texting on a sunday

[meeem]

texting meme You’ve got your TFLN, you’ve got your sexting, now here’s the meme for all those gen texts, phone calls, voicemails, pictures of your cats, and whatever else your little heart can come up with, because who doesn't like a little old-fashioned friendly texting. (Or enemy texting, if that's more your bag.) instructions: What it says on the tin! Leave a comment with your character, include preferences, a start, absolutely nothing or whatever you want. Run around and reply to others. Lather, rinse, repeat.

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[gahrot]

( he watches yohan for a few seconds too long before nodding slowly to himself and returning back to his file. )

I was out with someone tonight. ( not a lie, but not the whole truth. ) I realized I might have misremembered a detail about this case. If I did-- ( he's flipping through pages, only half-sure about what he's looking for-- ) it might give us a new angle to introduce. I saw the sister out... ( he fades into quiet, reading through one page more carefully. )

[sagikkun]

Oh?

( Light, casual, a surprising boil of bitter unpleasantness bubbling up inside his stomach. )

With who?

( Head tipping, eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He does not mean the sister. )

[gahrot]

Hm?

( he glances up briefly but returns back to the paper. it's almost seamless, too busy to pay attention. almost. )

Just a friend. It's not important.

( it was soohyun. but yohan doesn't need to know that. )

[sagikkun]

I'm sure whoever you abandoned for work wouldn't like to be called "not important".

( Only marginally prickly. Not even really on the behalf of Gaon's friend. Just ... overall. )

But the sister. You're sure it was her?

[gahrot]

I took her home first.

( idly, a quick flash of a smile to the paper, to himself, like there's a secret to be found there. bait. but he frowns at it a moment later and turns it face down into the pile, reaching for the next one. )

It looked like her. The one injured? It's why it was so strange. I didn't think she'd be in any state to be out like that.

[sagikkun]

( His temper flairs a little at that, irritable. But there's work to be done, and whatever Kim Gaon gets up to is not his business. )

They said she needed 24-7 care, didn't they? A team of nurses. ( He'd been understanding, almost sympathetic to their plight. Now he uncrosses his legs to lean forward on his knees, eyeing Gaon in the dark. ) You're sure it was her? Not someone similar?

[gahrot]

That's what I'm looking for. Confirmation.

( nothing on that page, either. he knows he saw something when he was sorting through them earlier, something specific in the records, he just doesn't remember what. he glances at yohan, then looks at him fully as if to make his point. )

I'm not going to accuse her of anything without concrete evidence.

[sagikkun]

She has a tattoo. I saw it from the edge of her sleeve when we spoke to her. Something bright, a butterfly? Hard to see because she was so covered. Wasn't there talk of scarring?

( Which doesn't confirm anything, but if the woman Gaon saw also had a tattoo then maybe. He lifts his phone, considering, runs a thumb over the screen but doesn't unlock it. )

Aish, she'd have had a payout either way. But lying for more won't work well in her favour.

[gahrot]

( he's distracted momentarily by the look on yohan's face. it's his own fault for glancing up. there's not anything specific about it beyond the way the light of the board behind him limns the profile of his cheekbone in neons, the distant look as he thinks, but gaon forgets himself for a second all the same and has to fumble with the papers in his hands. )

I remember seeing something--

( about what? he has to make himself look at the sheet in his hand, at the ones on the desk. it's important that he finds it. )

Can we put surveillance on her as a precaution? ( ah yes, propose ideas instead. )

[sagikkun]

Yes.

( Immediate, unlocking his phone to start sending messages. )

If she's lying we'll figure it out. If she's willing to risk discovery like that she isn't very clever enough to not attempt it again. I'll have someone on it by morning.

[gahrot]

( there's something in the efficacy of it that soothes a part of him he doesn't pay attention to very often. here: a problem, here: a solution. easy. packed up neat. he rubs his nose with his knuckle, narrowed eyes lingering on yohan a little too long before he looks away again. )

But why would she risk it? Just for a night out? In a case on this scale?

[sagikkun]

I don't know. Possibly she's not very clever. ( Although to get as far as them she must have been able to be marginally convincing. ) Or maybe she was bored. People act foolishly for all manner of reasons.

( Speaking of, he catches Kim Gaon's glance at the last second, his own expression perfectly blank for a singular second before his smile ignites. )

Haven't you ever committed to something reckless just because?

[gahrot]

( gaon glances up at him, and then again a second later, brow furrowing at the smile. it seems like a particularly pointed question, given what kang yohan knows about him and his less-than-stellar history of good behaviour. )

I wouldn't do it within the court of law. ( full protest. it's not necessarily the intent yohan was aiming with, but gaon will take it to that conclusion just to be a pain. )

[sagikkun]

What about an office adjacent to the court of law?

( He hums, phone locked and tossed to the table, weight pressing through his legs so the chair tips back a little. )

Maybe she needed something to shake her out of the moment. Isn't it exhausting, trying to control everything? Worrying about how people see you? Sometimes you just need a little room to be more.

[gahrot]

( not the strangest twist he's seen from yohan. gaon's eyes narrow at him all the same, too aware of the ploys to fall for it without second guessing. )

And that gives her an excuse?

