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Whoever came up with the idea of the cast doing an obstacle course for a Challenge Pit was a sadist and would be receiving a very strongly worded letter from Angela once she regained the use of her arms.
There had been a couple surprises that day. Angela and Arasha had lost their minds at Courtney destroying everyone at the tire run and Spencer hadn’t been able to stop staring at Tommy’s arms since he’d shocked them all at the rope climb, managing the best time while still complaining through the whole thing. However, as expected, it all ended up being a competition between Shayne, Anthony, and Damien, dominating all the other events.
So by the time they’d reached the balance beam, most of them had given up on winning. Arasha was leaning most of her weight against Courtney just to stay standing. Olivia, Keith and Noah were grouped up doing colour commentary in a weird way only they could ever do. Spencer had twisted his ankle during the hurdles, although Angela was pretty sure he was faking to get out of doing anymore exercise. Tommy making sure he was alright every two minutes and letting Spencer hold onto his arm for support was just an added bonus.
Angela cursed him silently, wishing she’d come up with the fake injury first.
By the time her turn came, Anthony had made it across the beam with little problem and Shayne and Damien had made it most of the way to the end before falling in fits of laughter and exaggerated screams.
“You got this, Angela!” Damien called from the halfway point, saying her name in his silly way that always made her huff out a laugh.
Chanse squeezed her shoulder supportively before helping her up the beam.
“Guys, this is a really bad idea!” Angela’s legs already felt shaky and Chanse hadn’t even let go of her hip yet. “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die!”
“You’ll be fine!” Anthony shouted from the end, wiping sweat from his brow. He motioned towards where Damien and Shayne stood, at intervals, next to the beam. “We’re here to make sure you don’t fall too hard, and the mats will do the rest.”
As Angela began taking a deep breath, Chanse’s hand let go, and a loud squeak made its way out instead of her calming exhale. She could hear some laughter from the peanut gallery behind her but the cheers and encouragement being shouted her way more than made up for it.
She took her first step tentatively, and immediately began to tip over.
“No, no, no, no, no.” she bent her knees and grabbed the beam tightly. “Shut up!”
The laughter only got louder.
“I went to a performing arts high school, okay?” She huffed, righting herself and standing up cautiously. “Stage combat and lyrical dancing were pretty much my gym class!”
Shayne’s signature laugh came from only a little in front of Angela. She’d almost reached her first safety net. She took a couple more cautious steps without losing her balance and felt her confidence rise.
“If I don’t freak out, I can totally do this”
Her foot slipped at about the halfway mark.
“Oh, I can not do this.”
Angela shrieked as she felt herself begin to free-fall. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, accepting her fate, and waiting to hit the ground.
Except she never did, strong arms reached out to grab her and press her against a warm chest.
“It’s okay,” Damien's soothing voice spoke quietly as she opened her eyes to look up at him. “I’ve got you.”
He had her held in his arms bridal style and was smiling comfortingly down at her.
Angela knew she looked stupid looking up at him in awe, wide eyes and mouth agape. She could feel her body heating up.
“Did I die?”
Damien chuckled loudly as he placed her on the ground. “Nope, you are very much alive.”
“Dude, you’re like, a hero.” Her feet touched the ground, but as soon as Damien’s hold on her was let go, it became apparent she was still shaky, she immediately started tipping towards him.
“Oof.” Much less prepared this time, one of Damien’s hands shot to her waist while the other tried to grab her shoulder.
He did not end up grabbing her shoulder.
Angela felt her entire body flush as she locked eyes with Damien, staring down at her in shocked horror.
After the longest 2 seconds of either of their lives, Damien sprang back, his large hand pulling away from her breast at the speed of light.
“Oh god, Angela I'm so so sorry!” he rushed to say, holding his hands up like he'd been caught robbing a bank.
“No! No. It’s fine, it was an accident!” Angela quickly tried to reassure him, but she knew her face had to be as red as a tomato as she straightened herself up. “I mean it's certainly not how I imagined you touching my boob…”
She had never wanted the ground to swallow her up more. That had to be the single worst response to your coworker accidentally groping you.
Damien gawked at her, blinking rapidly.
“I, I mean,” Her voice raised an octave. “I mean thank you! For catching me!”
