When Lee Tae-gun walks into the room, he has a perfectly placid expression on his face, but when he looks at Kang Jaeha the thing that flashes in his eyes isn't placid. It's a moment of calculation, of quickly analysing Jaeha to determine whether he's a threat. 

It's disconcerting to him that the answer he arrives at is "unclear".

Jaeha is smiling when Tae-gun does look at him, of course. He's got to give a good first impression, he's charming and nice and friendly and he's feeling... something. Something strange, something—

—guiding? That makes no sense. From this distance?

"Good morning, Kang Jaeha-nim," he says after the split second of assessment. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

—right, he has a role to perform. He's on his feet already, smile still on his face, striding confidently towards Lee Tae-gun. "Good morning, Lee Tae-gun-shi, and likewise." He extends his hand for a shake.

That's what they're here for, isn't it?

He shakes—

He has the absurd thought, suddenly, that he might actually take it personally when Lee Tae-gun decides to leave him. 

"Wow," he breathes, pulling his hand away. "I was not expecting that."

Yeah. Him either. 

He's not straightforwardly happy about it, even if he mostly is. Now is not the time for an erection.

"What's your backlash like, Lee Tae-gun-shi?" He knows it's rude to ask, but now he's desperately curious. What could possibly be this compatible with him? And why would it make Lee Tae-gun make that face?

That snaps him out of the daze. "—I'm afraid I oughtn't tell you."

"What, never?" he asks, half-joking. "Did you hate it that much?"

"N-no, just, until the contract is signed."

Which is to say, until it is the case that if Jaeha shared it with anyone else it would ruin him. Lee Tae-gun is very guarded, and not stupid, but that stammer there... Whatever it is, he's not only scared of it getting out; he's embarrassed by it. But the kind of embarrassed where he'll be okay sharing it once he's convinced it'll be fine—although that part could just be pragmatism.

"Makes sense. Is there anything you'd like to talk about, then? I usually would have some things but with this much compatibility I kind of want to make sure you won't escape."

"—I understand where you're coming from but we probably should ascertain we're compatible in more ways than just that," he replies, not smiling even a little bit at Jaeha's joke.

Jaeha is sure he can be someone Lee Tae-gun is comfortable with, once he's got a better bead on who Tae-gun is as a person. He won't be able to be very creative about how he discerns this, as there is a camera in this room, but he can learn from more than just body language. For example, he didn't miss the way Lee Tae-gun is currently concealing a fairly strong level of physical attraction for Jaeha, and it's occurred to him that it could be related to Lee Tae-gun's backlash, though it could just be that he's a 21 year old who's attracted to men and who has made the obvious observation that Jaeha is both really handsome and really hot. 

"Well, let's sit and chat, then," he says, gesturing at the sofas.

Sure. He came here prepared for that. He sits.

Jaeha wonders if he should sit next to Lee Tae-gun. He can't ascertain this empirically but he still considers himself pretty good at reading people.

...Lee Tae-gun would not appreciate this, on net, so he sits on a different sofa. 

"Why don't we start with what's publicly known to everyone and you tell me more about your powers?"

Oh that's a subject he's perfectly comfortable elaborating on at length.

"The basics are ice conjuration and self reinforcement." He extends his hand out, palm up, and summons a double-sided ice blade floating and slowly rotating above it. "I have full control over the shape of what I conjure, where I conjure it, its density, and the rate of conjured mass per unit time. For as long as the ice I've conjured is within my range I can prevent it from melting, move it in all three spatial directions, control its specific heat, and unconjure it. If it leaves my range and later enters it again, I can regain control over it. It is possible for me to gain control over ice I haven't conjured by conjuring some of my own, having a bit of it melt over the existing ice, then solidifying it again; this is by and large inefficient and I don't do it. I have yet to run into any limitations to any of these aspects of the power, other than backlash accumulation rate. 

"My self-reinforcement powers can range from it being kind of hard to scratch me to me becoming both an immovable object and an unstoppable force." That much is inference, not exactly completely known, because the backlash accrual rates get unmanageable really fast. "They can be leveraged for something like super strength, and include things like temperature changes and electrical charges. They have not been extensively tested against other espers' powers." And that part isn't exactly public but it doesn't really matter, he also expects he's sufficiently resistant to espers' powers that enemies underestimating him works to his advantage.

It's interesting that Lee Tae-gun got sufficiently excited for that subject that his background lust went away completely while he was talking. "You seem to mostly focus on blades," he observes.

