Work Text:
“Control and… Saved!” You muttered under your breath while minimizing the window of the video that you were editing, just to open up a new one to start working on another video. It was still your first week of working at Rooster Teeth, and while it was fun to work in the company of people who you had admired for who knows how long, it was definitely not all joking around like what most of their videos portray. Also, it meant that you worked in the same building as Joel, which was… interesting to say the least. You met him about a couple of months ago in a kind of speed dating thing that your friend had forced you into going to “keep her company” while you were visiting her, and he probably went just for the amusement. Or he was tricked by Burnie or someone into going. Thing is, because you had only moved to Austin the week prior to starting the job at Rooster Teeth, the two of you hadn’t really had any chances to meet up again.
*Bzzzt* *Bzzzt*
You looked down at your phone to see the screen lit up with Joel’s name. Speak of the devil, you think to yourself.
Joel:
Hi
You:
Hi
You know you’re literally sitting like 3 desks away from me, right?
Joel:
I can see you
You:
Like I said. 3 desks away Joel
Joel:
You’re not just a presence in text form anymore
I can see you texting
You:
Yes, I actually exist in person Joel
I can see you texting too
Glancing over to where he was sitting, you could see him smiling softly at his phone. You looked back at your phone. There didn’t seem to be another text incoming, so you put your phone down and continued to edit. It was about another hour of cutting videos and syncing up the audio before your phone buzzed again beside your mouse. There was a particularly tricky edit that you were attempting to do, however, so you proceeded to ignore it and carry on working. That is, until four more texts came in consecutively within the next five minutes.
Joel:
Dinner?
This evening
Dinner?
What do you think?
Are you free?
“Joel I’m a bit busy right now,” you call out to the man. No one else was here so you felt like it was okay to shout a bit to reply instead of texting. “And I’ve read your texts so you don’t need to send more, okay?” You add when you look over to see him tapping away at the screen. Out of the corner of your eye you see him glance up at you briefly, then put his phone down.
Eyes back on your computer screen, your mind focused on editing, and as the hours went on you didn’t even notice the comings and goings of everyone around you. Being one of the new hires, you wanted to make a good impression, taking on probably more than what was required of you. With videos coming out pretty much every day of the week, it wasn’t hard to find people who needed help with editing and whatnot.
A cupcake was suddenly put down in front of your face. Blinking, you looked up from it to Joel who was standing next to you.
“I uh, I’m sorry if I annoyed you earlier. I thought you might like some food and take a break from work.” He shifted on his feet, running a hand through his hair.
“Oh Joel, you don’t need to apologise, I’m sorry, I’ve just had a lot to do today and one bit was just really frustrating me and –”
“You really shouldn’t take on so much work you know, you’ve only just started working here,” Joel cut in, taking in the multiple editing windows you had open on your screen. You suddenly realised that you had three separate videos open, all in the middle of being edited, and started to see what he was going on about.
“Well, that’s exactly why I need to work harder! I can’t exactly slack off in my first week.” You quickly saved everything that you had open. Better to be safe than sorry.
“Just…Don’t work too hard okay? I was just speaking to Burnie and Matt about you, and even they agree that you should slow down a bit and take it a bit easier.”
“Hold on, you were talking to Burnie and Matt about me? What were you talking about? Was it just general stuff? Oh god you haven’t said anything embarrassing about me have you?” You jumped up onto your feet, your eyes drilling into him.
“Oh, look at that thing over there that I need to do… Sorry, enjoy your cupcake!” He grinned and turned to head back to his own desk.
“Goddamnit Joel,” you called after him. “Fine! That new Italian place in town, 8 o’clock tonight? You can tell me everything then!”
You stared after him, watching as he sat down without answering you. He took his phone out of his pocket and started to tap away at it, and when he finished your phone buzzed on your desk. Grabbing it, you opened up the text that had just come through.
Joel:
Sounds like it’s a date then
Sitting back down at your desk, you put your phone away, smiling to yourself.
“God you’re such a dork,” you murmured, reaching out to pick up the cupcake, and you hear a quiet laugh behind you, followed by a quick “and you love me for it”. You shook your head, smile growing wider. Definitely can’t argue with that.