Not the Party Queen Tonight

Wong Ha Jung

The last time the staff had actually gotten together for anything social was something like two years ago, if his memory was right. A little more than that, really, which made Wong Ha Jung wonder just where exactly did the time go. Some of the people he had met when he first began at the Academy had filtered out to somewhere else -supposedly a good thing considering his line of work. He hoped.

At some point, he had regained a bit of energy that he'd lost at some point. Work proved itself to be a pretty good way to just let the time go. Come in, come out, talk with new people, talk with old people, eat, sleep, possibly commute. That last part was something he tended to cut out from time to time, by spending the night in his office. It was just more convenient, honestly, and he was pretty sure that there weren't any rules against that. It was strangely nice to have a strict schedule and simply, well. Minimize the world? Introversion could be like a tug of war with social expectations. On one hand, solitude, on the other, loneliness. As much as he liked being around others, it did tend to drain him.

To be exact, though, the reason why he hadn't gone to the staff party was because he was currently alternating between dozing on the couch and staring at the ceiling. Leaning more towards the former option, the sound of a knock on his door was so startling that he reacted after a sharp pause without really thinking about who it was on the other side.

"The door is unlocked," Wong Ha Jung called back, sitting up and running a hand through his hair to settle it back to normal. He still needed a few moments to actually be functional.

Wong Ha Jung

"Lydia!" The sight of his friend and secret crush after all this time caused him to bolt right into full alertness. "You're back!" He started forward for a moment before holding himself back, caught between the choices of going through the effort of physically moving himself to the door or being slightly rude and staying put. With great embarrassment, he chose the latter, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, would you mind?" He asked, inviting her to the empty spot next to him on the couch with a nod. "It's really nice to have you back and I'd get up myself but, well. You know." Two years later and the incident was still a bit of an awkward topic for him even though the healing process was going well for him. A little guiltily, Wong Ha Jung was actually glad that Lydia hadn't been around for the last two years. He hadn't exactly been at his best then, in any aspect. At all. Like. At all.

He cleared his throat, fidgeting in nervousness. "How have you been?"

Wong Ha Jung

He was already shaking his head, partially out of embarrassment and partially because if he didn't, he would have to wince. "It's probably for the best that you weren't here," Wong Ha Jung admitted with an uneasy glance to the side. "I haven't exactly been good at retaining friends lately. I just, ah. Needed some time, I suppose."

Two years, he was screaming at himself silently. Honestly. Two. Years. Put yourself together already, it's getting old, please. Just a blink and then everything had fast forwarded to the point they were at currently. He had lost an obscene amount of time simply feeling sorry for himself.

"It's all right, Lydia," he said, and the fact that it might have actually been true was almost surprising. Maybe that was saying something about him. "Really. It's just nice to have you back around."

There was still that quivering feeling, however, which had persisted through all that time. They had been friends and of course, of course, Wong Ha Jung had harbored a crush on the redheaded woman. Sometimes he wondered if it was still there.

But then his heart did a familiar, awkward somersault and the question was pretty firmly answered for him. "If you don't mind me knowing," he told her, already planning a dozen outs for her to take, just in case. "I won't tell anybody, I promise. Just, if there's anything I can do-"

Wong Ha Jung

Bunny? That was another person Ha Jung remembered well and, as it was with Lydia, he couldn't help but feel like every single conversation they had shared caught him with a severe case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. He had to make the time to apologize to her sometime for that, although it had been so very long since he had seen her. Did he even know where to find her besides her workplace? Was she even there anymore? Because oh God, oh God but okay, maybe he could work up the willpower to just plow through the embarrassment-

He blinked once at the word shapeshifter, still not entirely understanding until Lydia reached the very end, with You've known me and Bunny. Even so, it took a moment. "Oh," he said, with a reflexive nod. Then it clicked.

"Oh my God!" He didn't take her hand, but it wasn't for the reason that she might have thought. Ha Jung was, actually, completely fine with the idea that somebody he knew was secretly a shapeshifter. Many people were, after all. He was also pretty okay with things being hidden from him. He was a psychologist and that was normal. He was also Ha Jung, which meant that his tolerance levels for various kinds of external crap outside of physical violence was through the roof. Anxiety, however, was not an external factor. That one was on him.

"Oh my God, there was that one time at the club and I just stood there like this lump and I was dying of embarrassment and Bunny was there but Bunny is you so that was you and oh my God did I actually apologize for that I think I did but I can't really remember much of it except I really wanted to have a heart attack and then I never saw you again after -did I saw I was sorry? I really am sorry. Oh my God, I was being so weird and it was probably just a normal day for you until I started acting out like that. I am so, so sorry-"