"They're most useful for directly engaging enemies," he explains, "but dungeon situations do actually often involve me needing to use my power more creatively than that." Should he say it...? Hmm, nah. Maybe once they've signed the contract.

"How about your powers?"

"I can completely shield someone's mind from external influence, and erase any that exists in its entirety. I can also project fully immersive illusions, and not even monsters are immune to those. Or, at least, there exist some monsters that aren't, I can't rule out the possibility that some are."

Tae-gun has heard that Kang Jaeha is one of the few people who can definitely eliminate the influence of Nightmare from someone, and he's the only esper known to be able to prevent it from marking someone again at least until they leave the dungeon. That's fairly impressive on its own, but also, "I've heard you can also reflect psychic dungeons' attacks somehow...?"

"Hmm, it's a bit more complicated than that." Lee Tae-gun clearly enjoys talking shop, so they can talk shop. "When we talk about psychic dungeons, there are two separate kinds of phenomena we're referring to: dungeons whose monsters have psychic effects, and those that generate those effects themselves. They often come together, but not always, as Nightmare most famously demonstrates." Lee Tae-gun looks like the kind of person who would've looked into Nightmare in detail, and his understanding nod confirms this. "Psychic monsters are actually not always immune to the effects they themselves cause, and it's possible for me to bounce their attacks back at them in those cases. Even for the monsters that aren't straightforwardly immune to that, that's not necessarily useful, though, since they may have emotional or intellectual makeups that make them not relevantly hindered by those attacks."

"I see. And there are no direct offensive capabilities? Are your illusions fully mental, or do they also involve some matter generation?"

"No offense, and yes fully mental," he replies with some amusement in his voice. This is all a matter of public record, but the detailed interrogation might've been taken by some as threatening. Jaeha is certain Tae-gun doesn't mean it that way, and has an inkling that he might be thinking in terms of to what if any extent their abilities could complement each other and how they could work together.

He nods, humming thoughtfully.

But he's still really curious and doesn't want to just talk shop so actually, "And what does Lee Tae-gun do when he's not actively saving the world one dungeon at a time?"

...that's really weird phrasing. Isn't it? Tae-gun thinks it's weird. He guesses he doesn't know for sure, it's not his forte.

"I... practise and work out?" he tries.

"Oh? No movies or books or games, going out with friends...?"

"Oh. Those. Yeah."

"'Yeah'?"

"—I like reading books. And occasionally going places with people, like... bars and such?"

He feels like he's being made fun of.

Only a little.

"You know, you didn't strike me as the type to go to bars."

"...yeah. It's—I guess mostly because I'm dragged to them by friends."

"It doesn't seem like you hate them, though."

"...I hate the crowds. Too many people and noise. But..."

"...but...?"

"I don't know. It can be fun, a bit? With people I like?"

"It can," he agrees.

"W-well, how about you, then?" He's meant to ask these things, too, right?

"Oh, I'm way more of a homebody." Because he's boring. "And I have fewer friends than you, from the sounds of it. But I don't mind the crowds in se, except for how they make it harder to hold a conversation."

That's probably how Tae-gun would be if it weren't for him being dragged places by his partners, honestly.

"What's your work routine like?" That is also theoretically something they're meant to be checking compatibility for.

"How do you mean?"

"When do you usually prefer to wake up, how many dungeons do you do in a day, what do you like to do to prepare for them, what do you like to do for guiding afterwards..."

??????

He's certain now that Kang Jaeha is trying to imply things.

"It's important to know! We ought to know if we're compatible in ways other than just the powers but that's one of them, isn't it? If it turns out you really love watching horror movies with your partner that might be a problem, I'm terrified of them."

...right. Kang Jaeha is correct, of course, but, uh, he. His mind just.

........but also it's important.

"Not... necessarily horror... But probably spending time in, um, close physical contact would be good and, um, movies are a good idea?"

...okay now he'll lean forward on his seat and reach over for the hand of Tae-gun's that's clenched in his lap.

He freezes in place but doesn't pull away, and instead slowly looks up at Kang Jaeha's face.

Jaeha slowly, slowly brings Tae-gun's hand up to his lips, not breaking eye contact, telegraphing his movements so that Tae-gun can pull away if he wants to, and then he softly kisses Tae-gun's knuckles. "I, too, appreciate close physical contact."

