Chapter Text
“So, did you hear, Sato-chan?”
Oikawa’s lanky body makes its way around the grey desk dividers and flies into Tendou’s workspace, who quickly kicks back his legs to make room for the brunette to perch on the edge of the desk. It’s a daily occurrence at this point, gossiping with Oikawa before work starts. Tendou has no complaints - his greed to know what’s going on at all times gets fed and Oikawa has someone to return his energy. Plus they get to annoy Semi and slack off on work for at least thirty minutes every day. It’s a win-win on all levels.
“About the new hires? God, I can’t wait , you know? They’re always so cute when they first start.”
Oikawa nods and swings his legs enthusiastically, unable to hide his excitement. Kiyoko-san had given him a stern talking-to a couple minutes ago about staying professional in front of the newcomers, or, at least it sounded like she was being stern.
“I hope we get a couple of good ones for our department, you know? I feel like the best ones always end up going to Daichi’s crew!”
Tendou laughs and leans forward so that his elbows are knocking against the desk, with the sides of his arm brushing against Oikawa’s thigh. “Hey, but we won with our baby Bubu last year, didn’t we?”
The sound of about a million fucking pens dropping to the floor rings out and seconds later, Shirabu’s panting his way into Tendou’s little office square. Oikawa watches with amusement as Shirabu salutes at the two of them, and then straightens himself out like an unfolding stick insect. His bangs sway in an endearing way, like they’ve got a life of their own.
“T-thank you, s-senpais! It means a lot t-to me! I’ll continue to work hard!” Shirabu spits out passionately, with the passion of a soldier proving his loyalty to a nation.
“Awe, look at our little baby-wabey Bubu bear!” Oikawa squeals a couple more lines of incomprehensible compliments and squeezes Shirabu’s cheek, making it a point to get him to blush by layering on the admiration.
The kid has a thing for praise, huh ?
Tendou swallows a laugh at his own observations and just when he’s about to join Oikawa in his teasing, he catches a glimpse of Semi passing by on the reflection of his computer monitor.
Well, time to play, I guess .
“Ah, good morning, Semi-kun!” Tendou wriggles his fingers in the air and waits for Semi to sigh reluctantly before joining them. “Are you working hard?”
“Clearly not as much as you two are,” Semi mutters. He crosses his arms and raises a brow at Oikawa, who’s still got claim over a particularly red area on Shirabu’s cheek. “Oikawa. You’re awfully chirpy today.”
Oikawa pats the sore spot he’s created on his junior’s face and shrugs dramatically. “I can’t seem to focus today, Semi-chan. The newcomers are coming today, and I wanna know what they’re like!”
“Well, they aren’t due for another hour so you might as well start on today’s tasks.”
“Get the stick out of your ass, Semi-kun,” Tendou says. He gives Semi’s butt a rough pat just to get his point across, and Semi retaliates with a painful slap to the back of Tendou’s head with the manilla folder in hand.
It’s worth it.
“Just get started. The make-up isn’t gonna sell itself.”
Oikawa giggles as Shirabu runs after Semi, babbling a constant stream of apologies for slacking off. “He’s a good kid. Poor guy’s gonna get his heart broken.”
“You think Shirabu likes him?”
Oikawa rolls his eyes as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world (which it is, except Tendou just likes it when other people confirm his suspicions first). “Of course. You think we should help him?”
“After the mess with him and -”
“Oh!” Oikawa jumps up, interrupting Tendou’s sentence. “Oh, I think we got an early bird, Sato-chan!”
Oikawa gives him a look that says their talk isn’t over. Tendou stands up and peers over his divider, and he sees that at the entrance to the office, Kiyoko is in the middle of pointing out certain sections of the floor to a really bright-faced kid with dyed hair and - is that a piercing on his tongue ?
Tendou’s fingers immediately jump up to his own earring holes (without the jewelry) and he smiles.
“Everyone, if I could have your attention?” Kiyoko calls out softly, but her voice carries throughout the whole floor. Everyone’s heads poke out of their dividers like meerkats on the hunt. “If you could all do your best to welcome Terushima Yuuji, one of three new employees as of today. They’ll be training under a mentor for about four weeks before they’ll be put on their own work, so please try to adjust to each other well if you’ve been chosen as a mentor. Terushima-san will be assigned to Oikawa-san. I’ll leave the rest of the introductions up to you guys, so be nice and let’s get our work done today without any issues, alright?”
