression of Kim Mingyu is… not great.
Actually, scratch that. It isn’t even an impression. The first time Seungkwan meets him isn't anything grand. It’s just a funny coincidence he won’t connect until weeks later.
On his way to work one morning, Seungkwan notices a tall guy coming from the opposite direction. All he manages to think is wow, handsome. Then, right on cue, the guy nearly trips over nothing. Seungkwan has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the poor random stranger. They manage to pass without incident and Seungkwan forgets about it for the rest of the day.
Except he keeps seeing the same guy over and over again, almost every day. Always on the stretch between the subway and his own workplace. Sometimes closer to Seungkwan’s building, sometimes near his favorite bakery. Seungkwan figures out he must work somewhere nearby.
Before he realizes it, Seungkwan is looking forward to these tiny, silent encounters. It’s a funny routine at this point. He doesn’t know anything about this guy, not even his name or in which building he works. They never stop to talk, but they smile at each other and it’s enough to make Seungkwan’s mornings more bearable.
Until he gets tired of asking his boss for a raise that he knows he deserves and decides to look for a new job.
He goes from interview to interview until one day he finally receives a phone call he was waiting for. A position at a crewing agency called Seventeen Ltd. Higher salary, still in the same neighborhood and apparently they even do Fruit Thursdays. What could go wrong?
Plenty, as it turns out.
On his very first day, Seungkwan comes to a conclusion that when HR person asked if he’s able to work among chaos, it wasn’t just an empty question.
“Hi! You must be Seungkwan!” A guy with the kindest smile Seungkwan has ever seen greets him as soon as he steps out from the elevator. “Welcome to Seventeen Ltd.! I’m Hong Jisoo, the office manager.”
The cheerfulness is almost alarming. Seungkwan wasn't expecting to be greeted so… enthusiastically. At least not before even entering the office. He bows politely, trying to not show how stressed he actually is. “Nice to meet you, Jisoo-ssi.”
“I'm here to give you the grand office tour and all that jazz,” Jisoo says, flashing another dazzling smile, this time with a wink. “I believe you have met Wonwoo when you came for the interview,” Jisoo guides Seungkwan to what seems to be a reception desk. “Wait, where is he?” Jisoo furrows his brows for a second, but smiles brightly again (seriously, what's with that smile) when guy in glasses appears behind the desk. “Here he is! Our senior secretary, Jeon Wonwoo. He will handle your training.”
They exchange shy smiles and Seungkwan thinks this is nice. He knows not to judge a book by its cover, but Wonwoo looks like a calm and kind person. He can see them working as team just fine. He hopes he's not awfully wrong.
“So, this is where your kingdom is, but for now…” Jisoo gently puts hand on Seungkwan’s back and takes him away from Wonwoo. “Let’s just go further. Everyone is very excited to have you here, so just a heads up, it might be loud.”
Jisoo looks a little bit sheepish, but he doesn’t wait for Seungkwan to say anything and pushes the door to, what Seungkwan already knows, is the open office space.
The room is buzzing with keyboard clacks and low chatter. On the walls, there’s a lot of plants and pictures of vessels at the sea. A huge glass cabinet takes up half of a wall, housing an enormous model of a container ship. How did he miss that during the interview?
“Oh wow, that’s cool,” he murmurs.
“That was a gift from one of our shipowners. We also have a bell, over there,” Jisoo points towards a wall with a long corridor behind. Seungkwan takes a glance and true to Jisoo’s words, there’s a golden bell, looking like it wants him to ring it. “Actually, why don’t we–”
Seungkwan gets flustered when Jisoo actually rings the bell loudly and everyone in the room suddenly stops clicking their keyboards and talking. Everyone looks up from behind their screens, like curious meerkats. Right at Seungkwan. He decides he hates the bell right here and there.
“Guys, this is Boo Seungkwan, our new secretary that will help Wonwoo. Please take good care of him and not scare him off, alright?” Jisoo says cheerfully and Seungkwan thinks he has a weird habit of saying scary things casually. He hopes it’s just an over exaggerated joke.
A chorus of hello’s and welcome’s echoes around and Seungkwan tries his best to not get too overwhelmed. He wants to be professional, so he smiles weakly, but politely, and bows to everyone.
“Okay, so this is where our crew operators are,” Jisoo points at three desks lined up under the wall of big windows. “That’s Soonyoung and Junhui. There also should be Mingyu,” Jisoo gestures at the empty desk. ”He’s on holidays abroad, so you will meet him later.”
One guy (Soonyoung, apparently) immediately pipes up with, “Which is why we’re overworked.” His grin says he’s only half joking. The other one, Junhui, just flashes Seungkwan a smile so warm it almost feels rehearsed. Seungkwan tries to smile back without looking like he’s accidentally signing up for anything.
