Work Text:
for the second time today, you returned to your desk with your teapot full of hot water. it was scorching against your hands, but you had to be careful with your steps in order to avoid any spills. you’ve been doing this practically everyday since the office christmas party, so none of your coworkers were phased by it anymore.
“hot, hot, hot.” you whisper to yourself.
you place the teapot down and let out a sigh of relief before sitting down in your chair. the crew watched as you pour the hot water into a mug and pulled out a dish full of sugar of creamer packets, ones you recently acquired so you could be more efficient with your tea. it wasn’t necessarily the excitement the documentary was hoping for, but they kept the cameras on you in anticipation for something with suga to hopefully come up. unfortunately, nothing spicy had occurred.
you stirred everything together before taking a sip, letting out an “ah, that’s the stuff.”
•••
“i’ve been loving the teapot suga got me for christmas.” you say with a grin. “it gives me an excuse to drink more tea rather than coffee at the office, and not the kind you spill, if you catch my drift.”
you give a wink to the camera, but there might as well be crickets as none of the documentary crew laughed at your joke.
“none of you found that funny?” you pout.
•••
out of nowhere, daichi huffed and puffed as he emerged from the break room. “ugh, who in god’s name spilled coffee in the break room and didn’t clean it up?”
not again, you think to yourself. there was always someone leaving a mess somewhere in the office. it was like working with a bunch of children most of the time. you could almost always point your finger on who was to blame, but it’s not like anyone would admit their wrongs, like tanaka, who was responsible for most messes in the office.
“wasn’t me.” he immediately objected. you almost wonder if he spoke up first on purpose so the suspicion would go to someone else.
“you know i don’t drink coffee.” tsukishima said, which was true. you would find him always drinking some sort of strawberry soda, which you tried once and swore it was the most disgusting drink you ever tasted.
“yeah, and y/n has just been drinking tea lately.” suga spoke up. he immediately regretted saying anything as tsukishima, yamaguchi, kiyoko, yachi, and tanaka all collectively eyed each other. his cover was slipping terribly, but suga couldn’t help but feel the need to defend your honor.
“well, whoever did it needs to clean it up because i’m not doing it.” daichi crossed his arms.
“you know no one is gonna fess up, daichi.” tsukishima rolled his eyes. “this happens every time.”
“and i’m not gonna be stuck with the mess again!” he whined. “it’s like how you all expect asahi to reach everything on the top shelf when we invested in stepladders for a reason. those things weren’t cheap.”
the camera panned over to asahi as everyone quickly turned their heads to look at him. “why… why are you guys looking at me like that?”
“well, some of our coworkers happen to be leprechauns, you know.” kageyama said, evoking gasps out of hinata and nishinoya.
“oh, that’s not—” you began to say before covering your mouth with your hand. it was best if you kept out of this one.
“kageyama, that’s offensive to short people!” hinata exclaimed with a pout. “after everything we’ve been through…”
“my point still stands.” kageyama shrugged.
before hinata and kageyama could break out into a fight for the umpteenth time—one where tanaka would definitely yell out “world star!” and pull out his phone to record—ukai came out of his office in order to investigate what his employees were arguing about rather than actually working.
“something the matter? what’s with all the chatter?” he asked, immediately recognizing his clever rhyme. “oh, i rhymed! that’s bars right there.”
“someone spilled coffee on the floor in the break room and left it there.” daichi explained to him. “as if this office needs any more mess, it’s a disaster around here. we need to do something about the cleanliness of our work environment.”
“hmm… let me think.” ukai stood there pondering for a minute, resembling the thinker. some of you wondered if he was posing that way just for the sake of striking a pose. it definitely wouldn’t be a surprise if he was.
“uh, hello? earth to ukai?” daichi waved his hand in front of ukai, thinking he was frozen.
“i’m thinking.” he muttered, trying to stay as still as possible, down to barely moving his mouth. yeah, he was posing just to pose. typical.
everyone continued to wait for ukai to suggest literally anything, but he stayed in his position for far too long. thankfully, yamaguchi decided to speak up, but he would quickly be shut down by ukai.
