Work Text:
Nikandros
“Damen, bro,” Nikandros says, exasperated. “I can’t believe you sometimes.”
“You can’t believe me most times,” Damen replies and continues typing.
Nikandros turns his head to concede the point and ignores Damen rolling his eyes as he continues. “He’s exactly your type.”
Damen smiles a very obviously fake smile, “And I’m not looking to get set up.”
“Since when?”
“Since forever!”
Nikandros scoffs. “You couldn’t keep it in your pants the entire time we were at uni.”
“That was different, that was just fucking around.”
Nikandros shrugs his shoulders and gestures at Damen to go on.
“So, I’m not gonna fuck someone from the office just because you say he’s my type.”
“Ha!” Nikandros yells, making everyone around their work station perk up. “It’s not just me! Show of hands, who thinks Damen and Laurent should hook up?”
Nikandros knows Damen can’t ignore the five raised hands.
“I’m not interested, Nik. Leave it, yeah?”
Nikandros shrugs again. “For now.”
Auguste
“Laurent.”
“Yes, Auguste,” Laurent says, not even looking up from where he’s copying some paperwork.
“ Laurent ,” says Auguste.
“No, Auguste.”
“Laurent.”
“Will you stop that? I’m busy, bitch.”
“That’s no way to speak to your superior,” Auguste says with a grin.
“If I see someone superior, I’ll take it into account.”
Auguste sighs and leans against the doorway, purposefully obstructing Laurent’s only exit. “Baby bro.”
“Oh, definitely not,” Laurent says.
“Have you seen Damen?”
“Obviously I have, he works across the hall.”
“No, but have you, like, seen him?”
Laurent raises his brow, “It sounds like you have a crush on him.”
“Oh no,” Auguste snorts. “I’m still with Selene, happily. They’re just nice to look at aren’t they, him and Nik?”
“Sure,” Laurent says, not so secretly sniffing the freshly printed paper.
“So you admit it!”
“What?”
“You think he’s pretty.”
“I think I’d rather slam my head in this copy machine than spend another second talking about this.”
“Bit drastic, buddy.”
Laurent lifts the lid on the copier.
“Leaving now!”
Auguste (again)
“Why does this feel like a trap?” Laurent says after walking into the meeting room, finally joining Auguste, Damen, and Nikandros.
Everybody in the room is quiet. Nikandros is grinning behind the palm of his hand ( subtle, Nik ) and Auguste gets nervous. He orchestrated this whole thing, he should feel in power, in control! He owns half this company, damn it. Laurent looks him straight in the eyes. Oh fuck.
“What the fuck, Auguste?”
Auguste rolls his eyes. “We’re in the workplace.”
“What the fuck, mister De Vere?”
Auguste sighs and sits down at the head of the meeting table, trying to regain the strength to go on. “We’re developing a new project, and we need you to work together on this.”
“What, all four of us?” Damen asks.
“No.”
“Three?”
Auguste smirks. Laurent sighs.
“Then why is Nik here?”
Nikandros finally chimes in, “Just thought it’d be fun, really.”
“Alright,” Laurent says, nodding at Damen. “Auguste can explain what the project is and then I’ll send you an e-mail to work on it.”
“Hang on, no,” Auguste says. “You’ll have to work together, like, in person.”
“Why?”
Auguste looks at Nikandros, then back at Laurent. “Just… ‘cause.”
Laurent sits up and leans his elbows on the table, “You need us to physically be in a room together while we work on this project?”
Auguste nods dumbly.
“So book us a meeting room, and we’ll show you what we’ve done.”
“No, I- We don’t need to be there for it.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“So you won’t mind if we do it over e-mail then?”
“No- I- Yes.”
“Good,” Laurent says. “Let’s start this brief.”
Auguste lays his head on the table, allows Nik to pet his hair and misses a certain grin shared.
Jokaste
“What’s this I hear about you not wanting to fuck a bitchy blonde?”
Damen startles and Jokaste enjoys seeing the key-smash on his screen. “Good morning, Jokaste, I’m doing great, how about you?”