Jisoo ignores them and turns towards next set of desks, this time just two. “Here we have our recruitment team, you already met Minghao during your interview. And this is Seokmin.”
Seungkwan does recognize Minghao, who is now gently waving at him, so he waves back with a slight bow, hoping he’s not looking too awkward.
While Minghao is stoic, his tiny smile basically elegant, Seokmin's smile is bright and loud. “I’m Seokmin!” he says enthusiastically, despite Jisoo literally just saying his name.
Seungkwan can’t help but smile himself, just looking at Seokmin. He already likes him.
“And here are our accountants,” Jisoo points at another set of three desks. “Hansol, Jihoon and their assistant, Chan.”
“What’s up, man,” Hansol greets him casually, like they’re at a bar and not an office. Jihoon barely nods and Chan salutes.
Seungkwan returns the salute before he can stop himself. He immediately regrets it, but also… Chan looks delighted, so maybe it’s fine.
Seungkwan goes over everyone’s names in his head, practicing like they’re Duolingo vocabulary, hoping it will help him survive.
They move into corridor behind the bell wall. As they pass, Seungkwan side eyes the bell like it’s about to offend his whole family.
“On this side is our kitchen and break room in one and then printer room,” Jisoo points at the right side of the corridor. “At the end is conference room and here…” he points at the left side, “here’s Managing Director Choi’s room, Office Director Yoon’s room, and mine. You've met them together with Minghao.” He pauses, thinking if there's anything he missed. “Right! Toilet is in the main corridor, unfortunately we have to share it with the other office on this floor… Code is 1122.”
Jisoo seems to have a time limit for their office tour because he hardly shows him any of the mentioned rooms. Seungkwan barely registers his words anyway, he speaks too fast and too chaotically for his first-day-at-new-job-brain. He's pretty sure he already forgot the toilet code. He'll have to ask someone later.
“Okay, if you excuse me now…” Jisoo says he needs to get back to work, so he leaves Seungkwan alone, believing he will find his own way back to Wonwoo.
“Okay,” Seungkwan sighs when Jisoo disappears behind his office’s door. “You got this, everyone is nice. You got this.”
“Seungkwan-ssi?” Seungkwan jumps a little, not expecting anyone to be here. It's Seokmin, he thinks. He really hopes he remembers his name right. “Sorry, I need you to sign those papers, so if you have a minute…”
He gets papers from him and comes back to Wonwoo, who winces when he sees the pile of documents in Seungkwan's hands. “Thankfully it's only one time thing and then you can move to more interesting stuff. Let me know once you're done, okay?”
That's how Seungkwan’s first hours of new work goes; getting to know everyone and filling in paperwork.
“Your email should be working now, it’s [email protected]. Can you try to log in? I’ll send you a file with all useful links and passwords.”
“Is a toilet code on it too?”
Wonwoo gives him a funny look, “No. You have to remember that. It's 1234.”
Seungkwan can't say he would swear on his family, but he's convinced the code Jisoo gave him was different.
“So this is our database,” Wonwoo says, once Seungkwan successfully logs in and changes password to RedSparks11, instead of the random string of numbers they gave him. “You probably won't need to use it as much, it's mainly for operators and accountants. But sometimes seafarers come and ask questions, so if other guys don't have time, you need to know where to look for information…”
The rest of his first day goes on getting to know the database, weirdly called TROUT. No one seems to understand why it’s called like this, according to Wonwoo, so he lets it go. He focuses on easy tasks his new colleague gives him to practice.
“Seungkwan-ssi!” Someone’s voice disrupts him uploading documents into their client’s profile. He looks up and sees, ah what’s his name…
“Soonyoung,” Wonwoo warily greets him, not even looking up from his own monitor. “What could you possibly need from Seungkwan-ssi?”
“I just wanted to ask if he’s coming to the kayaking trip next month!”
“There’s a kayaking trip?” Seungkwan asks surprised.
Soonyoung just looks disapprovingly at Wonwoo. “Seriously? He’s been here for hours and you didn’t mention it?”
“It didn’t come up yet!”
Soonyoung tuts and looks back at Seungkwan with a smile. “It’s a tradition. We go kayaking one July Saturday, party after and come back on Sunday!”
“And I’m invited too?” Seungkwan asks slowly, not wanting to seem too eager.
“Of course! I can show you where the Excel file with all details is…” Before Seungkwan can blink, Soonyoung is already behind his desk, clicking through various folders on his computer. “Okay, so… I told Jihoon he’s taking a kayak with me, but I’m sure he won’t mind switching things a bit…”
Seungkwan has no idea what is happening. He glances at his screen, where Soonyoung currently has the mysterious Excel file opened. It does have all necessary information, like date, participants, kayaks and sleep arrangements.
