Chapter Text
It was a busy day. Truthfully, all the days were busy, but this one seemed to Josh to be busy for no apparent reason. It wasn’t like they were in the middle of fighting for some important bill, or trying to get reelected, for god’s sakes, but his schedule was filled. In fact, upon closer inspection, Josh realized that his schedule was actually over filled. He had two meetings scheduled for noon, and two meetings that overlapped from 3:15 to 3:30.
Josh sighed. It was only nine in the morning and he was already feeling ready to go home. At least when there was a big project or important task, Josh could muster up the courage to be at work for twenty hours a day in the name of the common good. But when all it was was monotonous, low-stakes meetings with people he’d probably never see again, suddenly all his motivation had gone.
He walked into the bullpen to bother Donna for a moment, the one saving grace he had before his next meeting started.
He leaned a hand against the glass beside her desk. “And how are you on this fine Tuesday morning, Donnatella?”
Donna looked up at him, already completely done with him. “Josh, you have a meeting in five-”
Josh groaned. He loved Donna, but one of the disadvantages to being so close with his assistant was that she always knew when he was stalling or just bothering her to bother her. “I know, I know, I’ll get there on time, don’t worry.”
Donna shot him a look that let him know she didn’t believe him.
Josh opened his mouth to reprimand her for the look -- wanting to make sure that she knows that he’s a man of his words -- but before he could get any words out, Josh felt a weight push against his side.
The force jolted him out of his leaning position, and thankfully he caught himself before any real damage could occur to his knees or his ego. He looked up at Donna, who snickered before turning back to her computer, and then stood up to see who had bumped into him.
Scurrying out of the bullpen was one Charlie Young, holding a stack of folders and loose papers.
“Donna,” Josh called, still frowning after Charlie. “Can you have Charlie get me that report on jalapeño growth in the Midwest that’s in his office?”
Donna turned around to give Josh an accusatory look, only to find that he was still staring down the hallway. “Does that report even exist, Josh?”
“No, but the kid just ran into me like a goddamn linebacker and didn’t even say sorry.”
“So you want to… get revenge? By making him look for a report about peppers in the Midwest?”
“Jalapeños,” Josh turned around to meet Donna’s eyes. “And yes.”
Donna rolled her eyes, and turned back to her computer. “You’re five years old. And late for your meeting.”
Josh looked at the clock on the wall. “Ah, damn it,”
Maybe it was an immature move, but Josh was still confused as to why Charlie wouldn’t even stop to acknowledge him, or his mistake, in the hallway. Revenge was, perhaps, a bit much, but it would likely call for Charlie to at least acknowledge what had happened.
Maybe he had been going somewhere important, carrying highly classified information. It wasn’t too out-of-the-realm-of-possibility for the President’s aide to be tasked with such a thing. There was probably a completely logical reason for it all. But the kid still almost knocked him over, and Josh wanted to waste his time as a result.
“Josh.” Donna urged, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Right.” He agreed, and headed to the first of far too many meetings.
At 5pm, Josh was startled out of his work by a knock on the door to his office.
He hollered for them to come in, and the door slowly creaked open to reveal Charlie standing on its other side.
“Oh, would you look who it is,” Josh smiled, quirking an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Charlie stepped through the door and closed it behind him just as carefully as he had opened it. He faced Josh and stood with perfect posture and his hands folded neatly in front of him. “I would like to apologize for earlier.”
Josh furrowed his brows at the younger. His behavior was confusing: usually Charlie was very friendly and personable, even if he was in the wrong. All he had done was bump into Josh, which Josh secretly didn’t even really hold against him. He just wanted to mess with Charlie with a fake report, and maybe get Charlie to mess with him back, as he had been known to do in the past. But instead of a friendly rivalry, Charlie had moved straight to surrender.
Josh shook his head. “The thing Donna asked you to do was a joke, there’s no report on jalapeños in the Midwest.”
Charlie looked up at him, a confused look on his face. “What are you talking about, sir?”