He shudders at the kiss, his eyes fluttering shut and his breath hitching in his throat, and when he opens his eyes again his face is definitely flushed and he is absolutely sure Kang Jaeha knows why but that's. That's fine, right? They should know if they're compatible partners and, and the fact that Kang Jaeha is—fine with this, even though Tae-gun is a man—is probably, well, it's, it's a better way to deal with backlash than just snuggling and watching movies together, right, if they can, if, if—

Jaeha lowers his hand again but keeps hold of Tae-gun's.

"There were other parts to my question, though."

...oh my God Lee Tae-gun you came off like such a pervert right now, focusing exactly on that—

And Kang Jaeha is still holding his hand—

Holding his hand and lightly caressing his knuckles with his thumb.

Thaaaaat's noooooot heeeelpiiiiingggggggg!!!!!

Okay, hang on, he can do this, he can regain some control even though Kang Jaeha is totally into him and, and he's so hot and, and Tae-gun hasn't been guided in a while and, and what would it feel like to kiss him and, and he's big, not as big as Lee Juheon but he's broad-shouldered and it looks like he's strong and Tae-gun bets being held by him would feel really nice—

Pull yourself together, Lee Tae-gun.

From the top.

"I... usually wake up around seven, and I do between two and six dungeons a day depending—"

Okay that's enough to break his stride. "Six?"

"...only if they're small..."

"Lee Tae-gun-shi, I will not be able to keep up with that, fair warning."

"...no, it's fine, I know I'm... a bit of a workaholic..."

"'A bit of a workaholic' doesn't cover six dungeons a day, Lee Tae-gun-shi!"

"...most days it's just three or four," he offers.

"That's a more reasonable number," compared to six. "I usually do one or two, very occasionally three, though, ah, my prior partners weren't—we weren't as compatible as it seems you and I are so I had to substantially manage the amount of backlash I got per day."

"Oh. That makes sense." He wasn't as compatible with his three other partners as he is with Kang Jaeha but it seems like the difference isn't as extreme as it is for Jaeha.

"Anyway, sorry to interrupt, please continue, Lee Tae-gun-shi."

"Right. Um. I like to study dungeons the day before I go into them, and review them just before going out."

"The pre-dungeon briefing doesn't cover that?"

"Oh, I—mostly solo dungeons."

...okay, Jaeha is starting to revise his estimates about the reasoning for Lee Tae-gun's S-rank assignment. With this kind of work ethic it would be impossible to classify as anything but even if he tried to hide the extent of his powers.

"'Mostly'?"

"I need a team for S-ranks and some A-ranks, especially ones that involve rescuing people. My powers aren't as good at rescuing."

Some A-ranks. This means that he solos the other A-ranks.

What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this guy is on a whole different league holy shit.

"So I imagine the lower bound of two dungeons on a single day is when you go into more difficult ones like that."

"Yeah."

"How often do you take breaks?"

"Like, days I don't do any dungeons? Once or twice a week, barring emergencies." And only because the guild president forces him to, though he has to admit that taking breaks like that is probably "good" ""for"" """his""" """"health"""" or something, and if he's unhealthy he'll do fewer dungeons in the long run, so.

At last! Some aspect of this man's work schedule that isn't completely inhuman!

"I see. For me it's two or three a day, threes might be more common if we partner given how compatible we are," and actually he hasn't teased Lee Tae-gun enough so he'll just casually kiss Lee Tae-gun's knuckles again as an afterthought—

aflekjhfapiufahwpeoioçaouihegraklejnrbvfpa

(Oh but this is so going on the pros column of partnering with Lee Tae-gun.)

—"and I usually rely on pre-dungeon briefings more since my power doesn't lend itself to soloing dungeons at all. I do like to study up beforehand too, though, so companionable studying of dungeon details is another good guiding activity, and my schedule is similar to yours, though when I have to take dungeons abroad that can get messed with, especially when it's Nightmare. You go to dungeons abroad, too, right?"

"O-oh. Y-yeah, um, s-sometimes."

Jaeha cannot resist this man, honestly. He thinks he can shoot his shot, now.

"Well, to the extent that we can determine by just chatting, I think that we're probably," he leans forward and lifts a hand to cup Lee Tae-gun's cheek, "very compatible." And he slowly closes his eyes and continues to lean even closer so that their lips can touch...

Tae-gun stands up abruptly.

And Jaeha's reaction time is good enough that he doesn't look up at Tae-gun's face on instinct, and instead keeps his eyes level with—well, with the part of Tae-gun's body that he's now at eye level with. "I suppose if you insist," he says, close enough that even the cut of Tae-gun's slacks isn't enough to disguise the physiological reactions he's having.