( he's only half talking about the woman now, leaning forward on yohan's desk with his stack of papers between his hands. )

Do you worry about how people see you, Judge Kang?

[sagikkun]

Should I?

( One corner of his mouth lifting, weight shifting in his toes to rock the chair, lazy and insouciant. ) Aren't I an open book, Judge Kim? Ask anyone what manner of beast I am, and they'll be able to tell you.

( Brave words, for a man whose feelings habitually get hurt when this particular face reads him wrong, but ah, what can be done about that? )

I understand the need to shrug it off every once and a while, that's all.

[gahrot]

( gaon's brow furrows, skeptical. even in this moment the words are a sharp contrast to what gaon knows to be true: that people only see the version of yohan that he wants them to, right down to this moment. he understands the ploy. he sees what he's being shown.

he's not immune to it, of course.

he taps the papers in his hands back into order, carefully collecting them into a neat pile as he lays them flat again, his attention skating down the line of yohan's body like he's not quite looking. )

Is that why it's a Friday night and you're still in your office?

( to the papers, to the desk, to the hands he folds in front of himself, eyes lifting back to yohan's face expectantly. )

[sagikkun]

I didn't have any better offers.

( Glib, the tip of his tongue peaking between his lips in barely concealed mischief. ) Aish, I'm a very particular man, Kim Gaon. Do you think I should spend my Friday nights with just anyone? In a club?

( He's been to clubs. He is not eight hundred years old. )

I have other ways to let loose.

[gahrot]

A sledgehammer, maybe?

( as if he hadn't actively denied any knowledge or experience of such a thing under direct questioning, purposeful and intentionally choosing a side. he knows what kind of person kang yohan is, has an idea of what letting loose can mean. it's why he slowly gets to his feet, hands settling into his pockets as he rounds the corner of the desk, that pointed look on his face. )

Or do you have other ideas?

[sagikkun]

I don't know what you mean.

( Shamelessly bold, his eyes bright with some unnamed feeling. He watches Gaon approach with badly concealed hunger, the same light half hidden under the sweep of black eyelashes. )

Are you implying something, Judge Kim? Surely you don't think I'm a man of devious intent.

[gahrot]

( he shouldn't be doing this. this is one of those situations where he's learned to look at all the angles and retreat to a safer point, behind a boundary line of reason. which is maybe why he doesn't do that at all and instead closes the space between them, too aware of the light from the board outside, the quiet of the building, the way yohan is looking at him with the promise of something he's finding it harder to deny himself.

he stops at the corner of yohan's table, one foot between where yohan's are spread to keep his balance, hands still in his pockets as he looks down at him. )

I don't have to imply anything, Judge Kang.

[sagikkun]

You've come to your own conclusion.

( He tips his head back a little more to look at Gaon, dragging his heavy gaze like a caress up the length of his body. There's a knowing smirk at the edge of his mouth, something slightly more playful than the usual predatory intent. Maybe it's the dark, the hour, but he feels watchful, curious more than anything else, his voice taking on a low, indulgent tint. )

And what has Judge Kim decided? What's his verdict?

[gahrot]

( he reaches without thinking first, caught up in the cadence of the conversation, too full of himself here where yohan has granted him a modicum more leeway than normal. two fingers catch under yohan's chin, tipping it up further, angling his face to where the light slices across the sharp edge of his cheekbone and the line of his nose, washing him in shifting blues and pinks and greens.

gaon sets his teeth into his own lower lip. )

A sledgehammer.

( he shifts his weight, kicking one of yohan's feet out from under him so that the chair drops back to the floor with a thud. it drops yohan's chin into his palm and gaon tilts his face up to meet him when he ducks in for a kiss. )

[sagikkun]

( Gaon touches him and the smirk shifts ever so slightly into something more genuine, a hint of truth at the edges. He doesn't move to push him off though, instead he watches him with the same weight often laid upon Yohan, a thrumming point of attention.

His foot is kicked, the swoop of his balance and the press of lips a terrible, monumental thing. It will keep him up at night now. This knowledge. This understanding. It will sit under his skin. He ignores as best he can, a singular hand lifting to curl his fingers around Gaon's collar, keeping him still as his mouth presses more firmly against the other man's own, straining up into the space between them. The quiet of the building throws the sound of their breathing into sharp relief between them, Yohan's inhale a thrumming thing. His other hand curls around the back of Gaon's knee, possessive.

Another noise that might be Gaon's name, murmured as he tilts his face a little better, tip of his tongue pressing to a bottom lip. )

[gahrot]

( it's an awkward angle. gaon slips his hand from his pocket to brace himself on the corner of the back of the chair just behind yohan's shoulder and he tips yohan's face up another inch, an indulgent smile curling the corner his mouth. instead of opening to yohan he deepens the kiss, slipping his own tongue into yohan's mouth, chasing him back into the chair as he trails his knuckles down the taut line of yohan's throat.

it's a vulnerable position to be in, for someone like kang yohan. gaon catches himself shifting closer, body a shield against not-so-imaginary adversaries that might do him harm. )