Homosaurus

8

"Park Jinyoung!" Jaebum called as he entered the lab with a box full of his things.

"Who's calling me?" The scientist responded from where he was hunched over a table working on something.

Jaebum set his box down and crept up behind him, surprising him with a hard slap on his bottom. "Your favorite person in the entire world~"

Jinyoung yelped, spinning around and nearly dropping the goggles he was wearing. "What the fuck Jaebum, I'm working!"

"Sorry I'm just really happy!" Jaebum replied, the large grin on his face showing it.

Jinyoung sighed, turning back around to continue working. "Happy about what?"

Jaebum walked around to the other side of the table, leaning over the cool metal surface. "Guess who you're gonna be seeing everyday from now on?"

"I dunno, the pizza delivery guy?" Jinyoung guessed, obviously not particularly interested in whatever news Jaebum planned on sharing.

"What- no! Me dummy!" Jaebum replied while flicking Jinyoung's forehead.

The scientist looked up from his work, pushing his goggles up to his forehead. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yes! Kim Yugyeom approved me right before my eyes. Guess who your official researcher is now?" Jaebum pointed to himself, giving the younger a wink. "This guy right here."

A smile lifted the corner of Jinyoung's lips, finally giving Jaebum the reaction he was searching for. "That's really great Jaebum. Now you get to spend time with Youngjae and get paid for it."

"I know, I was so shocked, I really thought I was gonna get fired!" Jaebum replied.

Jinyoung frowned, cocking his head to the side. "Why would you be fired?"

Jaebum's smile immediately faded. He looked down at the floor, avoiding Jinyoung's gaze. "Well um... y'know Yugyeom found out that I've been seeing Youngjae without authorization... he saw me on camera so, he kinda has some dirt on me..."

"Are you serious!?" Jinyoung's jaw hung open as Jaebum nodded in confirmation. "How careless could you have been? You didn't even bother to check for cameras before taking Youngjae out of his cage!?"

"Look I'm a big softy for him! He gave me those cute reptile puppy eyes, I couldn't ignore it!" Jaebum retorted, though he himself knew it would've been smart to inspect the building so he could've avoided being recorded doing something he wasn't supposed to do.

Jinyoung sighed, shaking his head at Jaebum, though he did feel relieved that things didn't get out of hand due to that incident. "Well, the fact that he kept you and didn't fire you just means that he didn't want this situation to blow up in case anyone else finds out. Now that you're apart of the team, you have fully authorized access to Youngjae, so if anyone were to see that video you wouldn't get in any trouble."

Jaebum shrugged, not really concerned with why Yugyeom let him be apart of Youngjae's research, he was just glad to be there at all. "Yeah, that's true... I guess he was looking out for me."

"Yeah, and saving his own butt. He's responsible for you and for Youngjae, this is a huge project and jeopardizing it like you did wouldn't have just resulted in you getting reprimanded, but him too." Jinyoung pointed out.

"I still don't get why he's so secret." Jaebum rested his elbows on the table, letting out a huff of air. "Shouldn't we be telling the world about what we have developed? How else can we make advancements if we aren't transparent with the work we're doing?"