slacker o'clock [mihwa, danny]

June 2003

"Do you know what time it is?" Jere asked Danny as they continued to epic grind of sorting out the piles of mail that just kept coming in. He looked like a child amidst the towering heaps that kept building around him. It was like something out of a comic book, a big room, with chutes from all the floors connecting to it, and as he finished one pile another one dumped out of a chute and broke his spirit just a little bit more.

Jeremy had never been great at time keeping. Not knowing what time it was, or day usually, and especially not at getting things done in a reasonable amount of time. Though he was a world reknown debater of what 'reasonable amount of time' truly meant. He tossed one of the angry looking red envelopes over at Danny just in case he was ignoring him and waited for an answer. He was really hoping it was past three, that meant they wouldn't have much longer left.

"Dude this is boring, is it smoke break time yet?" He asked again, persistent and irritable like a hungry child. He tapped his wrist like he had a watch on, which he did, but the thing hadn't worked in two weeks. He forgot he had to recharge it with a spell every so often.

@Mihwa Seo @Danny Willbond

“Ugh—” Mihwa groaned, stretching her arms forward over her desk, extremely tempted to lie her head down and would have done just that if she had not heard someone come closer, straightening up almost immediately and pretending to do something useful like shuffle papers around. That looked productive, didn’t it? But when the wanderer made his leave, she forced herself to stand up, stretching her arms over her head and stifling a yawn. It was a lot of work doing nothing, it sounded like the right time to take a break lest she work herself too hard.

“I wonder if those very important packages have arrived downstairs, top-secret stuff, better go check it out before they get into the wrong hands,” she said loudly but to no one in particular, just in case someone like her boss heard her and wondered where she went. Sneaking off as quietly as she could manage, she made her way to the mailing room downstairs, peaking in just in time to spot Jeremy and Danny, ’hard at work’ at their posts.

“So I heard Nils what’s his face got kicked out of office,” she started, walking in as casually as she could, scooping the room out for wandering eyes and ears. She couldn’t technically get in trouble for talking about politics at work if that’s what her work was essentially about, right? She was doing research and stuff, there was nothing wrong with that. “That’s too bad, he was kinda cute too,” she added moving into the room with a silly grin on her face. “Let’s sneak out, I’m so bored—literally dying of boredom. Can the great mailing room spare you for a few minutes?” she asked.

"Ask Potter," he said with a nod toward his Harry Potter bobblehead that shouted the time if you touched his shoe. He could look at a clock, but where was the fun in that. Besides, all the clocks in their office told them what the status of mail delivery was instead of the actual time of day. "Loads to deliver" and "Memo malfunction" weren't really helpful when Danny needed to know if it was quitting time yet.

Danny sighed, feeling like his eyes were going crossed as they charmed all of the memos that flew themselves around to different departments and sorting the packages that couldn't. After all, it was a pretty bad idea to have boxes flying round corners, especially the weird, magical packages the different departments received. He grimaced as he remembered a weird shaped package delivered to the Patents Office that distinctly smelled like butt.

He shrugged at Jere's question and then flipped a package into one of their carts before backing away. "C'mon let's take that break, Edwards." As he walked towards the door, it swung open and he wondered if good old Reg had a new task for them. He was surprised to see Mihwa, but he smiled in greeting. It must be later than he thought. She normally didn't swing down for her escape until later in the day. "With that schnoz? How could you say that guy was cute?" Danny scoffed with a grin and then glanced back at Jere. "Yeah, I think we can abandon post for a few minutes, but we're doing very important work here, just so you know," he said sarcastically as he headed out the door, liking the stretch in his legs.

Every time he touched Potters foot he got zapped, like some kind of static electricity, so Jeremy avoided it. He shrugged instead, as another stack of boxes fell through the shoot. Sometimes he wondered why everyone needed to be sending so many things back and forth and all around. Couldn't they just bring things in person? And then he remembered that that would leave him without a job.