What is he saying what is he doing why is he looking there why is Tae-gun not moving he meant to walk away but now he's just looking at Jaeha's face—

He's once again slow and deliberate in the way he leans forward and just places a soft kiss on Tae-gun, through the fabric of his trousers.

Then he lifts his gaze up, an impish smile on his lips. "Here might not be the best place, though."

...cameras. There are cameras. There are cameras and he was just recorded, the cameras could see Jaeha doing, doing what he just did, and now Tae-gun is absolutely going to flee.

But he stops at the door and says, "I look forward to working with you, Kang Jaeha-nim," bowing deeply.

And then he's fleeing.

Oh, but that boy is actually a lot of fun. To toy with, if nothing else, though Jaeha is curious about what happens when their backlashes clash.

He's also looking forward to working with you, Lee Tae-gun.

"So... you'll be joining Quasar?" Tae-gun asks while they're waiting for the paperwork to get finalised. He hasn't seen Kang Jaeha in person since the day they met for the first time, and Kang Jaeha left an impression which Tae-gun is doing his level best to put out of his mind. At least until they've both signed their papers and are Officially Partners and are somewhere, um. Else. Somewhere other than someone's office in HQ. "What's wrong with Guild Juno?"

"Wrong? Nothing. I just... didn't want to jerk you around. Juno dealt with me fairly, we had a productive partnership, but it really is a lot easier to have a partner in the same guild and there's no way Quasar would let you go."

"If I wanted to leave they'd let me leave," Tae-gun says, frowning. "They wouldn't need to let me go."

"—of course."

Tae-gun peers at him.

Some honesty won't hurt.

"I mean, you gotta see it's a bit implausible, isn't it? Korea's only S-rank, a rising star—"

"They wouldn't," he insists. "I don't know how it was at Juno but it's... different here."

Okay that's... definitely not the most amazing foot to start on. Turns out some honesty does hurt. Cameras or no, this is minor enough that he can just smush over these past couple of seconds and say, "Probably Juno was different. They were very sad to see me go. ...not that I'm anything like you, but, you know, I'm a bit jaded, is all."

...yeah. He has heard that Quasar is a lot better than other Korean guilds can be, and this tracks.

"Well. I hope you'll like it here. I do, people have been very welcoming." Okay that sounded like some TV ad or something. "...you'll see what it's like."

"I suppose I will. And, really, they have such an irresistible compensation package."

"...compensation package?"

Jaeha looks at Tae-gun, holding his gaze for a second, before lowering it to Tae-gun's lips and licking his own.

Tae-gun looks over his shoulder at the door the lawyer left through before looking back at Jaeha and, and, how does this man do these things in public, what if people see!!!!

(...he's gotta say he does appreciate being so clearly, obviously wanted, though. That's tingly in more ways than just the obvious.)

Jaeha laughs. "Lee Tae-gun, I suspect we'll have a great time together as partners."

"Y-yeah. R-right."

He was doing so well at not thinking, aughhhhhh!!!!!

"Ah, apologies for the delay," says the lawyer, coming back into the room with the papers. "We're doing a big migration to a new system on the backend and it's a bit of a mess." She sits down in front of both of them and offers them three copies of the contract. "This is the same version of the contract you've already read and accepted, but you can feel free to go over it again to confirm it. Once you're satisfied, sign all three of them; we'll keep one copy, and each of you will keep another."

Oh good a distraction.

Toying with him is fun.

Not looking at Kang Jaeha, lalalalala, reading the contract, lalalalala, not thinking about Kang Jaeha, lalalalalala~

You can hide as much as you want, little bunny, but you can't escape.

"Everything seems in order," he says, eventually, signing the documents.

Jaeha also signs it.

"Wonderful! And if I understand correctly you've arranged a temporary silo together while the main one is set up for you?"

"That is correct."

"Then I believe that will be all for today!" She stands up and shakes both of their hands. "I hope your partnership will be fruitful for you and for the good of Korea. And welcome to Quasar, Kang Jaeha-nim!"

"It's wonderful to be here."

"Now, what do you say we go check out our new shared silo together?" he asks Lee Tae-gun once the lawyer's gone.

Gulp.

They're making out a second after they've walked into the temporary silo. Jaeha is enjoying the desperate whimpers and moans he's getting out of Tae-gun tremendously, but the real reason why he particularly enjoys fucking his partners is just that the sex gets progressively better in real time, as the guiding slowly dissolves the anhedonia and intensifies the pleasure he's capable of feeling. It's always a thrill, and it's hard not to get addicted to the feeling. The fact that he's more compatible with Lee Tae-gun than he's ever been with anyone and that Tae-gun is melting under his touch makes it all the better. He remembers a time, before he manifested, when he took great joy in making boys moan his name; it's a throwback, really, to that time.