“Hansol really loves Excel,” Wonwoo mutters, seeing Seungkwan's wonder.
He watches as Soonyoung erases Jihoon’s name from kayak 3 column and adds Seungkwan’s instead. He puts Jihoon to kayak 6.
“There,” he grins at Seungkwan.
“Who will Jihoon-ssi be paired with now?” He doesn’t want to panic, but he also doesn’t want to ruin workplace alliances via Excel on his first day. Or be hated by Jihoon. If Seungkwan managed to gather anything about him, it’s that he’s definitely a gym dude.
“Hm… I see Mingyu’s not on the list yet. He left for his holidays before the file was created.” Soonyoung shrugs and adds, “I’ll just put him together with Jihoon.”
“Don’t worry,“ Wonwoo says, once Soonyoung is called back to his desk by a ringing phone. “I think Jihoon will be actually thankful for not being paired up with Soonyoungie.”
Somehow, it doesn’t ease Seungkwan’s nerves much.
***
Working at Seventeen Ltd. is not exactly how Seungkwan imagined it, but he comes to a realization that he means it in a good way.
In his first week, everyone insists he just calls them hyung, except Hansol, who turns out to be the same age and Chan, who is actually younger. Seungkwan told him he can call him hyung if he wants.
He doesn't want to. He refuses Seungkwan's offer outright and that's how he learns that Lee Chan is a full time brat. First, for rejecting him, and second, for making him salute on the first day, which turns out was a provocation. Wonwoo thinks it's extremely funny when Seungkwan tells him, but reassures him that Chan will come around, at some point. Probably.
As Wonwoo also explained, Jihoon isn’t mad about stealing Soonyoung from their kayaking duo. He seems relieved and it only adds to Seungkwan’s nerves. He’s not the best swimmer. He secretly hopes the relief isn’t because Soonyoung has a tendency to fall into water or something equally dangerous.
He barely sees the office directors, but when he does, they’re as polite as Jisoo was on the first day. Almost. It’s difficult to be more polite than Jisoo. Seungkwan still hasn’t exactly figured out their personalities.
Fruit Thursdays are real, too. A delivery guy shows up barely after the office opens, he drops a huge box full of various fruits on the reception desk and leaves.
"Can you get it to the break room? Just put it wherever and get as much fruit as you want,” Wonwoo advises, clearly being busy with some morning emails. “Then I’ll show you how to apply for US Visa.”
The secretary part of the job isn’t much different from his previous company, but Seungkwan never had anything to do with a maritime industry, so it all feels new and interesting. Wonwoo has already shown him what documents issued by Maritime Office look like, where he needs to add them in their database and how to check their authenticity via system.
He takes the fruit box and goes to the kitchen. He barely manages to make a few steps through the open space when someone’s hand reaches to grab a mango.
“Hey! Just let me take it to the…" he looks up and freezes. “Oh, Director Yoon. I’m sorry, I just–”
“Can I take a mango, Seungkwan-ssi?” he smiles and Seungkwan nods, embarrassed. He can still hear his cackling as he enters the kitchen and puts the box down.
“Morning, Seungkwan-ah,” Junhui greets him, leaving his coffee behind and getting up to look inside the box. “What’s the fruit box full of this time?”
“Honestly, no idea. There was a mango for sure, Director Yoon just took it. You can check if there’s more…”
“Did someone say mango?” Seokmin appears in the door, all excited.
“There’s two more. We can take one each and not tell anyone,” Junhui says, as he looks through the box. Then he glances at Seungkwan. “You can keep a secret, right?”
Seungkwan is flustered, but quickly shakes it off. “There wasn’t any mango today.”
Seokmin and Junhui both grin. “Cool.”
Later, Seungkwan has to inform Hansol that he didn’t see any mango in the box and watch him go back to his desk, disappointed.
***
On his third Monday, Seungkwan finally meets Kim Mingyu. Seungkwan's first proper impression of him is… even less great.
Apparently, Mingyu came in early and hasn’t left his desk for hours, trying to dig through the mountain of emails that piled up during his three weeks off. Seungkwan doesn’t even realize he’s there until nearly noon, when he heads over to the operators’ desks.
“Hey, guys. Wonwoo said to give you this,” he says, handing Junhui a stack of papers. Junhui immediately starts flipping through them.
“Mingyu, this one’s for you,” Junhui says and Seungkwan follows his hand reaching out to…
“Street Guy?” Seungkwan asks, before he can stop himself.