“I’m fucking fantastic, now spill.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Stop pretending to be a himbo, I can go to Nik for that.”
“Hey!” Nikandros says from under his desk, leaning in what looks like a sea of spilled thumbtacks. “I resent that.”
“Okay, honey. Damen,” Jokaste snaps her fingers in front of his face. “You can tell me what’s up or I can find out myself, and I know you don’t want me to do that.”
“Nothing is up, I’m not getting involved with someone from the office.”
Jokaste quirks her eyebrow, reminding Damen how hypocritical he’s being.
“Don’t look at me like that, we were together before I even started here.”
Jokaste leaned in to whisper in Damen’s ear, “We fucked in the supply closet here during work hours, I know you don’t have boundaries. But fine,” she says, louder now for everyone listening in. “Have it your way. I enjoy a challenge.” She throws her hair over her shoulder as she walks to the elevator.
As she turns around, she can see Damen frowning and taking out his cell phone. Huh.
Niçaise
“When’s your boyfriend coming over?”
Niçaise catches the glass that just slipped out of Laurent’s fingers.
“What?”
Niçaise pouts. “You’re never around anymore, and I know you don’t have any other friends, so who are you fucking and why doesn’t he come here?”
“Shut up, you’re like… twelve.”
Niçaise glares at Laurent. “I’m fifteen, and I’m not stupid. I thought you said we wouldn’t have secrets?”
He watches as Laurent sighs and knows he’s got him.
“If I tell you,” Laurent starts, and Niçaise leans forward eagerly. “You need to promise not to tell Auguste.”
Niçaise can’t stop the gasp from leaving his throat. “Why doesn’t Auguste know? You tell him everything!”
“Out of spite.” Laurent grins.
Niçaise is barely keeping it together. “Spill.”
Erasmus
Alright, he can do this. He’s been psyching himself up in the bathroom for the past twenty minutes. At a certain point his supervisor’s gonna come looking for him, and Torveld does not need to know about this.
He walks out and over to Damen’s desk where blessedly no one else is around for once, and clears his throat.
“Hi, Damen,” Erasmus says, wringing his hands together nervously.
Damen smiles when he sees him, making Erasmus blush even more than he probably already was. “Hi! You okay?”
“I- Yeah, of course,” Erasmus nearly giggles and winces. “I was just wondering if maybe, if you wanted to, someday, I mean, you can say no, but if you wanted to get a drink. Or food. Or something. Anything.” Shit.
In Damen’s defense, he doesn’t look repulsed at Erasmus’ offer. He doesn’t even look like he pities him like Erasmus had come to expect. He does look quite sheepish.
“I’d love to go for a drink with you, Erasmus,” he starts, and Erasmus knows not to cheer too early. “But I don’t want to lead you on if I do.”
Oh.
“Oh?”
“You’re a great, sweet guy, obviously, and I realize this sounds like a fuckboy standard excuse, but it really isn’t you, it’s me. I’m already seeing someone.”
“Oh,” Erasmus repeats himself. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Damen asks. “So you still wanna go for a drink, then?”
“I- Sure?” Erasmus says with a hesitant smile.
“I could be your wingman,” Damen suggests, and just like that Erasmus’ blush is back.
Jord
“You’ve been staring at him a lot,” Jord says when he sees Laurent take a gulp of water, timing it perfectly so Laurent would do a spit-take.
Laurent disappoints by calmly swallowing and turning in his chair with a bitchy raised eyebrow.
“Excuse you, what?”
Jord hides his smirk, knowing it will annoy Laurent more if he looks serious. “I’ve seen you looking.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure,” Jord says. “It’s a big coincidence that your eyes keep landing on Damen’s desk, especially on the day he’s got the sniffles.”
“Oh, is he sick? I wasn’t aware, I’ll make sure not to come near him then. Wouldn’t want to catch anything.”
“You’re so full of shit,” Jord exclaims, laughing into his fist and disguising it as a cough when someone walks by. Laurent turns an interesting shade of pink.