But they're wearing far too many clothes, right now, and Jaeha is of a mind to fix that immediately.

Tae-gun isn't sure if it's just the esper compatibility, but he's guessing it's probably not; Jaeha is several years his senior, has had multiple partners, and so probably has a lot of experience. Experience he's applying to great effect, Tae-gun doesn't think he's ever been kissed so well, he's never been touched like this before and it's driving him wild. And he's got some accumulated backlash, obviously, both of them do, even with meds and just hanging around other espers you do actually need to have your own partner to properly deal with it, and it's all coming in at once and he can't breathe.

He's adorable. Jaeha is absolutely certain this has something to do with Tae-gun's backlash, though he missed his timing of actually asking with the making out. Once Tae-gun is topless and shoeless he decides he's too impatient so he'll lift Tae-gun up by wrapping Tae-gun's legs around his waist and holding him under his thighs.

A position that requires him to also wraps his arms around Jaeha's neck. The movement of being carried by Jaeha like that is incredibly stimulating and it doesn't even occur to Tae-gun that he could use his power to get them to the bed faster because he's already kissing Jaeha again.

It's just an apartment, it doesn't take him very long to reach the bed and drop Tae-gun onto his back on it. He immediately climbs on top and then moves to kissing down Tae-gun's torso until he can make good on the implied promise from the day they met.

"W-wait, h-hold on, not d-down th-there, it's dirty—!"

"Lee Tae-gun you are going to need to do better than that if you want to convince me not to put your cock in my mouth."

...wow he just went and said that, huh. Tae-gun is kind of at a loss for words.

That means he won't get to object to Jaeha pulling his trousers and underwear down.

"...wh-what?"

"I am probably going to need to practise to take all of you in, I've never had to deep throat this deeply."

".....stop saying embarrassing things!!!!!"

"Then stop squirming so adorably whenever I do."

No day like today for him to start practising, though.

...well that was fast. He licks his lips and grins at Tae-gun. "Now I am sure I'm not as skilled as all that."

Nope, he's covering his face and far, far too embarrassed to say anything.

...but he's not going into refraction, either.

Yeah, almost certainly backlash-related.

"From the top," he says, and it's back to practising.

The sex is mind-blowing.

Guided sex is always good, of course, but this knocks everything he's ever experienced out of the park. Lee Tae-gun actually outpaces him in stamina, has no refractory period, and is hotter for Jaeha than anyone has ever been with. They go at it for hours, he even bottoms sometimes when he's refracting and Tae-gun is still up, he's too sensitive then but that's good and it feels good. He rails Tae-gun and he rides Tae-gun and he kisses Tae-gun and he sucks Tae-gun and he's sucked by Tae-gun and by the end of it they're both exhausted and shooting blanks and Jaeha hasn't felt this much pleasure in a long time. He had no idea sex could be this good.

He wants to keep Lee Tae-gun.

Lee Tae-gun is currently kind of a horny lump in the shower, still sporting a semi and completely content with letting Kang Jaeha wash his hair. He thinks he should be having some thoughts, but he is doing something else that is not that.

He's adorable is what he is.

"Looks like someone had fun."

"Mmhmmmmmmmmm."

"Are you backlashing right now?"

"Mmm...hmmm...?"

"Did you get no guiding whatsoever since your last partner?" That was a couple of months ago, right?

"...a little..."

"'A little'."

"Not this much. Not... like this."

What, not even once? He's been running dry, not fucking anyone, for months, when he's—like this? "Why not?"

This talk is sobering him up real fast. He covers his face. "It's embarrassing for people to see me like this. And if it gets out..." Jaeha signed the contract. Jaeha will not only go bankrupt but never work with any guilds in Korea again if he leaks it. They are now partners. This is fine. They're fine. "If it gets out that I get—like this—when I'm backlashing—"

...yeah, he can see that. The Korean public may objectify and sexualise them but it's one thing to write porn where espers get horny and submissive and pliant when they're backlashing, it's a whole 'nother for it to be true. "Do you always get like this?"

"...less. Usually. Just... it's been a while. I'm..."

"Extremely pent up and blue balled."

He covers his face again. "Stooooooop saying embarrassing thiiiiiiiiings." Honestly Tae-gun himself is being embarrassing, right now. His backlash is still mostly horny but he's getting into some of the other things and talking too much, again, and when he gets the horny-chatty combo he says such ridiculous things augh.