The office collectively thanks Kiyoko and Tendou watches as Oikawa jumps out of a clump of people so that he can grab Terushima’s hand.
“Hi hi, I’m Oikawa-san, it’s so nice to meet you! Is it okay if I call you Yuu-chan? Or maybe Yuu-kun has a better ring to it. Ah, ah, but we’re friends now, right? So Yuu-chan it is!”
Tendou briefly recalls how Shirabu reacted to meeting Oikawa for the first time last year - he had been a mess of limbs and words and his face had been permanently red for close to four full months - but it doesn’t look like Terushima’s going to have a hard time adjusting to him.
“Oh, nicknames already? Wow, I like it! Is it okay if I call you Oikawa-senpai? Woah, I’ve never had a workplace senpai before, this is so cool!”
“Well, that makes the two of us!” Oikawa squeals, grabbing Terushima’s other hand so they can start skipping around in a circle. Tendou has to laugh at that. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to everyone else!”
“Sick!”
Tendou watches as Semi rubs his temple.
God, what a drama queen . Tendou spins around on his chair and starts scheming.
-
-
“W-what’s, uh, all this?”
Sugawara looks up from where he’s arranging the new employee files on Daichi’s desk and blinks.
“Uh, these are just the files on the newbies?”
“Wha-” Daichi blanches. “That’s today ?”
“Yes?” Sugawara laughs softly when Daichi grabs at his nonexistent head of long hair and groans. “Did you forget?”
“Yeah, and I even told Iwa that he wouldn’t have to worry about throwing together a presentation because I had it under control.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out, babe.”
“Don’t babe your way out of this and help me ,” Daichi whines, grabbing Sugawara by the waist and burying his head into the crook of Sugawara’s neck. “I don’t wanna get yelled at.”
“C’mon, Dai,” Sugawara pats Daichi’s head and presses a kiss into his boyfriend’s forehead before pulling away. “You’re the boss here. And I’m sure you don’t need a presentation, just introducing everyone and getting the mentors set up should be more than enough work.”
“I hate it when you make sense.”
“I know,” Sugawara smiles. “I have to head back down to the secretary’s office, but text me if you need anything okay?”
“I should just lock you up in here.”
“Aw, isn’t that cute?” Sugawara teases.
“No, it’s pretty creepy, actually.”
Sugawara and Daichi both turn their heads to see who’s interrupting them, and Daichi immediately shrinks behind Sugawara’s thin frame at the presence of Iwaizumi leaning against the doorframe.
“It’s cute ,” Sugawara says one last time before heading out. “Good luck, Dai!”
“You better kiss my ass later,” Sugawara hears Iwaizumi say. And then something clatters against the desk.
“Iwa!”
Daichi sounds close to tears.
Sugawara peeks into the room one last time just to make sure everything’s okay, but deems it fine to leave when he sees Daichi weeping against the floor, flash drive in hand.
“I knew you’d forget, asshat,” Iwaizumi grumbles. “You better be on top of your shit today.”
And he’s supposed to be in charge , Sugawara giggles to himself.
-
-
“Sakusa-san, could I request you to my office for a short conversation?”
Sakusa fidgets with the wire of the telephone on his desk and narrows his eyes so hard that the bottom of his lashes brush up against his mask. “If you’re going to ask me to help you with employee introductions, I’m hanging up, Ushijima.”
Silence fills the receiver.
“Alright. It isn’t anything to do with that.”
“You better not be lying.”
Silence again.
Sakusa just sighs, hangs up, and heads over to Ushijima’s office.
“What do you need,” Sakusa asks once he steps into the room. He doesn’t bother knocking - Ushijima’s known him for too long that any formalities are required between the two of them. “I told you a second ago, but I’m not speaking to them. And you better not assign any of those germ-infested turds to me, because I’m sure as hell locking myself away. I’ll run away. I’ll do it, I swear. Yuck. Yuck .”
