⠀⚘ offices⠀

@❛⠀● : han yejun。 noeul can't help the face he makes at yejun's words, before rolling his eyes, as if to say 'sure' sarcastically. there are so many times where he would question yejun's intentions when it comes to the things that would fall from the latter's lips, and one would think that by this point, noeul would've gotten used to it already. but up to this moment, noeul doesn't completely yet understand yejun's intentions with him. he wonders if he simply serves as something to entertain the younger when the latter has no one else to bother, or if this is something else. either way, noeul decides to enjoy the somewhat soothing gestures yejun makes on his skin—he's far too tired to even bother.

steadily, he begins eating his meal, the foul mood that he's been in slowly dissipating with each mouthful he takes. admittedly, the slow, light massage he's receiving is definitely nice, especially when his body is aching (he loathes to even think of it, but does this come with aging, he wonders?), but of course, he doesn't say so—he doesn't want to fuel whatever ego yejun already has; noeul knows full well how big it is.

with a soft sigh, noeul places his bowl down, carefully putting his chopsticks atop of it. unsurprisingly, his appetite is big enough for him to almost finish his meal at a much faster pace than his usual one. it's at moments like this, however, that he forgets that he has a voice he can use; that he doesn't have to keep relying on his hands to communicate with yejun, who already knows the truth. but his hands are moving before he can even think about it. "so bold of you to assume that i will even open up," he signs, and he raises an eyebrow. "are you going to stay here all night then if i refuse to say anything?"

@❛⠀● : jung noeul。 it's rare that noeul is so... receptive to yejun's touch like this. perhaps receptiveness isn't the right word, though, and yejun realizes that when he looks at noeul closer, when he takes in how physically drained the other man seems to be. no, it seems that noeul's simply too tired to resist yejun's usual advances, and while that might be something that one could consider an advantage, yejun only finds himself frowning at the thought. somehow, a lively, feisty noeul with a penchant for protesting against yejun's every move is far more familiar than /this/ noeul, unmoving against yejun's gentle touch.

how exactly can he remedy this, he wonders?

"you know i could never leave you alone, noona. you're too pretty not to have me fawning over you at any given minute, and i simply do not have the heart to leave you by yourself like this." he flashes the other man a cheeky grin, somewhat pleased that noeul's still showing signs of irritation with yejun, as he always does. his palms slide down to noeul's shoulders, gently rubbing the skin in an attempt at pressing against any sore spots, effectively giving the older man a massage. he's humming softly as he presses his thumbs against noeul's shoulder blades, fighting the urge to lean down and give the older man a soothing kiss—he isn't sure if that's what noeul needs right now. "so? i made you your favorite, so i expect payment. i will accept payment in the form of letting me stay and bother you until you feel like opening up."

@❛⠀● : han yejun。 there aren't that many people that noeul would so willingly let touch his hair. he fears it may be a little too close for comfort, a little more intimate than he'd like—and that raises a question, doesn't it? since when did noeul let yejun touch his hair so casually, so easily? so much that it seems to have become a natural thing between the two of them, as noeul only registers the fact that /ah/, yejun is tying his hair up into a loose ponytail, which he knows is messy anyway, after he feels the warmth of yejun's palm against his nape.

is this meant to be a comforting touch, he wonders, when comfort used to be the last thing he could associate with yejun before. perhaps it's because of his exhaustion that he's letting the younger lad touch him so easily, without a signed protest. instead he moves his gaze up to shoot yejun a look, but he doesn't make a move to push away the hand that's begun to make soothing gestures against his skin.

perhaps noeul would let this be for now. it helps with the light aches scattered across his body, after all, and he always has the excuse of exhaustion to allow this behavior that he would normally smack yejun away from. he places his chopsticks atop the bowl of ramen, before moving his chair just enough to meet yejun a little more easily, his hands moving. "would you leave me alone if i said you are?" he signs, raising an eyebrow.