When Danny agreed to smoke:thirty Jeremy jumped up so fast that his back cracked loudly. He probably shouldn't have been sitting on the floor, but he'd fallen out of the little wheelie chair twice this morning already so he was playing it safe. As he was stretching out his back, bending forward and sideways, probably doing more harm than good the door opened and he assumed it would be their boss, or even worse Elias, but instead it was Mihwa! and he smiled brightly at her.

"Nils...whats.. his.." Jeremy mouthed, confused and a little behind in the conversation. For a guy who worked in the ministry he actually had very little idea about what was actually happening in said ministry, let alone the Swedish one. He'd heard about a rousting, someone getting fired, a hot witch being arrested for something, but he'd zoned out pretty quickly. Jeremy stood up a little straighter when Danny said they were doing important work, a little smirk on his face.

"Very important stuff, like the most important." He said, brushing off the actual dirt on his knees and shirt as he did. "But for you, we've got all the time in the world." He said, moving forward toward the door and holding it for Mihwa (but not Danny, hah) and then spoke again. "So tell us, any new catastrophes we should know about?"

Mihwa looked from Danny to Jeremy with much amusement, the corner of her mouth twitching in an effort to conceal a smile. If she looked too happy, someone might stick their nose in and see that they were up to nothing which was certainly not what she wanted to be reported back to her boss. He was picky, probably timed her on her bathroom breaks or something similarly weird. He was all about being productive, a thing Mihwa had a very hard time doing considering how boring she found her occupation.

“Nils is very handsome, a total babe,” she defended her stance, “he just also happens to be a bit of criminal, too” she added, after all it was true that while he was a looker, his politics were a little messed up even for a pureblood like Mihwa. But politics confused her in general, and she figured Jeremy and Danny weren’t in the least bit interested in those political ideas neither. “I gotta keep up with the news, my boss might quiz me or something, he seems the type,” she explained herself but mostly she flipped through the Daily Prophet looking at the pictures or the occasional advertisements.

She rolled her eyes playfully at them, “Oh yes, I’m sure you’re down here saving the world from destruction and all of that good stuff, our very own heroes,” she said, nodding enthusiastically at their willingness to accompany her. Walking through the door, “Ta,” she responded with a smile towards Jeremy, giggling a little when he almost closed the door in Danny’s face. She looked both ways, making sure to avoid anyone that might ask them any questions before she answered Jeremy’s question. “Catastrophes, hm—” she considered for a moment, “Elma from my floor’s out with the dragon pox, but that kinda sounds more like a miracle than a catastrophe,” she thought for a moment.

“Nothing interesting, I come to both of you for the latest on office gossip and catastrophes, so?” she looked at Jeremy then at Danny, expecting an answer.

He let out an 'ooufff' as the door almost hit him in the face as Jeremy neglected to hold it open for him after Mihwa had passed in front of them. He rammed his shoulder into his best friend's back to retaliate before he fell into step beside Mihwa. "A total babe?" he repeated as he laughed, shaking his head, his dark blonde hair brushing against his forehead. "I mean, sure he's headed to Azkaban, but he does sound like a top notch bachelor. Does Azkaban allow for conjugal visits?" he asked with a waggle of his brows.

"He'll quiz you?" he asked, his mouth falling open. He knew good old Percival Weasley could be a stickler, but quizzing employees seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. He glanced at Jere. "Think Reg would ever quiz us? What would he even quiz us on? We know the building better than he does."

As they moved on to office gossip, Danny tried to think back of the more juicy stories he had heard this week. "Dragon pox? 2 out of 10. Dreadful story right there," he told Mihwa with a playful smile. "Oh! I got a new intern. Name's Deyer. I'll ask him to get you a coffee if you're niceeee," he added in a singsong voice.

Mihwa laughed, probably a little louder than she could have but she couldn’t help it, Nils probably did have a fanclub somewhere in London, it was just a matter of finding it. Probably wouldn’t look too good for her to start one considering the nature of her work, either. “Oh I don’t know, I’ll have to look into it,” she grinned, “You think I’m his type? But I guess at this point he doesn’t have much of a say in it, does he?” she snickered at the thought.