Ushijima taps his desk quietly for a couple of seconds before his eyebrow twitches - the only sign that he’s formulating a plan inside his head.
“Alright, Sakusa-san. I won’t ask you to mentor anyone. But there’s been an emergency meeting called today for the team managers to attend, and I need someone to watch the office for the day. If you do that for me, I won’t have you talk more than necessary.”
“You swear?”
“Yes, Sakusa-san.”
“Can I sit in your office?”
“Yes, Sakusa-san.”
“Can I fire -”
“No, Sakusa-san.”
“ Fine .”
Sakusa can bookmark his plan to somehow remove Hanamaki and Mattsun from his side one day - but apparently, it’s not gonna be right now.
-
-
“Did you hear?”
Daichi takes a seat next to Sugawara and sets his lunch tray down before following the rest of the table in turning to look at Oikawa.
“What happened?” Iwaizumi asks gruffly, biting into a piece of katsudon with ravenous ferocity. Daichi almost wants to apologize to the piece of fried pork.
“One of the employees coming today is the grandson of the CEO.”
“ No way ,” Bokuto whispers. His golden eyes turn into wide circular disks, shining with curiosity. “I saw the batch at my team today, but no one’s last name is Ukai.”
“Same here,” Oikawa says. “But they could’ve taken their mom’s name. Or changed it altogether to stay under the radar.”
“You think they’re a plant?” Kita looks like he’s thinking about it pensively.
“Honestly, even if the rumor’s true, don’t stress about it too much,” Sugawara reassures everyone. “We all do our work properly, so.”
Sakusa snorts and wipes his mouth. “Tell that to the Wonder Duo,” he says with annoyance. “Someone needs to smack some sense into them.”
“We’re right here, you know,” Hanamaki sings and pokes at Sakusa’s side. “You know you love us.”
“I truly, truly don’t.”
“You do , though?” Mattsun smirks back.
“Anyways ,” Oikawa shifts the conversation back to his gossip. “Kiyoko-san, you think you can ask around during your big meeting today?”
“What meeting?” Bokuto chirps.
“The team managers have a meeting with some corporate leaders today, but none of us know why,” Daichi explains. “So Kiyoko, Ushi, Suga, Asahi, Aone and I are kinda worried. You think it could do with the grandson?”
“It lines up,” Semi shrugs. “But it can’t be something bad. They’ll probably just make sure the kid stays protected, if the rumor’s true.”
“Yeah,” Daichi nods. “I really hope it’s not something bad.”
-
-
“H-hello! Uh, my name is Kageyama Tobio and I’m one of the new hires for Karasuno Industries. I’ve been excited about sports marketing since I graduated high school and I’m honored to be working with such a prestigious company! I’ll work hard and make sure to succeed!”
Hinata feels his stomach tumble as the guy next to him finishes his introductions - he had been excited for this the whole day, hell, his whole life , but now that he’s actually inside of Karasuno Industries (and not even a subsidiary, it’s the main branch, the Tokyo branch), the feeling is different.
The desire to make a good impression, the desire to start a new project as soon as he can, the dream to win the Best Rookie Award by next year - it’s all real .
And now it’s his turn to introduce himself.
“You can go ahead,” Hinata remembers the person who just spoke as Iwaizumi and nods.
“A-ah, thank you! I-I’m, I’m Hinata Shoyou and uh, I’m very excited to be here! I-I, I don’t know how well my college skills will transfer over in the real workforce, b-but I’ll always try my b-best! A-and, I really like making friends so I hope that I can get along with everyone, th-thank you!”
Hinata works on autopilot mode after that, letting the rest of the introductions go on. He gets assigned to shadow an energetic senpai by the name of Nishinoya, and the other guy, Kageyama, gets a badlie named Tanaka.
“Alright, everyone. Let’s start working, so that Daichi won’t rip us a new one when he gets back, okay?” Iwaizumi-san claps and Hinata scrambles behind Kageyama to get to his desk.
“Hey, isn’t this so nerve wracking?” It’s Hinata’s lame attempt at striking up a conversation between himself and Kageyama, but it doesn’t work.
“Not really,” Kageyama says bluntly. “Just do your work correctly.”