“Thanks Jun–” Street Guy looks up mid sentence. His mouth falls opens in surprise, like his brain stopped functioning. Seungkwan furrows his brows and watches as Street Guy, scratch that, Mingyu knocks over his glass. Water floods all over his desk, soaking the papers Seungkwan has just brought. “Oh fuck…” he groans.
“What’s going on here?” Soonyoung asks immediately, far too curious for Seungkwan’s liking.
At the same time, Mingyu blurts out, “Did you stalk me here?”
Seungkwan is half a second from helping him with the water, but Mingyu’s words make him freeze. His eyes nearly pop out of his sockets. “Excuse me?”
“What’s the other explanation?” Mingyu shoots back, frantically grabbing tissues from the box on his desk to save his keyboard.
“I’m working here, obviously?” Seungkwan answers matter-of-factly. Is this guy dense? He literally brought him documents a minute ago.
Mingyu just whines, sounding like a distressed whale, and doesn’t look at Seungkwan, still too busy with drying his desk.
Seungkwan glances at Junhui and Soonyoung for backup, but both of them look like they’re watching the funniest thing they’ve seen all week.
Resigned, Seungkwan takes the ruined papers off Mingyu’s desk and sighs. “I’ll bring you new copies.”
***
One Thursday, Seungkwan finds a note on his desk as soon as he arrives in the morning.
remember who mango belongs to
He should have known that once complicit in a crime, you’re always complicit.
“Seriously… this wasn't in the job description,” he mutters and waits for delivery guy, Hajoon, to bring this week’s box.
“Morning, happy Fruit Thursday,” he says with no enthusiasm whatsoever (as always) and leaves.
Seungkwan, learning from his mistakes, opens the box still in the reception area and counts mangoes. Four this week. He releases a relieved sigh.
He hides two mangoes for Junhui and Seokmin, sets one aside for Hansol just to be nice, and leaves the fourth one in the box for whoever finds it first. Probably Director Yoon again, and frankly, that’s safer than arguing with him about fruit.
Then he carries it to the kitchen and leaves there. On his way back, he nods to Seokmin and then Junhui. He stops by Hansol’s desk and whispers, “I saved you a mango, come to the reception desk later.”
***
Seungkwan is halfway through a June report when his screen goes black. A second later, the light above his head flickers out and the low hum of the air humidifier dies too. He doesn’t even have to ask. There’s only one possible culprit.
“Fuck!” The yell is loud enough to rattle through a closed door. “I’m so sorry, everyone…”
Seungkwan slumps back in his chair with a sigh, already mourning the report he spend an hour on. Hopefully auto save has mercy.
The door suddenly opens and very distressed Kim Mingyu stumbles in, eyes wide, scanning the room like he’s searching for survivors. “Shit, it took the power in the whole office?” he blurts.
Seungkwan raises an eyebrow. “Do I wanna know what happened?”
“I broke a glass.”
“And?”
“It was full of water, it spilled between my desk and Jun’s, and, uh…” Mingyu winces. “It might have drenched the extension cord?”
“You’re asking me?” Seungkwan asks incredulously.
Mingyu opens his mouth to say something, then closes it, changing his mind. Then he opens it again. “Where's Wonwoo? He's nicer.”
Seungkwan stares at him. “Shouldn't you be, I don’t know, drying everything up? Did you at least pull the plugs?”
Mingyu looks at Seungkwan with a conflicted expression. Seungkwan can practically see the wires in Mingyu’s brain trying to connect. “Yeah, I'll… I'll go do that.”
The door shuts behind him and Seungkwan mutters to himself, “That definitely wasn't in the job description.”
***
“We're choosing the best and the worst coworker of the month! Please fill this in and drop your answers in the box by recruitment team's desk. Thank you!” Seokmin declares brightly, even though the sky outside looks ready to rain on them any second.
“Is this… actually approved?” Seungkwan asks cautiously, scanning the questions on the sheet.
The coworker I struggle to work with the most is (fill here).
The best joke I heard this month was (fill here), told by (fill here).
The best snack was brought in by (fill here).
The most swearing coworker was (fill here).
The nicest thing anyone did for me was (fill in).
(Fill here) neglected to (fill here).
“Of course,” Minghao scoffs. “It was Director Yoon's idea.”
“And Director Choi knows about it too?”
“Kwannie, we do this every month. Everyone participates, including Director Choi and Director Yoon.”
"I'll… make sure to submit mine as soon as possible,” Seungkwan says, forcing what he hopes is an honest smile. Luckily, both Minghao and Seokmin seem satisfied and leave with their polls.
Seungkwan looks at them until they disappear, then immediately turns to Wonwoo. “It's a prank, right?”