“Mr. Weasley is—particular but you both know that,” Mihwa added, not wanting to sound ungrateful or anything as he did probably deal with her better than most bosses had but he wasn’t the sort of guy she would invite to skip out on work or for a drink afterhours. “You boys think I ought to invite him out or something? Get him to loosen up with a pint after work?” she asked, half-jokingly but very curious about the sort of advice that they would give. Would he think she was trying to put moves on him? Or better yet, trying to butter him up so that she could keep slacking off on her work? She couldn’t even imagine how he’d respond but the thought was amusing enough.

Mihwa looked over at Danny in surprise, “A new intern! I want someone to get me coffee and fetch the paper for me,” she said, her voice a little whiny as she frowned, poking out her bottom lip slightly as she did. “I don’t think any of the secretaries get any interns which feels very unfair.”

When Mihwa mentioned Elma out sick with the Dragon Pox Jeremy sent Danny a knowing look, the mind with a mischevious little smirk and a waggle of his brows. He tucked that little excuse into his pocket to be used next time one of them needed a skip day. No one would question it, not with the dragon pox outbreak that was sweeping the nation. It was perfect, a little insensitive, but he wasn't thinking about that.

He slapped his thigh when Danny brought up the new intern, smiling brightly, and nodded along. "He never remembers my order though.." Jeremy joked with a. Shrug even though really he was wondering what it would really be like to have an intern.

"I heard Sharie from the department of mysteries is having a party this weekend..." He said with a little hop in his step. "Her and Marco from maintenance have been... Inspecting the broom closet on the fourth floor." Jeremy dished like it was what he had been training for for years. He flexed his gossip muscles as he rubbed the peach fuzz that barely formed a patch on his chin.

"I dunno, are you into tall, mysterious men with a record and some scary roommates? You visit him and the Dementors might want a kiss too.." he said, throwing her a look before chuckling at his own humor. He was nearly humming with relief at this little break. He was glad that Jere had mentioned it. He saw Jere's look at the dragon pox mention and tapped the side of his nose discreetly. No explanation needed, they both knew what that meant.

"What's 'particular' code for?" he asked Jere with a glance, a smirk on his lips. Danny wasn't normally one for politeness and civility so when he saw it in others, it made him laugh. That's probably why no one had thought to promote him at all. He was terribly informal with his superiors. Even Old Reg had stopped correcting him on the nicknames he used for his boss and boss's boss and boss's boss's boss. Mihwa's question had him giving her an 'are you crazy' kind of look. "He would probably tell you a list of all the reasons why 'one shouldn't drink' so only invite him if you're ready for that speech."

Danny puffed out his chest a little and shrugged, liking that Mihwa was impressed with his new work acquisition of an intern. "Look, we all know our department has more resources, gets more budget. We're like the Ministry's pride and glory. But maybe you'll get an intern soon? You can use my in the meantime. You know, ring your mum, fetch your lunch, that sort of thing," he joked with a wide smile.

At Jere's gossip, he nodded along, confirming the rumors for Mihwa's benefit. "Inspecting it quite often from what I hear. Must be working on fixing a pipe, I think," Danny added, waggling his brows and inserting as much innuendo as he could, racking his brain to come up with more double entendre things he could say just for the fun of it.

“By particular I mean he’s bloody awful,” she complained in a high whisper, looking around carefully to make sure that nobody that might very well report her was within hearing distance. No matter how much she might have wanted to be honest to everyone, especially her boss, Mihwa was well aware that her father would not take too lightly to her losing her job considering how much effort he had put forth towards getting it or her. “But if I get on his good side, might get a promotion or something like it, don’t you think?” she wondered, shrugging lightly at er wistful thinking because it always felt like a possibility. In her head, she’d be able to charm him with her cuteness and he’d be figuratively eating out of her palm by the end of the week.