“I -”
Hinata doesn’t even get the chance to respond because Kageyama reaches his desk first and ignores Hinata’s awkward stammering.
Well.
This guy sucks.
-
-
“Well,” Ukai clears his throat and bounces his foot underneath the conference table. “Why do you all look like you’re gonna drop dead in two seconds?”
Ukai already knows - the team managers had probably been expecting the old Ukai , but surprise surprise, that isn’t the case.
Daichi, ever the martyr, clasps his hands together and speaks. “Oh, um, we’re all just a bit nervous since the details of this meeting weren’t given out beforehand. N-nothing, uh, nothing bad happened, right? Sir? Uh, Ukai-san?”
Ukai lets out a bark of laughter and it only grows louder when he sees Sugawara prickle upwards in surprise at the noise. It takes him a moment to calm down, but he drags a finger underneath his eyes to collect a couple of stray tears before he starts talking.
“No, Dai-kun, nothing’s wrong. Well, not with the company, at least. There’s an issue with an account. We all know how Nekoma Incorporated has been a loyal company of ours, and their second contract renewal to remain exclusive with us is coming up. The problem is, they’re starting to gain traction as a growing company due to the massive amounts of subsidiaries that they’ve managed to obtain this year. So there’s unfortunately a problem with a fellow advertising company who wants to get their hands on Nekoma.”
Kiyoko gasps. “Oh dear. You don’t mean -”
“Yup,” Ukai says rather dejectedly. “The Satsukoi Company. Always a step behind us in numbers, but if they manage to get their grubby hands on Nekoma, we can kiss our first place spot within the industry goodbye.”
“How long do we have until our current contract with them ends?” Ushijima asks politely. “We should put together a plan in order to ensure that they resign with us. I could start looking in-”
“Relax, big guy,” Ukai shakes his head. “We have four months. Which isn’t a crazy amount of time, but it should give us leeway to get an edge on them. However, this does mean that all of your teams will be required to work together, as this isn’t just one small account that’s specific to a branch. They’re expanding their types of industries, which means they’re no longer dependent on media. Sports, medicine, all of it. So figure that out, too.”
“Can we start right away?” Asahi asks softly. “Just so we can make it by the deadline.”
“We’ll start at the annual Christmas party - since the last contract renewal was back when I started, it’s safe to say that you aren’t acquainted with a lot of people from Nekoma’s current advisors. Sugawara, I’m gonna need you to start putting something together with the secretaries. Take advantage of HR and pour everything you’ve got into it. Connections and relationships are just as important as the end product, people.”
Sugawara smiles. “What’s the budget?”
“There isn’t one.“
Sugawara smiles even deeper.
A couple of people avert their eyes from Ukai, like they’re embarrassed .
“Alright,” Sugawara breathes out. “You won’t regret a thing .”
Ukai doesn’t fail to catch Kuroo’s quiet, “Oh, I’m sure you will.”
-
-
“I can’t believe he gave you an endless budget for a stupid Christmas party,” Kenma looks over the top of his screen just long enough for Sugawara to jokingly stick his tongue out at him. “The end of this company isn’t gonna be Nekoma not resigning the contract, it’s gonna be you and your plans.”
“Ah, Kenma, how I love you and your sharp tongue,” Sugawara drapes himself dramatically across the office couch and taps his chin with a finger. “Now, now. Do I start with the color scheme or the food options? Oh jeez, I’m being stupid. Of course it’s the color scheme.“
“Shouldn’t it just be - and, excuse me if I’m being brash due to my lack of experience throwing Christmas parties - red and green?”
Sugawara glares softly and Akaashi just laughs from where he’s showing Yachi (their secretarial newbie) how to sort their digital files.
“Don’t antagonize him,” Akaashi says to Sugawara. “He’s just gonna shut down on you.”
“Yeah, I’m just gonna shut down on you,” Kenma mimics. “Can I go to the media branch now? It’s really - it’s just boring here.”
“Just for that, I’m putting you in charge of Secret Santa this year. And don’t forget Ukai-san’s words. All the departments are together now .”
Kenma swears he cries.
