Work Text:
It had started off as a regular day.
Jim had arrived at Dunder-Mifflin, gotten settled in, and had been (at least a little bit) working. That is, until Andy had approached him about the small business seminar.
It sounded simple, really. He was just supposed to go in there and warm up the crowd a bit before letting Andy take over. It was nothing he hadn’t done before, and frankly it sounded like a great way to kill time. Jim was completely on board with it.
That is, until the people started arriving.
Jim and Andy were just outside of the conference room, going over the plan of action. It was obvious that Andy was slightly nervous, but Jim was completely nonchalant. The seminar was the perfect way to slack off while also getting something productive done at the same time. Jim was totally ready to help Andy with his presentation.
But then he looked into the conference room, and his heart sank.
As his eyes locked onto an all-too-familiar face, he felt all of the motivation he had held moments prior fizzle out of him entirely. His breath caught in his throat as his lungs constricted suddenly.
Sitting in the conference room was none other than Tom. His ex.
His ex that he had had a horribly messy breakup with.
Jim leapt quickly out of eyeshot of the glass as he scrambled to think of an excuse. “I j-just remembered that I have a very important meeting, uh, right now, so I can’t help you with the seminar, sorry.”
Andy looked taken aback and somewhat distressed. “What? What do you mean? You can’t back out, you’re the charming warm-up guy! I need you!”
Jim was backing away from Andy as quickly as he could, trying his hardest to get as far away as possible from the man in the conference room.
“Nope. Sorry. Very important meeting. Can’t miss it. Sorry,” Jim stuttered out, ignoring Andy’s cries of protest as he turned around entirely and began to stalk out of the office.
Pam shot him a bewildered look and asked him what was going on, but he just shook his head at her and asked her to tell him when the seminar was over. With that, he kept walking until he had left the building entirely.
Once he was outside, though, he had no idea what to do. His plans to kill time had been completely trashed, and he couldn’t even do work since that involved being in the building, and he was not going back in there until Tom left.
None of the office knew he was bisexual besides Pam, who was also bi. Everyone seemed to think he was queer anyway, but he knew that the jokes would never end if he let any of them know the truth. Besides, it wasn’t information that he needed to share with them, anyway.
Tom was... Frankly, Jim didn’t even know why he had started dating the guy in the first place. Probably because he was attractive. But Tom was loud, rude, and overall too obsessive for Jim’s taste.
They had only gone on three dates before he had decided to break it off (although Jim had wanted out of the relationship for longer). It had been terribly messy, with lots of screaming and insults (mostly from Tom).
Jim had had many partners in the past, some good and some bad, but of course a bad ex had to show up to the seminar.
Being recognized would be not great for two reasons. One, he would be outed to the entire office, which wouldn’t be ideal. And two, he’d have to deal with a pissed off, resentful Tom.
That was why Jim was kicking stones in the parking lot.
Time seemed to tick on for far too long. Jim had been doing meaningless things in the parking lot for what felt like decades. He tapped his foot restlessly on the pavement as he contemplated whether or not he should chance going back inside. He chose the former as his resolve crumbled and he began walking towards the entrance. He opened the door with more force than intended and decided to take the stairs to burn off the restless energy in his body.
There was no way the seminar was still going on. It had to have ended by this point. It had been hours, there was no way anyone was still there. Jim could get back to work and completely forget about Tom again.
“So, is it over?”
“No, not yet.”
Jim really should’ve known better.
“Alright, then, back I go,” Jim said with a forced smile on his face. Pam grabbed his arm as he was turning around to walk down the stairs again.
“Come on, you have to tell me!” Pam exclaimed, staring up at him pleadingly, “There is something up, and I want to know. Please?”
Jim sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He did not feel like talking about any of his exes today. Especially not about one of his insane exes. Especially not with his wife.
“Fine. But we’re going down the stairs,” Jim sighed in defeat. Pam’s eyes lit up with curiosity and anticipation as she followed him, and Jim would be lying if he said that that expression didn’t make his heart warm up a little bit.
If only he wasn’t about to tell her what was bothering him.
They stopped walking after a while and Jim took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. Pam looked up at him with both concern and anticipation.
“Come on, Jim, fill me in! What could possibly be preventing you from being in the building?” Pam asked far too excitedly. Jim rubbed his face with his hand and sighed, trying to find the right words.