Silently, Angela thanked whoever decided they couldn't wear lavs during the course. She was pretty sure they were far enough away from the boom to avoid having her humiliation broadcast directly into Greg's ears.
Damien opened his mouth as if to speak. “I-”
“Nice reflexes, dude!” Shayne's loud voice cut through the tension as he jogged over, chill as ever. “You both okay?”
“Yup!” Angela managed to squeak out. “My, uh, my pal over here sure has a good catch!”
Shayne's eyes flicked from her to where Damien was looking somehow more confused, but was interrupted before he could ask.
“Damien, that was impressive!” Ian shouted from the start of the balance beam. “I hope I can count on you during my turn!”
Someone upstairs must have witnessed Angela's mortifying lapse in judgment and taken pity on her, as Anthony quickly pulled everyone's attention from her.
“Aww come on Ian!” He shouted from the other end of the beam, his tone was jovial but everyone could hear the undertone of… Something as he spoke. “You don't need Damien. You know I'll always catch you!”
With Shayne diverted by whatever the hell their bosses had going on, Angela made her escape back to the group.
She could practically feel Damien's gaze burning into her back.
The rest of the shoot passed in a blur and all Angela really wanted was to go home, curl up on her couch, and text Chanse everything that had happened.
So, of course, she was needed in a meeting about Patrick's upcoming birthday. She tried to put on her usual exuberance but based on the looks she was getting from Courtney and Erin, she was falling short.
As soon as they wrapped up she made a dash for the door, ignoring Courtney’s attempt to get her attention. Normally she’d stick around and chat with everyone or, maybe, annoy Josh at his desk, but instead she exchanged quick goodbyes, giving the games pod a wide berth, and headed out into the parking lot.
She was so close to the safety of her car, the promise of her self-mandated shame quarantine just out of reach when someone called her name.
“Angela!” She turned around to see Damien stride towards her, and she waved awkwardly.
“Hey,” He came to a stop in front of her, nervously picking at his nail polish. After a beat of silence he cleared his throat. “Angela, I just want to tell you again how sorry I am for what happened earlier. Not only did I touch you inappropriately, but I made things so weird after, and I am so sorry, I really hope we can move past this, but I get if you can’t.”
“Damien-” Angela tried to interrupt him.
“And then you made a joke to ease the tension and I just got weirder, and it’s even worse because I do like you like… so much, god I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that.”
Angela blinked, Damien’s rambling fading in the distance as her mind tried to process what she’d just heard.
Damien… liked her? A lot?
“I’m so sorry, I will go to HR right after thi-”
Angela took a step closer to Damien, as all her shame in her gut made way for the butterflies.
He stumbled over his words as her hands grasped the sides of his face. Pushing herself on to the tips of her sneakers, she took the leap and kissed him.
For an absolutely terrifying second, Damien remained frozen, then Angela felt the warmth of his large palms brush against her back.
He pulled her forward and kissed her.
She knew she was blushing by the time they pulled apart, but Damien’s red cheeks left her feeling giddy and smiling.
“I wasn’t joking.”
Damien blinked. “What?”
“Earlier,” Angela grinned impishly. “When I said I’d imagined it, I wasn’t joking.”
“Oh,” Damien's voice cracked and his blush deepened.
“Thank you for catching me.”
Then Damien was smiling crookedly, looking at her like he’d been trapped in a dungeon for weeks and she was his first glance of sunlight. Angela only smiled wider and moved her hand to tangle in his hair. It was just as soft as she’d thought. She pulled him into another kiss.
“Are you busy Saturday?” He asked softly against her lips. One of his hands smoothed up her back to press against her shoulder blades, pushing their lips together again.
“Yeah,” She smiled teasingly. “I think I have a date with this really cute guy, we’ve been friends for awhile and I have a really good feeling about this.”
She could feel the rumble of his laugh under her palm, the puff of air against her lips and cheek. “He sounds like a lucky guy.”
“He is.” Angela kissed him once more and pulled away. “I guess I’ll see you on Saturday.”
Damien still looked like he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. “I guess you will. I’ll text you?”
“Sounds perfect.” With that she spun around and got in her car quickly, resisting the urge to kiss him again, once in her car she waved through the window and pulled away. Squealing to herself as Damien waved back, smiling brightly.
She couldn’t wait to get home and text Chanse about all of this.