Wonwoo doesn’t even look up from his monitor. “I can show you answers from previous months,” he shrugs. “It's supposed to be anonymous, but because it's written by hand, I can easily figure out who says what.”
“What do you mean–” Seungkwan’s words cut off as Wonwoo clicks open a folder on his desktop titled coworker of the month. In that folder there's one for every year and when he clicks on 2025, Seungkwan sees six folders, for every month that has already passed.
Seungkwan’s jaw drop. “At this point, I don't know why I’m even surprised.”
“Check this one out,” Wonwoo says and opens scans from April 2025. “It was Mingyu’s birthday, so everyone secretly agreed to vote him both the worst coworker and the best one.”
Seungkwan snorts. “Let me guess, you announced the worst one first.”
“I see you're learning fast,” Wonwoo approves.
***
“Seungkwan-ssi? Do you have a minute to stop by my office?”
Director Choi barely ever speaks to Seungkwan and he's never been summoned to his office before. Naturally, his stomach drops.
“You're not getting fired, relax. I think at this point you're immune to the secretary curse,” Wonwoo says, sensing his distress.
“Immune to what?” Seungkwan's voice goes a little higher than usual, due to his sudden raised stress level.
“Ask Hansol about it. Okay, now go!”
Seungkwan obediently follows. Director Choi leaves his office door wide open and when Seungkwan arrives, he gestures toward a chair.
“Seungkwan-ssi, how are you enjoying working here?”
“Oh, it's actually better than I imagined? My previous job wasn't as…” Seungkwan looks for a proper word to describe his experience so far, “…diverse.”
Director Choi smiles gently at his answer. “That’s good to hear. We try to keep this place welcoming. I hope you know we're all very glad to have you here. That's actually what I want to talk to you about.”
Seungkwan straightens up in the chair, awaiting to hear what exactly this is about.
“So you know about the monthly coworker poll.”
“Yes..?”
He wasn't voted the worst coworker his first month, right? Surely you can’t be fired for that…?
“There were quite a few votes saying good things about you. Let me read you some.” Director Choi looks through some papers and coughs before reading. “The nicest thing anyone did for me was Seungkwan saving me a mango on Fruit Thursday. I was sad for two weeks because there weren't any and he must have noticed.”
“Oh,” Seungkwan says softly, cheeks warming.
“Seungkwan neglected to be a bad coworker!” Director Choi makes a pause. “Creative phrasing, but I think they mean it as a compliment.”
Another paper. “Coworker I struggle to work with the most is Seungkwan, because he sits in another room.” Director Choi gives him a look. “That one’s more about logistics than personality, clearly. But I would say you're quite popular. Keep it up, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Now, if you could scan these for Wonwoo to put in adequate folders, I’d appreciate it. Thank you.”
On his way back, he makes sure to stop by Hansol's desk. “Thanks for writing about mango, that was really thoughtful of you.”
Hansol blinks, then laughs awkwardly. “Oh, haha. Yeah… well, thanks for saving it for me, by the way. Guess I owe you one mango now.”
Seungkwan laughs, delighted with Hansol’s banter and relieved after talking to Director Choi. He really seems to be liked enough.
When he turns to go back to his own desk, he catches Mingyu staring at him. The intensity makes him stop and touch his face. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
“Eee, no?” Mingyu stammers.
“…Okay?”
“…Okay.”
From the corner, Soonyoung and Junhui snort loudly, immediately starting to tease Mingyu as soon as Seungkwan closes door behind him.
***
Seungkwan quickly gets used to his responsibilities at Seventeen Ltd. After a month, he even notices a routine forming.
In the mornings, he checks emails over breakfast. At ten, he gets coffee from their coffee machine and then makes rounds to he sees where he's needed.
It changes every day. Sometimes he helps Jihoon and Hansol label invoices, other days he deals with printing and scanning stacks of documents. On Mondays, if necessary, he sends packages to the Busan Branch via courier. On Thursdays, he handles fruit duty which, somehow, has become his most important responsibility.
At the start of July, the hottest topic discussed by everyone is their upcoming kayaking trip. Everyone suggests different drinks for the evening and Seungkwan is responsible for contacting Hajoon so Thursday’s fruits can become Saturday fruits instead. Not everyone is thrilled (ekhm, Director Yoon), but Seungkwan manages to secure more mangoes than they usually get. That alone flips Director Yoon’s mood from stormy to sunshine.
The day of seven-kayak-teen trip (someone was way too proud of that name and that someone is Soonyoung) arrives suddenly and Seungkwan finds himself in Jisoo’s car, together with Chan.
“Chan, is it your first trip too?” Jisoo asks politely.
“Yeah, I think I was hired in August just to reduce the number of people they had to pay for,” he answers.