“No,” Kenma pleads. “ Please , not the Secret Santa draw, Suga, you can’t , you can’t, I’ll seriously end myself. Or commit a murder. Or double murder. Do you want your death to be on your own hands? Because I’ll do it, I’ll - I’ll stab you or something.”
Sugawara gracefully stands back up and glides over next to Kenma. Kenma looks up with his best set of puppy eyes and best pout.
“Get a bucket of names ready for a draw.”
Sugawara leaves after placing a gentle kiss on Kenma’s cheek and Yachi starts crying because, well, Kenma doesn’t really know but Akaashi just pats the two of them on their backs until they calm down. It takes a while.
Sugawara Koushi is a threat against humanity and one day, the world is going to burn underneath his feet.
-
-
“There’s my favorite secretary,” Kuroo cooes. “I swear, I never get sick of you walking into my office with that stupid PSP in hand.”
“It’s not stupid,” Kenma bites back, without any actual venom behind his voice. “You’re stupid.”
“It’s stupid because you look at it more than me,” Kuroo hopes that sounded smooth. His heart is going to explode any minute, really. “C’mon. I finally get a moment of free time with you and you’re gonna play games ?”
“Fine, you fucking nerd,” Kenma puts the PSP down on Kuroo’s desk and takes a seat on the edge of the wooden surface. “Distract me. I might have to drown myself today.”
“Are you o-” Kuroo blinks and realizes that Kenma’s undereyes are a bit red and swollen. “Kenma, did you cry?”
His hand reaches out faster than his brain works and Kuroo’s running a finger where Kenma’s skin is red. Kenma, much to his chagrin, turns away from the touch with a small cough. “Yeah. Suga put me in charge of interdepartmental Secret Santa this year. I just cried on reflex to make him upset. Didn’t work. I’m still in charge of it.”
“Sucks,” Kuroo says gently. He smiles when Kenma flushes, seemingly embarrassed at being stared at. “You should rig the system. Let me draw your name.”
“Shut up,” Kenma laughs. The sound is like a little rumble at the back of his throat, and Kuroo nearly starts throwing up rainbows with how cute it is. “I have to go back soon, Kuroo.”
“So?”
“So, let go of my arm.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Kuroo.”
“That’s me.”
“ Kuroo .”
“Fine. But I’m gonna have to skin Sugawara alive for taking you away from me.”
“Daichi would have a field day on your sad little carcass.”
“ Kenma .”
“I’ll come by before closing, okay? So let go.”
“You better promise.”
“I am.”
“Bye, Kenma.”
“Ew. Bye, loser.”
Kenma closes the door quietly behind him and Kuroo nearly sends his head through his desk. Fuck , his heart can’t take it anymore.
He’s asking Kenma out during the Christmas party, that’s final.
Now, he thinks. Does he look better in black or red?
Kuroo laughs.
That’s stupid.
It’s both, obviously.
-
-
“Alright, uh, hello, uh, um, my name is -”
Daishou watches as Kenma promptly gives up on being polite and he bites back a giggle when the blond slouches and lets out a sigh. Currently, the main teams are all shoved into the cafeteria, where apparently the secretarial department is getting ready to announce something. Why they made Kenma do it, Daishou wouldn’t be able to guess in a million years.
“Okay, fuck this ,” Kenma groans. Daishou doesn’t bother to hide his amusement and cackles along with Oikawa. “I’m Kenma. A secretary. I mean. I guess the secretaries technically work for corporate but I got put in charge of this stupid fucking thing , so here we are. Christmas is coming, blah, blah, it’s just Secret Santa to bring you all closer. And this year, we’re working alongside other departments so it’s mixed instead of separate. Pass the bucket along, draw names, and buy them a gift by the Christmas party. We’ll exchange gifts at the hall. Don’t be fucking stupid and get them like, a five dollar bracelet. But don’t be fucking stupid and get them pearls. Have fun.”
Terushima, who’s Oikawa’s trainee, giggles uncontrollably as Kenma stomps off the stage, which is just one of the dining tables. Kuroo catches him and brings him back down to the ground, and Oikawa collapses with hard he’s laughing when Kenma all but punches the bucket into Kuroo’s chest.