“I think it’s rather rude that I wasn’t offered an intern,” she added, frowning rather cutely at the thought, “Imagine all the important things I can teach him or her, like where all the best sleeping spots in the office are or all the best excuses for owling into work sick,” she said seriously, they were all skills the best of the best needed to know in order to survive the office politics. “But yes, send him over, maybe he can pop in to help with the paperwork when the boss isn’t looking,” she suggested. She’d put this intern to good work, too.

“Ugh,” Mihwa responded to Jeremy’s revelation about Sharie and Marco, rolling her eyes in response, “I suppose that broom closet hasn’t had any action in a while but still—” she laughed at Danny’s innuendo, “There are much more respectable spots than the fourth-floor broom closet,” she insisted, “I also thought Marco was chatting up Elma? He was always coming up, bringing her chocolates and stuff,” she gasped, “Do you think he’s double-timing them? Elma and Sharie?”

Walking in time with them Jeremy did his best to pay attention to the conversation and not get distracted by... well everything shiny around them. He'd been tucked in that mailroom for too long today, even the common flicker of the magical bulbs overhead was interesting to the redhead right now. Jeremy laughed out loud at Mihwa's admission of what particular had really meant. Everyone knew it, it wasn't some big secret, but hearing her say it made him smile. "You deserve one," he told her softly, interjecting between the group's conversation, he thought Mihwa always deserved a promotion. In Jeremy's eyes, she was the hardest working person at the ministry (well maybe besides Michael, but half of what Michael had to fix was in direct correlation to Jeremy and Danny so he tried to not think of that too often).

Jeremy loved the idea of having an intern, especially because it was Elias and he was seriously overdue for some comeuppance. He wasn't sure if Mihwa knew the story about when Elias chopped off his hair back at Hogwarts but he wasn't going to bring it up. He was still trying to repress those memories, honestly. "Wait where is the best place to sleep?" He asked, turning his eyes down from the pretend windows in the hallway they were walking and back to Mihwa. It was silly that they had windows that were enchanted to look like the outside, everyone knew they were underground, they weren't fooling anyone, but Jeremy still stared out them. Every time he saw a bird fly by or a fun shaped cloud he got excited, forgetting it was just a charm, and none of it was real. He has easily fooled... actually.

"No, you don't think so?" Jere said, stopping dead in his tracks and blocking them from being able to walk any further. "But Marco seemed like such a nice bloke," Jeremy sighed. Marco wasn't anything special to look at, a bit of a beer gut, never wore matching socks, and when he sat his slacks were always too short so everyone noticed, but he always gave a chipper little wave when Jeremy dropped off a package. If a guy like that could get not one but two witches on the hook how come Jeremy was forever single? The thought made him sigh. "What should we do?" Because his Gryffindor roots ran deep Jeremy wanted to help (and by the help he absolutely meant stick his nose in other people's business, jump to conclusions, pretend to be a hero, and make everything worse).

"Hey, it wouldn't hurt," Danny summed up. "Although, you probably shouldn't ask us for promotion advice," he added with a grin and a nudge of his elbow into Jeremy's side. It was safe to say that neither of them were close to a promotion and honestly in the few years that he had worked in the Ministry, he wasn't sure that he wanted one. He rather liked the limited responsibilities of his job. At least for now.

He nodded seriously at her list of things she could teach an intern. "Hadn't even thought of that really," he said thoughtfully, his gaze wandering as he pondered what good things he could teach to his young protege. How to eat part of someone's lunch stored in the communal fridge without them noticiing? Hmm, he'd definitely have to think about it. "Yeah where is the best place?" he repeated Jere's question and then tacked on. "But hey don't tell him all the good excuses. We worked on that list very diligently," he told her with a grin, remembering the last time they had gathered round at lunch and brainstormed a list of good excuses they could all use.

The gossip had his eyes going wide as he grinned with glee and curiosity. "Both of them? You think? What a sly dog!" he said, clapping his hands once with a loud laugh. Of course, Jeremy had the more human reaction so Danny quickly sobered up and nodded, following his friend's lead. "Should we do something? How do we even know if it's true?"