Jisoo snorts and Seungkwan adds, “Lucky me I came in June, then.”
The drive takes about an hour. It’s pleasant enough, despite the early hour and Chan still refusing to call Seungkwan hyung. They had to leave Seoul at eight in the morning to reach the meeting point on time.
Halfway there, Chan suddenly laughs at his phone. “Mingyu hyung’s car broke down.”
“Oh no… wasn't he supposed to drive Jihoon and Hao?” Jisoo asks.
“Yep.”
Curious, Seungkwan checks their office chat. Sure enough, Mingyu has been live texting his misfortune. How typical of him, he thinks.
“Okay, guys,” Wonwoo gathers everyone's attention once they arrive. “Mingyu's car broke down in the morning, but he managed to borrow his sister's, so they should be here… soon,” he concludes after checking his watch. “I'll go ask the owner if it's okay if we wait.”
“Is Mingyu-ssi always… like that?” Seungkwan whispers to Seokmin, who's munching on a kimbap next to him.
“You're still not calling him hyung?” Seokmin ignores his question and asks his own, way too loud.
Seungkwan shrugs. “He never offered.”
“Interesting,” Soonyoung comments shortly.
“Very interesting,” Junhui adds.
“Is it?” Seungkwan deadpans.
He never finds out because at that moment they hear Mingyu's voice, “We're here, everyone! We're here!”
Seungkwan turns towards where Mingyu is coming from and looks funnily at him.
Seungkwan has a cap, face covered in SPF 50 and big bottle of water together with snacks in his waterproof bag.
Mingyu, however, lightly jogs towards the group, wearing a neon green bucket hat and carrying a tourist fridge in his hand.
“Are you taking this with you on a kayak?” Hansol asks incredulously.
“Please… don't ask him that,” Minghao says tiredly, dropping his bag on the ground.
Seungkwan shakes his head, silently judging Mingyu’s over-the-top fridge. Mingyu just grins at everyone happily as they gather their things and get ready for a short bus ride to the starting point of their kayaking adventure.
***
The weather is perfect for kayaking. It’s on the verge of being too hot, but clouds and trees along the coastline provide some shelter from the sun. A gentle breeze drifts through now and then, cooling them down. Birds are singing, the water is pleasantly cold when touched.
Everything would be perfect… if Soonyoung actually knew how to kayak.
It's not Seungkwan’s first time, but he can’t exactly call himself a pro either.
“I think everyone is far away… we got left behind, Kwannie…”
"Hyung, please shut up and use your paddle. We're going in circles!”
Just as Seungkwan is ready to give up and swim to the shore (anything really to escape this kayak and Soonyoung), he spots two familiar figures approaching.
“Jihoonie! Mingyu-yah!” Soonyoung exclaims and waves so dramatically that they almost tip over into the water.
“Kwon Soonyoung, I swear–” Seungkwan starts, holding onto the kayak’s edges as it wobbles dangerously.
“Please save me from angry Boo…” Soonyoung pouts at their coworkers when they stop next to them.
“I'm not moving,” Jihoon replies, clearly amused.
“I'm the one that needs saving!” Seungkwan snaps.
“I can switch places with Soonyoungie hyung,” Mingyu, naturally, proposes.
Soonyoung agrees straight away, not letting Seungkwan express his opinion. Jihoon doesn't care, as long as he doesn't have to put his feet in the water.
Seungkwan’s life passes in front of his eyes for the second time today as Soonyoung stands and jumps over to trade places with Mingyu.
Seungkwan isn’t proud of the strangled noise he makes when the kayak rocks violently, even worse than before. His knuckles turn white from holding on so tightly.
Mingyu just laughs, all excited like the overgrown puppy he is, which earns him Seungkwan’s fiercest glare.
“Can you give me a hand?” Mingyu asks once he’s finished tossing his things into the kayak.
Seungkwan feels dumbfounded, but quickly realizes that yes, Mingyu is talking to him. He hesitates, but what choice does he have? He needs Mingyu's muscular arms to reach their destination alive.
Reluctantly, he takes Mingyu's hand. Just like he thought, it's bigger than his, stronger and annoyingly compatible with his own. Their hands look… almost pretty together, he thinks.
The thought is so sudden and surprising, that Seungkwan drops Mingyu's hand too soon and way too abruptly.
“Omo!”
There's a loud splash and seconds later soaked Mingyu resurfaces. Seungkwan looks at him terrified, mouth open and eyes big. It's his fault, but Mingyu doesn't seem to be mad, actually he's… laughing?
“Wooo! That's refreshing,” he giggles and if Seungkwan's eyes could get any bigger, they would. He can’t comprehend why Mingyu isn’t even a little bit mad. He’d be furious if the roles were reversed.