“You heard what happened with Nekoma or whatever, right?”
Daishou turns to Oikawa. “Hell yeah. You think it’s gonna work out for us?”
Oikawa stumbles to gain footing and still howls as he speaks. “ Fuck yeah. This is Karasuno Industries. You know?”
“You’re awfully positive.”
“Well, it’s either that or the company gets run into the ground.”
Daishou pauses. “Yeah. I guess we can’t fail.”
The bucket makes its way to him and Daishou quickly takes out a slip of paper before passing it off to a short, orange-haired kid besides him. He must be new.
Ennoshita .
Daishou can work with that.
-
-
“Iwa-chan, who’d you get?”
Iwaizumi doesn’t respond to Oikawa’s badgering at first, focused on slipping his gloves on properly. It’s finally time to leave for the day, but to Oikawa, it feels like he’s been stuck in the building for close to a year. At least Terushima’s funny.
“The whole point of Secret Santa is that it’s a secret , dumbass.”
“But I’m curious!”
“Sucks to suck,” Iwaizumi shivers and opens the lobby door for a second, feeling the cold air of December bite at his face. “Aren’t you leaving? Why’re you just standing here?”
“Yeah,” Oikawa says cheerily. “It’s just that I walked to work this morning since it wasn’t that cold so I’m waiting for Kuroo to finish up so I can get a ride.”
Iwaizumi clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes. Oikawa briefly looks away, pretending like that wasn’t the hottest thing he’s seen in a while. “Leave Kuroo alone, he likes his alone time with Kenma anyways. I’ll drop you off.”
“R-really?”
“Unless you don’t want me to?” Iwaizumi raises a brow.
“No! No, I’ll text Tetsu-kun to let him know. Thank you!”
“ Tch ,” Iwaizumi does the tongue-clicky thing again and shakes his head. “Duck your head.”
“N-no! Last time you did that, I swear I had a bruise the size of Miyagi on my head,” Oikawa whines. He doesn’t even know what he did wrong - did he really say something worthy of a head smack?
“Oi, just do it, bastard!”
“ Iwa !” Oikawa complains, but he still listens and bows his head. “I swear, if you hit my head I’m gonna run away and -”
“Shut up , dumbass,” Iwaizumi grumbles. “You talk so much. There needs to be an off button on your something, I swear.”
Oikawa trembles when he realizes that Iwaizumi’s putting a scarf on him - but it’s not just any scarf. It’s the one Iwaizumi always wears, every morning without fail.
“Th-thanks,” Oikawa says quietly.
“Damn, all it took was a scarf to subdue you?” Iwaizumi laughs. “Your jacket is way too thin. It’s getting colder, and we don’t need another sick person in the office. Plus, Sakusa would probably kill you with a bottle of Lysol. And like, not even by spraying it on you, he’d probably just chuck it at your fat head and call it a day.”
“Right,” Oikawa’s glad that the scarf covers his cheek - his blush is less obvious that way. “He would, wouldn’t he?”
“C’mon, I turned the engine on a couple of minutes ago so it should be warm.”
“Lead the way, Iwa-Chan!”
Oikawa goes home that day with an extra scarf and a punch to the arm.
Life is about balance, if not anything.
-
-
“Are you tired yet, Wakatoshi-kun?”
Tendou waits for Ushijima to finish his arm stretches, ignoring how the fabric pulls taut against the muscles underneath his skin.
“I’ll be ready to go once I submit this document, Satori. I apologize for making you wait today.”
“Don’t apologize,” Tendou clasps his hands behind his back and starts to fidget around with his fingers. “Was work hard today?”
“Quite, but Sakusa-san was able to get most of what I needed finished. It’s a shame he can’t take a higher position within the branch, isn’t it?”
“But Wakatoshi-kun, that means he’d be above you. Or take your place.”
“It would not be the worst thing in the world. To be honest, he’s far better suited for my job than I am. But as you know, his struggle with people has led to him passing up the opportunity. Although I can’t say I’m much better.”
Tendou pats Ushijima on the back as comfortingly as he can and sighs. “Don’t sell yourself too short, Wakatoshi-kun. You work harder than anyone.”
