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Eve started it really. She was a really social person and often would spend her lunch break with multiple co workers, chatting about the newest office gossip.
One day they were talking about relationships and after trash talking Mike and swooning over the relationship of the new IT girl and her partner, Eve changed the topic to their boss.
“I think Mr. Olsen is dating this Winn guy- Kara’s best friend.”
Half of the table looked at her in shock like she had just said something absurd like “I think our boss is National City’s newest vigilante”, while the other half nodded in contemplation.
“Makes sense. He is always coming around and visiting him in his office”, said Steven from research.
Tom from management shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. They never do anything couple-y, like to greet each other or to say good bye.”
“Oh my god, Tom they don’t have to blatantly make out in front of us. It’s the subtle things” Steven rolled his eyes.
Eve shrugged easily. “We could just ask him!”
This time everyone stared at her like she was crazy. “What?”
“No way!”, Jordan, who had her desk tight next to Eve’s shouted, a bit more dramatic than she had intended but after reliving what she had experienced last year, she supposed it was kind of accurate.
“Listen Eve, last year we all had this rumour going on that Cat Grant was dating Kara- don’t laugh, you should have seen them. And then all of these rude humans made me go and ask her about it!”
Tom groaned. “Oh right, that was terrible.”
Jordan nodded in agreement. “She made me think she was going to fire me and let me do the coffee runs for her, like a hundred times a day, for a month.”
Eve was shocked. Getting a latte for Miss Grant was hard even when she was in a good mood.
“Didn’t she ask you later why you thought that and if Kara had expressed interest in her before though?”, Anne from photography remarked.
“Oh yeah, she did actually… But still, it was horrifying.”
“But Mr Olsen isn’t like that, right?” Steven was on Eve’s side.
“Still wouldn’t risk it. If he was his boyfriend and they would want us to know, they would be more open about it.” Tom closed the topic before they realized they had to get back to work.
Nevertheless all of them couldn’t help but pay a little bit more attention to their boss and his behaviour around Winn Schott.
They noticed the way they would stand especially close whenever Winn was over at CatCo to look at outlines (which was suspicious in itself, really)
They noticed how James always got a coffee brought by his friend, even though he refused to send Eve to Noonan’s to get him some and that Winn always handed the cup over while reciting a complicated order, closing with “as always.”
They also noticed how James eyes would rest on Winn through the glass walls of his office when the other one was standing somewhere outside, chatting with his former colleagues, so full of fondness and warmth and how Winn sometimes would stop before entering through the doors when James hadn’t noticed him yet, just watching Mr Olsen work full of concentration.
One day, someone spotted them in a small coffee shop, sitting on the same side of the booth and their group chat was blowing up after that.
They would stop each other in the office saying things like. “Have you seen them today? They’re definitely dating.” Or “Winn hasn’t been over for a few days. I hope they’re okay.”
Of course, sometimes gossip magazines would speculate about the relationship status of the acting CEO of CatCo but all they had at hand to speculate about were his former girlfriend Lucy and his best friends’ cousin, Supergirl. Winn was only mentioned in small side comments about how Mr Olsen was spotted with “close friend” somewhere in the city and then Eve and Steven would closely inspect the photo: “Are they holding hands under the table here?”
Anne actually asked Winn about James and how he would define their relationship, which reduced him into a stuttering mess of compliments about James and a helpless string of words like “bros”, best friends”, “bffs” and “pals”.
They also tried to get something out of Kara but she just “had a knowing smile”, as Jordan said, and told them that they would have gotten very close over the past few months.
Eve had worked up the courage one day to go and mention Winn and his frequent visit to her boss. All she got was James’ face lighting up at the name and then him just trying to dodge the implication by saying that they were on really good terms and that he valued his friends’ opinions very much.
That day at lunch, Tom declared the evidence to be inconclusive; while Steven was convinced they were together now. Nevertheless they still agreed, both would be great together but it really wasn’t anyone’s business, was it?
The same day, late at night, Winn and James lied next to each other in bed. They had agreed on keeping their relationship secret, for now.
There just was too much going on, too much to risk if they were to go public now. Maybe someday, when Cat was back and James not in the public eye anymore.
James flung an arm around his boyfriend and rested his head on the other’s shoulder.
“Sometimes I think the people at Cat Co know about us. Today, Eve asked me about you.”
Winn, too tired and content to worry about anything, pressed a quick kiss on James lips.
“Nah, they have no idea.”