It's fine. This is fine. Jaeha signed a contract. It's fine. That's what a partnership is for. They may barely know each other, maybe Jaeha is awful somehow (even though he's been so nice, and his teasing gives Tae-gun butterflies, and the sex was amazing), but even if he is, the worst that'll happen is that they'll break it off, he'll eat the penalty clauses, and try to find someone else. It won't get out. He can be a little bit embarrassing. They're in isolation, it's what siloing is for, it's what partners are for, everyone in this industry knows how this works. It's fine. He's fine.

"Am I wrong?"

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh.

He laughs. "You're really very cute."

"It's a good thing," Jaeha says, pulling Tae-gun's head under the water to rinse the shampoo off. "I like it."

adshjgakjwfewoiuflakesjh

He laughs again.

Awful awful awful awful.

(But also: butterflies.)

They've dealt with their backlashes well enough that they don't need to stay in isolation. On the other hand, Jaeha is unaccountably feeling like he wants to stay a little while longer. "Want me to make you dinner?"

...huh?

Okay now he's sure honesty wouldn't hurt.

"I am unaccountably feeling like I want to spend some more time with you," he says, echoing his thoughts, "so I'm wondering if you'd like to stay. You don't have any more assignments today, do you?"

...oh.

"I don't. Um. That's. Fine. I think."

Is he getting a crush on a man he barely knows. It's probably the backlash.

"'Fine I think'! I shall treasure this praise forever."

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Really cute.

He gets to making dinner.

"Do you... usually like... men?" Tae-gun asks from where he's hiding his shame by resting his forehead on the table.

"Oh I'm a hundred percent gay."

"Oh."

So Tae-gun isn't a compatibility exception. That... makes sense. Especially of the things Jaeha did in that meeting room augh.

"You?"

"...I like both."

"Huh. So your past partners all being men...?"

He shrugs. "Just a coincidence."

"You did fuck all of them, though."

argh argh argh argh Lee Tae-gun you need to stop being Like This.

"Yeah. It's, uh. Good for backlash."

"How compatible were you with them?"

"Not... as compatible as I am with you."

"I'd honestly have been surprised if you had been! I don't know about you but I was seeing stars."

"Y-yeah."

"...um. What's your backlash, then?" It's okay to ask, right? Especially since he already talked about his. ...well, part of his. Good enough to get going. They'll have plenty of opportunities to share more in the future.

"Anhedonia," he reflexively lies. He's never told any of his partners the full story, and he doesn't see a reason to start now.

"Oh." That... makes sense? He supposes? Though it's weird if they're this compatible over just that.

...huh.

"It gets worse at the more extreme ends," he clarifies. "Loss of motivation and apathy and the like."

"Oh," he repeats. Yeah, that does make more sense of it.

"I haven't had opportunity to test it that far, of course, but I expect it could get to the point where I wouldn't find myself motivated to move."

"Ah. Yeah." That'd be pretty dangerous.

"Is it just the horniness, for you?" Lee Tae-gun's surprise suggests not.

Oh okay they're talking about it now. He supposes it's obvious for Jaeha to be as confused as he was.

"It's... do you speak English?"

"Fluently."

"I'm still learning but they have an expression that's—kind of a pun, I guess? I 'lose my cool', it means—"

"To be very angry?"

"Right, but it's more general than that for me. I lose control and I feel—hot emotions, I guess. Um. There's the, what, the, the way I was like before, but there's also... I get angry, or, or impulsive, or I talk a lot and have no filter. I usually also get a bit physically hot but it's mostly the, um, the emotional thing."

"Ah. Yeah, that'd explain why we get on like a house on fire. ...compatibility-wise, I mean."

"At least some of it, yeah."

"'Some'?"

"There's the, you know, personality bit? —I know the evidential base for that particular effect is a lot shakier but looking at the data it seems plausibly true? That there's something there, you know?" He probably wouldn't have let himself get swept off his feet this easily if it weren't for that, for the expectation that probably he and Kang Jaeha are at least a little bit the kind of people who would get along even without powers involved.

"You looked at the data?"

"Some? Um." People are usually judgmental when he gets too into this kind of stuff.

"What's the data even like?" he wonders. "How would you measure something like this?" He's never been curious about it before, it sounded like balderdash given his own experience, but it's clearly something that interests Lee Tae-gun so he's interested, too.