Ushijima clicks a couple of buttons on the screen and Tendou feels his shoulders sag with a heavy exhale. “Satori, would you mind doing the thing?”
Tendou smiles and moves behind Ushijima, before placing both his hands alongside his friend’s neck.
Ushijima never asks. Never takes. From anyone.
Except for Tendou’s little massages.
Ushijima doesn’t even ask Semi.
Which means Tendou wins, right?
“Does your neck hurt a lot, Waskatoshi-kun?”
Ushijima lets out a small noise of discomfort when Tendou’s fingers hit a particularly stiff ball of muscle underneath smooth, tan skin. Tendou presses harder, and quietly asks that Ushijima just bears with it until the knot is massaged out.
“Satori. I always seem to bother you.”
“You don’t bother me.”
“Sometimes, I hate that I cannot tell when you lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You always look tired with me.”
“Wakatoshi-kun,” Tendou places a small, light kiss on the crown of Ushijima’s head and finishes up his massage. “You overthink things too much.”
Tendou’s about to let go of Ushijma’s neck and send him off with a grin when Ushijima takes hold of Tendou’s hands.
Tendou can feel himself shake.
“Satori. I do not understand why you won’t just accept my proposal. Please. Go out with me. Once. If you do not like it after that, I will admit defeat.”
“You know I can’t, Wakatoshi-kun. There’s rules for things like this.”
“Satori -”
“It’s late. You should leave before they lock up the building.”
“Satori.”
“I’m exhausted, aren’t you?”
“ Satori .”
“Goodnight, Wakatoshi-kun. Make sure you dress warmly for bed.”
“Sa-”
“Bye.”
Tendou feels his breath rattle around in his chest as he makes his way out of the building.
There are rules for things like this.
Tendou, for all he’s worth, will not break them.
-
-
Secretarial Department
Head: Sugawara Koushi.
Important Facts: has been dating Daichi Sawamura for god knows how long. Is evil, probably. Likes to dote on the newbies. Would murder for Yachi. Friends with Oikawa, Asahi, Tendou, Shirabu, Kiyoko, and Futakuchi. Most likely to go to jail, only according to Kenma. But no one really argues with him on that one.
Secret Santa: he drew Kanoka Amanai. She’s been talking a lot about a gourmet mochi shop lately.
Secretary no. 1: Kozume Kenma.
Important Facts: contrary to popular belief, he isn’t dating Kuroo Tetsurou. Loves him, though, but is quiet about it. Is always late but never gets in trouble by HR because he gets his work done the fastest. Hasn’t made a mistake since he joined the company. Has bitten multiple coworkers before (it was their fault for bringing Kuroo up). Friends with Akaashi, Kunimi, Aone, Ushijima, and Sakusa. They eat lunch together in silence. No one complains.
Secret Santa: He drew Daishou Suguru. Nice. A pretty fountain pen should do, right?
Secretary no. 2: Akaashi Keiji.
Important Facts: enables Sugawara but it’s always unintentional. Runs a pretty famous instagram food page but no one knows about it, except for Kenma (only because Kenma’s pretty good at editing). Likes Bokuto Koutarou but is too shy to confess. Also he’s 99% sure that Bokuto’s straight, so. Is friends with Kenma, Kunimi, Aone, Ushijima, and Sakusa. There’s something incredibly therapeutic about eating together. Osamu’s growing on him lately since he’s a foodie, too.
Secret Santa: he drew Kiyoko Shimizu. He’ll get her a gift card, probably. Don’t worry, it’ll be at least a hundred dollars.
Secretary no. 3: Yachi Hitoka.
Important Facts: the newest hire. She’s cute and shy. Everyone dotes on her carefully because she seems to scare easily. Likes to look at Kiyoko but it’s not weird! Kiyoko is just unreasonably pretty! That’s it! For now, she eats with Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi. They’re all new, so it’s not like they have other friends. Kageyama and Tsukishima kind of scare her, not that she’d ever admit it. Yamaguchi seems to be able to keep Tsukishima at bay, so it’s not horrible. Kageyama is just - yeah.
Secret Santa: she drew Sakusa Kiyoomi. Wish her luck.