“Thank you,” the girl said with a bright smile, glad that at least somebody in the place thought she deserved a promotion even though she had not technically done anything to deserve it. But Mihwa felt that getting rewarding for the little things would truly add to her almost non-existent motivation at work so if her boss would just give her some praise or motivation or something then she’d be even more chipper to show up to work. If she were the boss, she’d give people incentives to show up for work so that they wouldn’t sneak out in the middle of the workday like she was doing now.

When they asked about the best sleeping spot she smiled, “there’s a room next to the bathroom on the third floor, nobody goes in there because they think it’s for the custodians but there’s a little cot in there and everything, I hid it behind all the boxes of old files, and if anyone ever catches you in there you can say you’re sorting through the old stuff, no one will question it,” she whispered, looking around to make sure that no one was hearing what she was saying. Not only because she would probably get in trouble for sleeping on the job but more so because she didn’t want to share her favorite spot with the world. “Sometimes you can even hear the music from the offices below, they play nice stuff, classical and perfect for getting a great snooze,” she added with a smile.

“It’s always the nice ones,” she shook her head in disbelief before eyeing them both suspiciously, “does that mean I’ve got to keep an eye out for all the hearts you two are breaking in between shifts? I won’t cover for you if you’re two-timing anyone, I do have some principles after all,” she joked before shrugging at Danny’s question. “I think we should tell Elma, write her a letter on behalf of Marco, think she’ll believe it? She’s a bit stuck up if you try to tell her she won’t listen,” she rolled her eyes, “the girls on my floor are all a bit weird. How would either of you want to know your girlfriend is cheating on you with another bloke?”

"Girlfriends?" Jeremy clung to this part of Mihwa's question like the iceberg that would take them all down. He shot a knowing look at Danny, turned back to Mihwa, and slapped his thigh as he laughed. "What girlfriends?" Okay, it wasn't like they were the least dateable blokes that the wizarding world had ever known, but they didn't exactly have a ton of luck in that department either. "Man, I hope my girlfriend never cheats on me," Jeremy said with a sigh, skipping past the 'finding someone to date and actually convincing them to date him part' and straight onto the relationship drama.

Slinking against the wall, he stopped for a moment to really consider it. "I guess... I would want to know, though?" Jeremy felt like his heart would break just thinking about his imaginary girlfriend and the thought experiment of her crushing his soul. "A letter could work, it's impersonal, but at least you don't have to like... talk to someone who knows this awful thing about you?" It was too real, too serious, for Jeremy to consider, and he cleared his throat. Coughing into the fold of his arm like he was allergic to the real world, Jeremy shot up from the wall.

"Maybe we should find her someone better first!"

"No way, really?" Danny asked, his eyes wide with wonder at the idea of having a secret nap spot with a cot and everything. It seemed like luxury to him considering the spots he and Jere had tried to nap in before. "Oh classical stuff? Yeah that'll put you right to sleep. Wow, can't believe you've been holding out on us like this Seo!" he said with a good-natured grin and a shake of his head. Then put a hand to his forehead melodramatically and added, "I thought we were better friends than that."

At Mihwa's mention of girlfriends, his eyes shot straight to Jere, a smile pulling up the corners of his mouth before they both burst into laughter at the same time, at their own expense. It's not like they didn't try to date, but somehow they had both had the worst luck with girls so far and the idea of either of them having a girlfriend was, at this point, pretty laughable. While Jere lamented about cheating girlfriends, Danny just clapped him on the shoulder, leaning into him. "No worries, mate. First you have to get a girlfriend," he said, his tone implying that that wasn't ever going to happen, glancing at Mihwa with a grin.

Blustering his way through the question, Danny shrugged and rolled his eyes a bit, taking the opposite stance. "Nah, I wouldn't want to know. Just let me live in the moment of being with a girlfriend please," he said with a laugh, not taking the whole thing too seriously. Thinking about theoretical girlfriends and hypothetical cheating was not really his forte nor of interest to him. At Jeremy's idea, her perked up though. "Ohhh like play matchmaker? I'm good at that!" Danny offered even though he really wasn't. "Got any ideas?" he asked Mihwa.