"It's hard, yeah, but you get stuff like—divorce rates of partners who get married, for example, and compare them to the background population, and you'd need a pretty strong external effect of pressure on partners to stay together from a professional perspective to also explain it? And things that are a bit more subjective like sentiment analysis or searching for keywords on Instagram—that one's easier in the West where espers don't have their whole image managed by guilds like they do here—I don't know. Someone should do a meta-analysis at some point but it seems to me like there is something there."

"Were you pretty compatible, like that, personality-wise, with your previous partners?"

"...I think so? We still hang out, sometimes. We're not as close as we were—and we weren't as compatible to begin with—but I think so. ...weren't you?"

"I think less than it seems like you were," he hedges. "And—I kind of have to confess, I'm a little difficult."

"...difficult how?"

"It's kind of hard to deal with a partner who gets the way I do when I'm backlashed? Especially if the guiding compatibility isn't this amazing to begin with, the amount of it we'd need to get to a point where I'm, ah, fun to hang out with gets out of hand. So even if we were personality-compatible in theory, I don't have that much of a personality when I'm very backlashed."

"Oh." He seemed plenty fun to hang out with even before they broke the bedframes having sex—it's always mortifying when that happens, especially in a shared guild silo like this—but maybe he hasn't been that backlashed to begin with.

"I hope this works out between us? But no hard feelings if it doesn't, I'm kind of used to it."

...wow that's. A bit sad, actually?

Tae-gun will stand up and walk over to Kang Jaeha and hug him from behind.

He jumps a bit. "Careful, there, I'm gonna burn the food if you startle me like that."

"Thank you for, um. Telling me that, I guess? I, I mean, uh. I'll. We'll do our best?"

"If us doing our best involves me getting occasionally surprise-hugged from behind by you naked I'll absolutely take it."

Jaeha laughs when he notices Tae-gun's cock getting hard again. He also notes that Tae-gun hasn't unhugged. "All of those hours not enough for you, huh?"

He buries his face in Jaeha's back. "It's my backlash," he mumbles.

"I don't think I can top you any more tonight but if you want to pull my clothes off and rail me while I finish this I can't say I'll be complaining."

Aaaaahhhhhh.

That'd be really hot! But also aaaaaaahhhh!!!!

"Maybe I'll make a habit of not wearing clothes around you, either, and if you feel like fucking me you could just do it whenever you want. Free-use Jaeha. In fact, I will start doing this right now," he says, turning the hob off and stripping naked.

...and then he'll put an apron on. And nothing more.

Fuck.

"Make sure to lube me up, though, I don't think I can take you raw yet even after earlier today." He shakes his ass a bit. "But other than that, go to town."

.....................fuck.

There's a meetup of the Quasar LGBTQ+ group (also known as Queer Quasar, or QQ) that Saturday evening, and Tae-gun skipped the last two and would feel bad about skipping this one, too, so he shows up at the designated bar that night, after some deliberation. Tae-gun did also invite Kang Jaeha but he said that he ought to get more acquainted with everyone and used to Quasar culture before attending something like this, which makes perfect sense to Tae-gun.

"Tae-gun, the man of the hour!" calls Lee Juheon. "Come here, come over, I reserved a seat for you."

...sure.

"Why am I the man of the hour?"

"The office is abuzz with the news! You snagged Kang Jaeha-nim as your partner, didn't you? Everyone's super curious."

"Is he going to come?" asks his partner Baek Hyun-jae.

"I don't think so. Not tonight, anyway."

"Shame, I wanted to meet him. Also, hey, Tae-gun!"

"Good evening, sunbaenim."

"Ugh, there you go with your 'sunbaenim' again."

His partner, sitting next to him, pats his shoulder reassuringly.

"By the way, Tae-gun! Have you met the new guy?"

The new guy is a bespectacled green-haired brown-eyed esper who looks a couple of years Tae-gun's junior and who already has a bit of a flush to his face. "We haven't been officially acquainted. I'm Min Woo-young; it's a pleasure to meet you, sunbaenim."

"Likewise, hoobaenim."

...oh.

"What'd I tell you? When he turns the dazzle on he's—well, dazzling."

"Aw, don't be like that, Tae-gun, I'm just calling you pretty!"

"You think everyone's pretty, hyung."

"I will not respond to that."

"Si-yeon is over there at the other table," says Juheon, gesturing in the direction of another table with various other Quasar employees including Ha Si-yeon and Kim Chun-hee. Most of the other Queer Quasar girls are there, too. "If you wanna say hi."

Ugh but he just sat down.