“why don’t we all just clean the whole office together—”
“let’s all just clean the whole office together!” ukai interrupted yamaguchi, taking all the credit. “yes!”
“i just said that…” yamaguchi frowned.
“it’s spring cleaning, baby!” ukai clasped his hands together.
“but it’s not even spring?” tanaka questioned. he should know better than to question his boss at this point.
“so? who cares?” ukai shrugged. “don’t make me assign you to cleaning the men’s room.”
“no, please! anything but that!” tanaka begged. ukai instantly found joy in this, giving the camera a sinister, yet also off-putting stare.
•••
“i’m such a genius. if you do your spring cleaning in the winter, then you won’t have to do anything in the spring!” ukai said, praising himself as if it were his idea. “only i could think of such big brained ideas.”
“yamaguchi suggested it before you spoke over him.” a crew member spoke up, having documented it on camera.
“who?” ukai furrowed his eyebrows. it was almost hilarious how he couldn’t remember who he was.
•••
while some were assigned to clean certain parts of the office, others were cleaning out their desks, which everyone was mandated to do today. it seemed like “spring” cleaning wasn’t such a bad idea after all as many found random miscellaneous items, having no idea when they were from. tanaka even discovered why his desk had such an odd odor, which was because of an expired donut. everyone gagged at the sight and smell of it as he chucked it in a trash can and ran off.
as you were cleaning out your drawers, yachi walked up to your desk with a bottle of carpet cleaner and a scrubbing brush.
“hey, y/n. here’s that carpet cleaner you asked for.” she said as she placed it down on your desk.
you look up from what you’re doing and see yachi right in front of you. you had been waiting for your chance to use it as there were limited resources to share. thankfully yachi agreed to give it to you after she was done with it.
“oh my god, thank you.” you let out a sigh of relief. “daichi would flip if he saw the coffee stains under my desk.”
“trust me, i know… we’re desk buddies.” yachi groaned. she wasn’t particularly fond of the seating arrangement around here. at least you had your own little space, one where suga could steal pining glances as much as he desired, which reminded her. “how’s wedding planning going, by the way? did you start yet?”
the initial excitement of finally setting a wedding date sent you into overdrive, your mind racing of all the things that needed to be done to prepare for a wedding. as much as you dreamed of this, you didn’t think you’d be stuck doing all of the planning alone. ryo hadn’t made a single contribution yet, and despite your families expecting you to walk down the aisle, some doubts couldn’t help but brew up in your head.
“oh, uh, i bought my veil recently.” you reply. you hadn’t even picked a dress yet, despite having a long way to go, but picking a veil just seemed easier for right now.
“aw, that’s so exciting!” yachi couldn’t help but feel bad that suga was overhearing this conversation, given his eyes were fixated on you as he waited for you to speak, which wasn’t that hard to notice. “how are you gonna do your hair then?”
“well, i was thinking about wearing it down. kind of like—” you take out your hair clip and let your hair down, fluffing it up a bit to show yachi. “—maybe something like this?”
suga felt his heart still for a moment as he intently watched you fiddle with your hair. he wished he’d seen you like this before as you always wore your hair up at work. why were you hiding such beauty? it pained him to think about ryo always being the one to see your hair untamed like this at home. even if you failed to realize it, you were drop dead gorgeous in suga’s eyes.
“wow, you look so beautiful. you’re gonna make people cry.” yachi said, already able to think of one person without hesitation.
as yachi spoke a little too loud, ukai—being the nosy boss he is—overheard your conversation and decided to butt in. with poor timing, at that. “woah, y/n. why don't you wear your hair like that all the time? it's so much sexier than what you usually do.”
you cringe and roll your eyes as you reach for your hair clip. suga let out a sigh, wanting the savor the sight for a little longer. maybe another time, he hoped.
“man, this must be torture for you.” ukai said as he walked past suga. suga’s eyes widen as he looked around to see if anyone overheard that, and thankfully no one did. everyone was too occupied with cleaning to bother, it seemed.