Mingyu chooses different way of revenge, probably not even on purpose. He takes off his shirt and tosses it into the kayak floor. He tells Seungkwan to paddle a little closer to the shore so he can climb back in.
Once his feet touch ground, Mingyu pushes up, standing tall and half naked as he joins Seungkwan. Seungkwan is glad he's the one sitting in front, where he doesn't have to look at Mingyu's chest, or worse, his muscular back.
So that's how Seungkwan ends up in one kayak with Kim Mingyu, of all people.
It's not that he doesn't like him. Mingyu is actually nice, but he has a weird ability to push every single one of Seungkwan's buttons. He's clumsy, which often means more work for Seungkwan, trying to save his mistakes. He's too positive for his own good, which can be especially annoying at eight in the morning on a Monday. And he's overly confident.
Okay, the last one might be pure jealousy from Seungkwan’s side, sparking as he watched Mingyu’s bare chest. Can anyone blame him, though? Seungkwan prides himself in being an active person, he enjoys morning jogs, occasional badminton or volleyball matches. But he’s not the biggest fan of gym, while Mingyu–
Seungkwan isn't rude, so he stops his thinking there, before it goes too far. He lets his curiosity win, though, and masks it as making a simple conversation. “How did you and Jihoon hyung end up behind us? We thought we were the slowest.”
“We found a bar, so we stopped for a beer. Not that Jihoon drinks, he ate ice cream,” Mingyu chuckles.
“You're drunk right now?!”
Mingyu frowns. “No. It was just one beer, it's not a big deal.”
“Oh my god,” Seungkwan murmurs, horrified.
Mingyu still doesn't see the problem. “Hey, I swear I'm not drunk–”
“Mingyu-ssi, I need you to stay quiet! You could have drowned because of that one beer of yours!”
“You were the one to drop my hand!” Before Seungkwan can answer, Mingyu adds more quietly, “You call others hyung.”
“So? How is that important right now?” Seriously, Seungkwan thinks, this guy. Can’t he see there are more pressing matters? But something in Mingyu’s tone softens him, and he admits, pouting, “It’s not like you ever offered. The others did.”
“What if I offer it right now?”
The sense of relief of Jihoon and Soonyoung already being far away (but specially Soonyoung) is stronger than Seungkwan could ever expect. If they heard this, they’d never let him live it down.
“Seungkwan-ssi,” cold water splashes against Seungkwan’s neck and he yelps. He must be taking too long to answer Mingyu’s proposition. “I would really like to talk casually with you.”
“Okay,” Seungkwan surprises himself when the words leave his mouth. “Okay, hyung.”
“Cool. We’re officially friends now, Seungkwan-ah.” Seungkwan doesn’t see him, but he can basically feel Mingyu’s huge grin. “Do you want some snacks from my fridge?”
***
“So that’s what the Secretary Curse is about?” Seungkwan can’t hold back his laughter. “I thought it would be something more… gore.”
Mingyu chuckles behind him. “No, I’m telling you. Hansol is set on thinking this position is a glitch in the universe, when in reality… it’s just a magnet for chaos. Coffee spills, once even on Minghao! Lost documents–”
“It sounds exactly like you.”
“Hey!” Mingyu pretends to be offended, but can’t hold the facade for long. He splashes Seungkwan again before continuing, “And somehow, every single Fruit Thursday box ended up missing mangoes!”
“No way,” Seungkwan dramatically sighs.
“Yes way! I think that’s how you passed the test, actually,” Mingyu adds with a smirk.
Seungkwan snorts. “So what, I’m in training for some kind of… extreme office sport? By securing mangoes for some people?”
Mingyu grins. “Exactly. Welcome to the Olympics of Mangoes, Seungkwan-ah. I’m sure Director Yoon would gladly give you a gold medal himself.”
They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only sounds being the gentle splash of water and chirping birds, until Mingyu points at something in the distance. “Look, a duck family!”
Seungkwan looks in the direction of Mingyu’s hand. “Aigoo, they’re cute.”
“I think we’re getting close to the finish line,” Mingyu says.
Seungkwan hums, wondering how the last two hours with Mingyu were… nice. They talked and laughed a lot and, what’s the most surprising, Seungkwan feels relaxed. Something he didn’t think would possible after the fiasco with Soonyoung.
He thinks that maybe they can be on their way to become friends.
“Hey, Mingyu hyung.”
“Yes?”
“Sorry if I wasn’t friendly with you before. It’s just… you literally accused me of stalking you.”
Mingyu bursts into a loud laugh, startling the duck family. Seungkwan can’t help smiling. It’s perfect.