“I think you forget who writes your performance review,” Laurent says with a bite, a clear ‘shut up’ if Jord ever heard one. He’s not buying it, though.
“Why don’t you ask him out?”
“Jord.”
“I’m serious, you obviously want to!”
Laurent sighs through his nose. “I’m not discussing this with you.”
“Then stop looking all lovelorn and do something about it!”
“You know what?” Laurent drops everything and stands up. “Fine.”
He starts moving towards Damen’s desk area when Auguste is suddenly there.
“Laurent, just the man I needed!”
Jord watches as Laurent takes a final look at Damen before entering Auguste’s office, and notices Damen staring at the now-closed door.
Damen
Damen swings his denim jacket onto the coat rack, kicks off his shoes and drops his bag at the door.
“Honey, I’m home!”
His cat, Charls, jumps off the giant cat tower Damen spent two days building and rubs herself against his legs. He loves how she’s such a needy baby because let’s be honest, so is he. He picks her up for a quick snuggle until she’s done with that, thanks very much , and makes his way over to the kitchen.
He grins as he hears the sound of keys hitting the side table and waits for the chilly hands to wrap around his waist as he fills a glass with tap water. When they do, he puts his own overtop and enjoys the familiar weight leaning against him.
“You okay?”
“Hmm, long day,” Laurent says, rubbing across Damen’s stomach, making him sigh contently.
Laurent
“Do you think we should tell them?” Laurent asks from his favorite position on the couch; one leg over the arm, one leg over the back and his head on Damen’s lap.
“Tell who?” Damen mumbles, only half paying attention. The other half seems to be focussed on running his fingers through Laurent’s hair. “Tell them what?”
“Everyone,” Laurent says, waiting until Damen looks him in the eye. “About us.”
He’s surprised Damen, Laurent can tell. After all, he was the one who wanted to keep their relationship under wraps. He never called it a secret, but they both knew that’s what it was. He had explained it to Damen, though, who understood.
“I’ve not had anything...like this,” Laurent had said. “And it scares me, in a good way. You make me so unbelievably happy, and I don’t want anyone to mess with that. With us. With you.”
“As long as you’ll have me by your side, I’ll be here, and I won’t let anything happen to you, to me, to us,” Damen told him. And Laurent, annoyed at how soft he was for this goddamned man, kissed him, with silent tears running down his face.
“If you think it’s right,” Damen says, a slow smile starting to form. “You know I’ll follow you anywhere. But if you’re asking me if I want to, I’d be so happy to show you off to everyone I know.”
Laurent glares playfully. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t.” Damen grins. “But mom has been asking me to bring you to Friday dinner for over five months now, so she deserves it.”
“Fine,” Laurent relents. “I like your mother.”
Damen freezes in place. “What does that mean?”
“She’s funny.”
Laurent enjoys watching Damen mentally freak out.
“How do you know that?”
“We text,” Laurent says, so nonchalantly it takes a few seconds before Damen screams.
“You text?!”
“She’s hoping for a June wedding, I told her this year would be too soon.”
“Laurent,” Damen huffs, sounding extremely out of breath for someone who hasn’t moved a muscle. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’m kidding, babe,” Laurent says, leaning up to kiss Damen’s slack mouth. “I never told her that.” He stands to head over to the kitchen, he can tell Damen needs a cold towel soon.
“So, do we tell people at work?”
Damen blinks and visibly parks that conversation for another time. “That we’re dating?”
“That we’re engaged,” Laurent clarifies, enjoying the incredulous noise coming out of Damen’s mouth.
“I have a ring!” Damen slaps his thighs before standing and joining Laurent in the kitchen. “I had a plan!”
“That’s nice, hun,” Laurent grins as Damen lifts him up by the thighs and drops him on the counter, stepping in between his legs. “Where is it? I’ll take it as my Valentine's gift.”
“Right, like I’ll just give it to you, after what you did to me.”
Laurent calls his bluff, with Damen slowly kissing his neck.
“By the time we go to sleep that ring will be on my finger.”
He can feel Damen’s grin against his skin. “We’ll see if I’ll let you sleep.”