Sigh. Fine. He'll go say hi to Si-yeon-hyung and Chun-hee and everyone else. There, everyone happy?

This is far too many people. He needs a drink.

"How come you'd never met Tae-gun?" Hyun-jae asks Woo-young.

"We've bumped into each other but I don't think we ever got, you know, properly introduced. And this is my first time here, too, so..."

"You're the new teleporter, right? I've read up on what you can do and it seems incredibly versatile."

! Sunbae noticed him!!

"Yeah! Though I've only been an esper for a few months now so I don't know yet all I can do."

"Do you want help with that? —there's a Quasar team for that."

"I'd take Tae-gun up on it, though," he stage-whispers. "This man's scary smart."

"Not as smart as the professionals dedicated to it."

"I think I might still like that."

Having a puppy crush? Min Woo-young? Nooooo.......

"Well, if you want."

"Okay but guys! Guys! I have an announcement to make! Actually." He gets up and gets the attention of the people at the other table. "Everyone! Important announcement!"

He places both hands on Choi Seungjoo's shoulders. "Seungjoo and I are now officially dating!"

"Blink twice if you need rescuing," Hyun-jae stage-whispers to Seungjoo after everyone is quiet for a second.

Blink.

Wink.

"Wow."

"Oh, we're just joking, Yoo-min. Congrats! And good job on finally getting him to pay attention to you."

"He'd been paying attention all along! He's been messing with me for months!!!!"

"And you liked it," Tae-gun observes serenely.

"Hell yeah I liked it, whipped doesn't even begin to cover it, I'm head over heels for this man."

Sooooooo corny.

He sits back down and kisses Seungjoo on the cheek.

Hehehehehe.

"Awwww you look happy together."

"Thanks," says Seungjoo, scratching his cheek a bit.

"I'm going to make him the happiest man alive, just you wait."

"Okay you can tone down on the sappiness."

"Never!"

"I heard Yun Minseo-sunbae and Baek Ji-woo-sunbae have also started dating."

Gasp. "Tae-gun, are you... ahead of the gossip mill??"

"...I just ran a dungeon with Yun Minseo-sunbae the other day and she mentioned it."

"Oh but this needs confirmation, BRB," he says, getting up again to walk over to the other table.

"You guys are pretty lively," Min Woo-young observes.

"We're Quasar and we're gay, that's a terrible combo."

"You didn't sound too gay last night when I was—"

"Let's not discuss our sex life in public, noona?"

She grins shamelessly.

"Did you only just come out...?" Seungjoo asks Woo-young.

"...something like that? I'm not sure, myself. I thought I was straight and then I became an esper and was suddenly surrounded by so many handsome men and I am now on a journey of self-discovery."

"I'll drink to that!" says Hyun-jae, lifting her glass for a cheer.

"What are we cheering, what are we cheering?" wonders Yoo-min, coming back to his chair and dragging Si-yeon with him.

"Min Woo-young's journey of self-discovery around handsome men."

"I'll drink to that," says Si-yeon, filling a glass so he can join in. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Cheers.

"So, is Kang Jaeha-nim gay?" asks...

...someone. Tae-gun is kind of too drunk to know who. He's at the other table again, resting his forehead on his forearms, ignoring the two girls making out to his left and the two boys making out to his right. He's being very ungently reminded of why he hates these. 

"Yes?" he tries.

"Aw man," she(?) sighs.

    "Tae-gun just partnered, I don't think they're at the sharing stage even if Kang Jaeha-nim were bi."

"Have you seen those shoulders, though? Dreamy..."

"He looks better naked," Tae-gun mumbles.

"Okay I, like, believe you, but also I'm now having vivid fantasies. So the two of you did—"

    "Unnie, he's too drunk to really consent to answering that question."

"...yeah, okay."

"Am not."

"You heard him—"

    "Unnie!"

"...I should probably go home."

"Want me to call you a taxi?"

    "You can't call a taxi for Lee Tae-gun, it'll be all over the news tomorrow."

"Do you know where he lives? I can probably get there."

"Yoo-min might know?"

"I know my address," he protests before reciting it.

"Well, you heard him."

"You leaving already, Woo-young?"

"Yeah, 'm kinda too drunk, myself."

"Woo-young... the teleporter, right."

"Yeah. Good night guys, tonight was fun!"

"Good night! It was great having you here."

Why are there so many voices? —⁠oh, right, he's out with people. Man he really hates going out. He hopes he didn't do or say anything embarrassing.

"Ready to go, sunbaenim?"

"...go where? Oh. Home? Yeah."