“So...” Jim began, gritting his teeth. He just had to spit it out. “One of my exes may or may not be sitting in the conference room right now.”
Pam put a hand over her mouth dramatically. “No way!” She exclaimed in a shocked whisper, but a wide grin was on her face. She was such a sadist sometimes. “Which one? What’s their name?”
Jim swallowed. “Tom.”
He was really having this conversation. Right now. In a stairwell. With his wife.
How fun.
Pam’s eyes softened as she hummed sympathetically. “Messy breakup?”
Jim sighed heavily as he stared nowhere in particular. “You could say that...”
He snapped his eyes back to Pam as she patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. “I know the feeling. Seeing exes is the worst, especially if the breakup was rough,” she gave him a soft smile, “Come on, let’s go to the parking lot. We can finish our discussion there.” Jim nodded in agreement, feeling some of the tension leave his body as Pam gently grabbed his hand.
When they reached the parking lot, Jim told Pam the rest of the story. He told her about the less-than-stellar dates, Tom’s general rude demeanour, the terrible kissing, and the screaming match of a breakup that had ensued. Pam winced in response to some of the things being shared and offered her sympathies.
Really, it felt good to get it off his chest and share his nightmare breakup stories with someone who understood. It also served to remind him of the amazing, wonderful person he had ended up with.
But of course, Jim wasn’t allowed to have nice things.
Jim and Pam had finally entered the building once again. Jim stood next to the fridge and poured himself a cup of coffee from the coffee maker. He was feeling much better compared to before. The meeting was adjourned, he had talked out his issues. He was feeling pretty okay.
Unfortunately, even though Andy’s presentation was complete, not everyone had left the building yet.
Jim paid no mind when someone else entered the room, but he nearly spit out his coffee mid-sip when he saw who it was.
Of course it had to be Tom who had entered the room.
The other man stopped and stared at Jim before narrowing his eyes. Jim felt a blush rise to his cheeks from the staring.
“Jim,” Tom said coldly, standing close to the break room door. Jim felt his heart leap into his throat.
“Tom,” he echoed. Jim kept glancing at the door, wondering if there was any way to make a break for it, but that didn’t seem to be possible.
“So this is the shit hole you work in now, huh?” Tom asked after an uncomfortably long pause.
“Yeah. Guess so,” Jim replied stiffly, not knowing what else to say. He took a large sip of his coffee, needing both the distraction and the caffeine more than ever.
Tom huffed before moving towards the side of Jim that was facing the fridge. “Thought you’d be working in a lab or something. You know, since you’re so smart and everything,” Tom growled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Jim felt the blush rise higher in his cheeks. He felt sweaty, too. He was honestly never great with confrontation, especially not over something so personal.
Jim felt a sudden surge of anger wash over him. “You’re still not over this? It’s been years now, give it a break!” He snapped, dropping his voice to a much lower volume so that the others wouldn’t overhear.
As usual, Tom chose to raise his voice instead of lower it. Jim just wished desperately that no one outside of the break room could hear him. “Fuck you, Jim! I’m perfect for you, you just can’t see it! Fuck you!”
Jim had had quite enough. He was on the verge of having a full-blown meltdown, that’s how much his tolerance for confrontation had been shot. It was time for him to leave.
Jim gave Tom a hateful smirk. “You wish,” he whispered, his voice dripping with venom. As Tom’s face grew flush with anger and he opened his mouth to inevitably scream some more, Jim zipped over to the door and made a hasty retreat.
Jim was stopped in his tracks as he saw several people in the office staring at him with varying expressions of confusion, shock, and interest on their faces. He somehow felt his heart rate increase even more than it already had.
Oh no, had they... had they heard...?
“Wow, what happened in there? Looked pretty aggressive to me! Hoo boy,” Andy asked, a sympathetic, yet highly intrigued look on his face.
Jim felt himself relax slightly. They hadn’t heard. He could make something up.
Jim glanced behind him quickly, hoping desperately that Tom wasn’t about to burst out of the room and continue his rage-filled tirade. Luckily, the other man had angrily shoved his way into the men’s washroom. Jim felt himself relax slightly more.
“He, uh...” Jim began, turning back around to face everyone else, “He was one of my childhood best friends. We got into an argument once and, well... you know how it goes.”
Phyllis winced. “Yeah, that’s always rough.” A few other people murmured in agreement. Jim breathed a sigh of relief. His lie had worked.