***
They arrive last, a bit sweaty and sun kissed, but smiling and it doesn’t slip their coworker’s attention.
“Had fun, guys?” Junhui asks, wiggling his eyebrows to which Seungkwan pouts.
“Seungkwannie calls me hyung, now,” Mingyu announces proudly, as if anyone cares. To Seungkwan’s surprise, it appears that some of them do; Soonyoung gives Junhui a high five, while Seokmin grins at them. “I knew you would figure it out!”
“Figure what out? There wasn’t anything to figure out!” Seungkwan whines.
They bicker for a bit longer, until Mingyu leaves to take a shower. Seokmin tries to make him understand that everyone in the office could sense the tension between them two. Everyone but Seungkwan, apparently.
“We’re having a bonfire soon. Cheol and Jeonghan are coming too,” Jisoo announces, interrupting Seokmin’s argument that Seungkwan was avoiding Mingyu. He wasn’t!
“Who are they?” Seungkwan whispers to Minghao, who just giggles at him.
“Director Choi and Director Yoon.”
“Oh, right. Stupid me, ha ha.”
Stop being so awkward, Boo Seungkwan!!!
“You’re not nervous about them being here?” Minghao looks at him. “We’re not at the office, it’s gonna be fun.”
“Sure, yeah. I think I’ll go take shower too.”
Minghao nods and says, “Hansol should still be inside, it should be open.” He waves goodbye as Seungkwan heads to their shared, three person room.
Just as he closes the door behind him, the door to bathroom opens, revealing half naked Hansol. Just Seungkwan’s very gay luck today that half of his coworkers are walking around without any clothes.
“Oh, hey there, Boo.” Hansol, casual as ever, greets him. “I forgot clean clothes,” he gestures at the pile of clothes in his hands and disappears in bathroom again.
Hansol’s nice to look at, sure. But Seungkwan can’t stop thinking about how muscular Mingyu is. He must hit gym a lot. Or–
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop your horses, Boo Seungkwan! You’re not thirsting over your coworkers’ bodies! He sighs heavily and sits on his bed, looking through his suitcase for that cute t-shirt he hopes he packed.
He might be a little… touch deprived. He admits it. It’s been over a year since he broke up with his last boyfriend and since then he’s been mostly occupied with fighting for a raise, switching jobs and settling into the new one.
But coworker is a big no, no.
Hansol emerges, fully dressed, shooting him a grin. “Bathroom’s all yours.”
***
The evening party is more of a casual gathering around the bonfire, complete with guitar and drinks. They grill sausages over the fire, responsibility of Wonwoo and Jihoon. Jisoo is responsible for guitar accompaniment and Chan takes care of mixing drinks to everyone’s tastes.
Seungkwan sits quietly next to Seokmin when Jisoo starts playing one of the songs he recognizes. He knows he’s softly singing along, but he doesn’t really register everyone is staring at him until Jihoon whistles, “Whoa.”
Seungkwan freezes. He’s glad it’s already dark, because his cheeks are definitely red.
“You never told us you can sing!” Seokmin whines.
“There wasn’t really any occasion…”
“Bullshit,” Wonwoo interrupts him. “Kwannie sings in the reception area all the time.”
“I demand karaoke night!” Director Yoon exclaims, which surprises Seungkwan.
Everyone seems to love the idea. Director Choi immediately flips through the calendar to propose a date. They can’t find one that works for all thirteen, so it’s left for Secretary Boo and Secretary Jeon to sort out on Monday.
Hours later, the bonfire still crackles, casting warm light on the circle of Seventeen Ltd. workers. Empty plates and half full cups lay scattered around as laughter bounces off the trees.
Mingyu stretches, ready to get up, only to freeze. “Wait… where are my shoes?” Panic creeps into his voice.
Seungkwan snorts. “What do you mean? You took them off hours ago.”
Mingyu crouches, peering under the log he was sitting on and even inside his mini fridge. “I know, but they’re gone! Did someone take them?”
Jihoon rolls his eyes, chuckling. “Maybe the river claimed them after kayaking.”
Jisoo, trying to help, reaches into the sand. “Check over here…”
But Mingyu shakes his head, imagining his shoes floating down the river somewhere, joining fish for a morning swim. “No… no… my shoes…”
“Maybe let's do a sailing trip next year,” Director Choi mutters, clearly accustomed to his team’s antics. “Less chance of losing shoes.”
“I can't swim to save my life, but I don't get seasick! So I can entertain anyone who goes for a little vomit!” Junhui says, already excited about the idea.
“How did you survive today?” Wonwoo asks.
“I was in a kayak with Minghao, he’s a very chill kayaker.”
Mingyu never finds his shoes.