Chapter Text
With the number of frankly unqualified applicants he had had to interview today, the headache forming between Welt’s temples had been a long time coming.
A few months ago, when Himeko had first asked him to be in charge of staffing for their up-and-coming law firm Astral Express Law Offices, Welt had been more than willing to take up the challenge. He could take care of the more mundane aspects of running a legal practice.
Welt had been happy to see his former mentee thriving, and she deserved to focus more on what she was passionate about: actual cases.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stand in the interviews?” Himeko had asked him the day before. “Or sub in so you can take a break?”
Welt had only shaken his head and patted Himeko’s shoulder. “I can handle it on my own. You should focus on your case; it’s a high-profile one against Prosecutor Kafka.”
After much back and forth, Himeko had finally acquiesced and let Welt handle the interviews by himself while she built her defense of their most recent client, Asta, an astronomer who had been the only one found at the scene of her colleague Wen Mingde’s murder.
Welt had been the owner of his own law firm once, too, so he could definitely handle things without Himeko.
Still, that didn’t make interviewing the — admittedly enthusiastic, but ultimately underskilled — collection of attorney-hopefuls any less tiring.
Sighing, Welt clicked onto the final interviewee of the day’s resume to review it before he arrived. Already, it was looking promising: the resume was typed using a clean, readable font; the man’s experience was neatly organized chronologically and very relevant to their field of work; and, most importantly, it was only one page long.
Just as Welt was finishing his mental praise of the applicant’s resume, a knock sounded on the door as if summoned.
“Come on in,” Welt said, adjusting his glasses and straightening up his desk.
The door opened quietly and carefully, and in walked a young man with black hair and blue-green eyes wearing a neatly pressed suit.
Welt stood up to shake the man’s hand and smiled politely. “Welcome to the Astral Express Law Offices. I assume you’re Dan Heng?”
The young man nodded and firmly returned the handshake. “That would be me, yes. Am I speaking to Attorney Yang?”
“Yes, and I will be your interviewer today,” Welt explained, gesturing for Dan Heng to follow him to his desk.
Only after Welt had finished sitting down in his chair did Dan Heng take a guest seat for himself. Dan Heng seemed to be extremely polite; this was a good sign, given the rather appalling behavior of the other interviewees.
Welt was half-tempted to offer the young man a job on the spot, but for the sake of fair hiring practices, he had to conduct the interview.
Pushing his glasses further up his nose, Welt cleared his throat and asked, “Now, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
In the end, Welt could’ve very well offered Dan Heng the position of associate attorney immediately. Dan Heng was exceedingly professional, polite, and qualified; his experience was exceptional, and he was coming to their law firm with over five years of experience working as an immigration lawyer at the renowned Xianzhou Legal Aid Center. He showed an exceptional passion for the profession and public defending as a whole, and Welt could already picture him serving as a good mentor figure for any future interns they might take in.
“That’s all the questions I had for you today.” Welt quickly typed “hired” into his spreadsheet, then focused his attention back on Dan Heng. “Did you have any questions or comments for me?”
Dan Heng fiddled with something behind his neck — a necklace clasp, perhaps? — and said, “Actually, I do have something I must disclose to you.”
Welt’s heart dropped out of his chest, through his stomach, and out his ass. He didn’t want to be too pessimistic, but Dan Heng had really been the perfect attorney for their office. What could he have to disclose with them that was important enough to be brought up during the interview? They hadn’t run a background check on him yet, so what would they find?
“...and because of that,” Welt tuned back in to catch the latter half of Dan Heng’s explanation, “if I am hired to work at Astral Express Law Offices, I cannot take on any cases headed by Prosecutor Blade as I would consider it to be a heavy conflict of interest.”
Blinking, Welt took a moment to process Dan Heng’s request, secretly patting himself on the back for not missing the most important parts. It was an odd one, for sure, but it definitely wasn’t a dealbreaker. The prosecutor’s office had a variety of different lawyers employed, so the likelihood of a case led by Prosecutor Blade ending up at their doorstep was slim.
Welt was a little curious about why it’d be a conflict of interest, especially since Prosecutor Blade wasn’t known to have any relatives in the legal field, but he didn’t want to pry. Welt was sure he’d find out eventually.
Decision made, Welt chuckled. “Of course, Dan Heng. We can definitely accommodate that request.” Welt closed his laptop and stood up, offering his hand to the young man across his desk. “Speaking of which, on behalf of the Astral Express Law Offices, I would like to formally extend you an offer of employment.”
Dan Heng’s small smile when accepting the offer gave Welt reassurance that the Astral Express was off to a great start.
When Dan Heng came home, Blade was already waiting for him.
“How did your interview go, babe?” Blade asked, turning off the stove and putting the lid on the pot of whatever he was cooking. Whatever it was, it smelled delicious. “You didn’t text me like you promised you would.”
Dan Heng snorted at the hint of a pout in Blade’s voice and bent down to put his shoes away neatly on the rack by the door. He took a few moments to straighten Blade’s dress shoes too. “I headed straight home after the interview, so I thought I’d tell you in person.”
Strong arms wrapped around Dan Heng’s waist and pulled him in closer, and Blade’s pleasantly deep voice drifted into his ears. “So? Are we celebrating or do I need to hunt some people down?”
Dan Heng playfully struggled in Blade’s arms before relaxing and turning around so that he could face his husband. “I got the job.”
“I knew you would.” Blade pressed a sweet, lingering kiss on top of his forehead and snuggled him further. “Anybody would be desperate to hire you, nerd.”
Flushing, Dan Heng hid his face in Blade’s chest. “Nerd? Says the guy who literally changed his career path and followed me to law school.”
“I did follow you to law school, but that’s because I didn’t want you to be surrounded by all nerds.”
Sighing, Dan Heng slowly pulled himself away from his husband’s embrace. “Whatever. Let’s go eat dinner.”
Cheeky, large hands with calloused fingers pinched at the sides of Dan Heng’s hips. “You sure you don’t want to celebrate a little first?” Blade asked, leaning in and smirking.
Face as red as a tomato, Dan Heng swatted Blade’s hands away and retreated to the kitchen, a tiny grin on his lips as Blade’s gleeful laughter followed him all the way.