It seemed everyone was satisfied enough with Jim’s false explanation of events, so he took the opportunity to duck out of the office for a breather. He sure felt like he could use more oxygen in his system.
Jim stood outside in the parking lot for the second time that day. He took several deep breaths to try and cool down both his body and his emotions.
Jim startled slightly when he heard someone approach him from behind, but relaxed when he saw who it was.
“Oh, hey Pam.”
“Hey.” Pam walked up to stand beside him. They stood in silence for several moments, both simply staring at nothing in particular. The only sound that occupied the area was Jim’s heavier than normal breathing. With Pam next to him, though, he was already beginning to feel some of his tension melt away.
Pam was the first to break the silence. “So. The thing about the ex-friend. Very clever.”
Jim huffed out a humourless laugh. “Thanks, really stretched my improv abilities.”
Another beat of silence.
“Look, I’m really sorry you had to go through that. I mean, especially after the lengths you went through to avoid him...”
“It’s alright, it’s fine,” Jim sighed, dismissing her apologies, “I suppose it was inevitable that our paths would cross again at some point.”
Pam sighed as well. “That’s always how it is, isn’t it? With exes.” Her lips quirked upwards slightly before falling again. “Are you really okay, though? None of us could hear what was happening, but it didn’t look pretty.”
Jim barked out a laugh before massaging his forehead with his hand. “No, no it was not pretty.” He stared up at the sky as if imploring for it to give him answers. “He gave me that ‘I’m simply flawless’ speech again and told me to fuck off when I said that that wasn’t going to get us back together, or whatever his end goal was.” Jim looked back at Pam and grinned sarcastically. “I mean, I know I’m irresistible in every way, but he’s gotta learn some boundaries.”
Pam laughed at his joke and shoved his arm lightly. “All humour aside,” Pam began as her laughing subsided, “that’s really rough. I’m sorry you have such a crappy ex.”
“Oh ho ho, trust me. He is nowhere near the worst one,” Jim replied darkly.
Pam winced. “Wow, that really sucks. A lot. I hate to say it, but you have a terrible taste in partners.”
Jim gave her an affronted gasp. “That is simply not true! You, Pamela, are my wife, and you are positively magnificent.”
A small blush crept up into Pam’s cheeks. “You’re right, I am pretty amazing, aren’t I?”
Jim beamed, his cheeks also beginning to become red. He always had been easy to fluster, even if he was good at hiding it most of the time. “Absolutely.”
They both stood in short silence once again, but there was a lot less tension in the air. They stood in the parking lot, their hands intertwined, and relished in each other’s companionship. Jim felt Pam’s warmth next to him, and knew he had landed with the best person in the entire world.
That exact thought was what caused him to bury his face in his hands and groan as something dawned on him.
“What? What is it?” Pam asked, slight concern lining her voice.
“Oh my god,” Jim groaned again, lifting his head back up to look at Pam, “Can you imagine if he had seen the ring?”
Pam barked out a shocked laugh. “Holy crap! He would’ve killed you, wouldn’t he?”
“He would’ve absolutely obliterated me, Pam. Obliterated,” Jim grumbled, but his words were laced with occasional wheezes of relieved laughter. He was so incredibly grateful that Tom had overlooked the wedding band on his finger. Heaven knows what kind of screaming would have occurred.
Pam bumped his shoulder affectionately with hers. “Hey, work’s pretty much over for the day. Why don’t we go back up, pretend to work for ten minutes, and then leave this nightmare behind?”
Jim really liked the sound of that last part. “What if he’s still in there, though? I can’t deal with that a second time...”
“I’ll protect you,” Pam stated confidently, “He’s not getting through me without a fight!”
“Pam! No fighting!” Jim scolded, but he gave her a smirk, “Unless you don’t get caught.”
They both winked at each other before laughing and entering the building once more, their arms interlocked with each other.
Luckily, neither of them had any more encounters with Tom for the rest of the day. Both Jim and Pam sat at their desks and “worked”—which really involved chatting with each other and seeing how long it would take Dwight to notice that they were putting paperclips in his coffee mug—until it was time to clock out. As they were walking out to the parking lot for what seemed like the two millionth time that day, Pam gave Jim and quick peck on the cheek and promised that they would have a nice dinner that night.
Maybe the day wasn’t so terrible after all.