Josh froze. He didn’t know about the report? “Don’t call me sir. And did Donna not tell you to get a report from your office?”
“No, she did not,” Charlie took a deep breath. He twirled his thumbs around each other. “And, sir, I really need to tell you-”
“Charlie, stop calling me that. Donna!” Sure, it had mostly been a joke, but that didn’t mean Donna had the right to go behind his back and… not complete every ridiculous request he asked of her.
“Josh,” Charlie stressed, catching Josh’s attention before Charlie turned back to the door. He opened it and caught Donna before she could knock. “Thank you, Donna, please give me a minute.”
Josh could see Donna’s startled expression, both at being beaten to opening the door, and at being dismissed so quickly. He sat back in his desk chair and folded his arms as Charlie closed the door again. “Hey, when did I give you permission to start bossing my assistants around?”
Charlie sighed. “I… I really do need to talk to you about this, Josh.”
“Look,” Josh started, leaning his elbows on his desk and eyeing Charlie. “It’s not that big a deal, really. I was gonna prank you back for doing it but it since someone never followed through, it looks like you’re free.”
Charlie swallowed and continued to fidget with his fingers. He looked more distressed than the situation called for.
“I’m serious, kid, don’t worry about it.”
“Well, you see, that’s the thing,” Charlie scratched at the back of his head. “I am really, terribly sorry for running into you earlier, and I’m doubly sorry for not saying anything right then.”
Josh stared at him. “Yeah, we’ve been over that. I accept your apology, and you only survived my revenge because Donna is merciful,” he reiterated. There was a moment of hesitation as Josh analyzed the conversation a second time. “Charlie, what’s the ‘but’?”
“Excuse me?”
“Y’know, the ‘however,’ the ‘and also.’ You didn’t sound like you were done talking.”
“I’m not,” Charlie confirmed, staring back at Josh.
“Well?” Josh probed. “What is it?”
The conversation had taken a weirdly confrontational turn that Josh had not been anticipating. Usually, when Charlie had anything important to tell him - or, anything at all, for that matter - it was a brief pop-in to his office and he was gone within the minute. This time, however, Charlie had entered his office, shut the door, and started - or, tried to start - an actual conversation with him. It seemed personal.
“Sir, I’m very attracted to you.”
Oh. Well, that makes sense. Wait, no, it didn’t.
Josh gaped. He rubbed at one of his temples a moment, trying to find the right words to respond with. “Charlie, what did I say about you calling me that?”
“Sorry, Josh. It’s just that I have a great deal of respect for you and I’d like-”
“Yeah,” Josh cut him off, his voice still somewhat strangled by Charlie’s recent admission. “Okay, um, alright.” His thoughts were still organizing themselves.
“Josh?” Charlie prompted. His hands now resting at his sides, his fingers tapping nervously at the top of his legs.
“Charlie, I really don’t know what to say, I mean, I’m flattered, but…”
It was a big ‘but.’ There were about a thousand reasons Josh could think of that would prevent a relationship between them from being a possibility. For one, he was pretty sure the President would have him killed and stuffed; he was fiercely protective of Charlie like he was Jed’s own son, and Josh wasn’t exactly known for having the most positive romantic relationships. He was also somewhere around double Charlie’s age, and though Charlie was a fully grown adult, Josh would still feel weird about dating someone who was young enough to be his son.
“Josh, would you like to go get a beer after work and talk about this?”
Josh blanked again. Wasn’t Charlie the one who was supposed to be flustered about this conversation, instead of him? “Yeah, that, that sounds good, Charlie.”
Charlie nodded curtly, and headed out his door.
“Wait, Charlie,” Josh called after him, before he was out of earshot.
After a brief moment, Charlie poked his head back into the office. “Yes?”
“You’re… old enough to drink, right.”
Charlie huffed a laugh. “Yes, sir.”
“Okay,” Josh affirmed, trying to hide his relief. He waved Charlie out of the doorway. “Go back to work. I’ll meet you there at ten.”
The younger nodded, and slipped out of sight.