@❛⠀● : jung noeul。 perhaps this is one of the reasons that yejun enjoys his job at manwol's ramyeon—not the hits, nor the assignments he handles, no—but it's the cooking aspect that he enjoys a little more than he does the others. (which isn't saying much, really—yejun doesn't have much love for assassination. it's simply a thing that he does.) when noeul's furrowed brows ease at the touch of the steaming ramen on his tongue, yejun is satisfied. he likes that look on people, when they taste his food—but on noeul especially, whose features have always been soft and pretty in that mysterious way of his, yejun can confidently say that this is why he likes feeding the man, even when noeul blatantly refuses his advances.

still, he looks tired, doesn't he? yejun's sympathetic to noeul's dilemma—while he stays at the ramyeon house more often than not, yejun's experienced those same types of assignments: difficult target, difficult client. and despite noeul's rank, yejun's well aware that those types of assignments are inevitable. if anything, the likelihood of having those assignments increases with your rank.

so it's good that noeul's enjoying the food. yejun watches the other man for a moment, a slight smile on his face before he shifts the chair a little closer, ending up right beside the older assassin. he leans forward then, tugging off the hair tie he keeps on his wrist (don't ask why he has it) and standing behind the older to tie his hair into a loose ponytail. "there you go," yejun says, a pleasant smile on his face as his palm rests on noeul's now bare nape. "this is easier, isn't it?"

he rubs his thumb against noeul's skin, the touch light and gentle as he peers into the older man's face. "wanna talk about it? or am i interrupting your precious alone time with your ramen? you seem to be enjoying it, noona."

@❛⠀● : han yejun。 exhaustion easily washes over noeul's body even as he sits in a more comfortable position in one of the couches in an office he found empty. that took a little longer than he had thought it'd be, and he supposes he would have to tell the owner of the secret garden that he might run a little late... even if he loathes to even think about work the next day. he has his legs pulled up to his chest, arms folded above his knees as he rests his forehead against them. at least, he's already gotten out of his clothes, despite there being barely any blood in them, and has changed into... well, considerably more comfortable ones.

he feels a new presence within his vicinity, almost immediately knowing who it is before the latter even speak. a frown makes its way to his lips almost in instinct at the thought of being a little too familiar with how yejun moves to be able to tell it's him without actually seeing him.

noeul doesn't quickly fall into a dilemma, no, but as he raises his face to look at yejun, he thinks he's beginning to regret having stayed in the ramyeon house a little longer than he intended. but the bowl of ramen /is/ tempting, a little too tempting, and his eyebrows furrow now at this newfound dilemma. does he stay and eat while yejun is right here, clearly much more cheerful than noeul ever will be? or does he leave and ignore the perfectly good, faultless ramen?

the answer comes easy, of course.

he reaches for the bowl, moving it a little closer to himself as he shifts in his place, his legs moving to one side to allow more space for his arms to move. he's well aware that this isn't a position he's meant to be using when he's around someone else, especially in front of a preciously good meal like this—but he's too tired to be thinking about manners and etiquette, when yejun certainly wouldn't care, would he?

"a hassle. difficult target, difficult client," is what he signs. although he supposes that he shouldn't call such assignments as a hassle, the target this time had made it more difficult than how noeul would've liked it. that's the only thing he says before he starts eating the ramen with one hand, leaning toward the table, while his other hand keeps his hair in place by his left shoulder. his furrowed eyebrows now ease, his frown slowly disappearing as soon as the ramen's taste hits his tongue, almost successful in the way it takes away the seemingly bad mood.

@❛⠀● : jung noeul。 one might say that han yejun is the type of man to always have an ulterior motive, but if you ask the man himself, he does everything out of the goodness of his heart. of course he would—what ulterior motive would he have for the simplest of actions? when yejun does a good deed, he does it because it's a good deed, and not because he expects anything in return. it's common decency, after all.

which is why yejun /definitely/ doesn't have an ulterior motive for making this specific bowl of ramen, a flavor that he's tweaked ever so slightly and developed for one singular person.

yejun easily slides the steaming hot bowl of shio ramen onto the table, a stellar grin on his face as he looks at the man before him. noeul has just returned from a hit, after all—yejun's sure a bowl of ramen will make things better. "made your favorite, noona," he says cheerfully, turning a nearby chair around and taking his seat, leaning his arms on the backrest. "thought you could use a pick-me-up after your recent trip. did it go well?"