•••
“yeah, on the booze cruise i told ukai about some feelings i used to have for y/n.” suga explained, albeit poorly. “i was just… feeling nostalgic, i guess, and i decided to confide in the world's worst confidant.”
used to have? even the documentary crew could see right through such a pathetic lie.
•••
later that day, suga knocked on ukai’s office door. as expected, he wasn’t cleaning his office one bit. do as ukai says, not as ukai does, apparently. it wasn’t a shock, to be honest.
“hey, ukai.” suga said as he entered ukai’s office. ukai quickly turned down the volume on his computer—seemingly not doing any productive office work either—and looked up to see what suga wanted. “remember that thing i told you on the booze cruise about y/n?”
“boy, do i?” ukai asked. he had been reeling ever since the bombshell was revealed to him. it was more exciting than the lame reality tv he usually watched at home. “of course i do.”
“well, that was, uh, pretty personal, so if you can just…” suga paused. how could he make this sound the least offensive to his boss? “if you can make sure you don’t tell anyone else about it, that would be great.”
“what? oh yeah, my lips are sealed. like the bangles song.” ukai said.
suga furrowed his eyebrows. he didn’t feel confident in that answer. “that was the go-go’s.”
“just get back to cleaning.” ukai scoffed.
“you got it.” suga nodded. it seemed he just had to take ukai’s word for it, but some worry still lingered.
•••
“suga and i are great friends. we hang out a ton, mostly at work, but the fact that he poured his heart out to me about y/n during booze cruise says everything about our friendship.” ukai said. “and because of that, i intend on keeping that information a secret for as long as i possibly can.”
“are you implying that it will spill out eventually?”
“course not. i’m the best at keeping secrets.” ukai then started to sweat profusely. he cannot keep this secret for long. “is it hot in here all of the sudden?”
•••
while suga was cleaning his desk, ukai emerged from his office with what seemed like the sole purpose of bothering him. his careful tiptoeing towards suga was evident, even if he tried to be sneaky. “suga…”
“yeah, ukai?” he looked up, ruining ukai’s opportunity to potentially scare him.
“whatcha doin’?” ukai asked. “you like football?”
“uh, ya know, cleaning. like you asked me to.” suga deadpanned. “plus, i’m more of a volleyball guy.”
“oh, yeah, makes sense.” ukai said before getting to the real point of this conversation. “so, any news on you know who?”
suga initially wondered why ukai would be bothering him like this, especially in the middle of the day, but now it was painfully obvious. of course it would be about you, but here, right on the open floor? it’s like ukai was asking to publicly embarrass suga. the poor lad had been through enough embarrassment these past few months. the documentary has seemingly only made it worse.
“time and place, ukai.” suga shook his head in annoyance.
“i just want to know more about your love life, suga.” ukai pouted. of course, he had some valid concerns. suga was just crying to him about his dilemma not that long ago, after all, but still, why here and now?
“like i said; time and place.” suga insisted.
“but—”
before ukai could plead his case, tanaka interrupted this conversation, seemingly out of jealousy over ukai newfound closeness to suga. “woah, what’s going on here? you guys besties all of the sudden?”
“um, yeah, we’re besties, tanaka.” ukai replied. suga wanted and scream and say that he was wrong. they would never be besties, never. “we tell each other secrets and stuff.”
“secrets? what secrets?” tanaka raised an eyebrow with a smirk. he instantly thought of one secret only a select few knew of, and suga knew he’d be thinking of it. “i know secrets.”
suga had to get tanaka off his back somehow. the combo and him and ukai would be a total disaster when it came to his secret. “deep, dark secrets?”
“wha… what do you mean?” tanaka questioned. it was hilarious how he was falling for this.
“oh, you know…” suga paused for dramatic effect. “the kind of secrets that could send people to jail.”
“oh my god…” tanaka let out a gasp then ran off like a scaredy cat. maybe that award went to the wrong employee on awards night.
that actually impressed ukai quite a bit. he wouldn’t say it out loud as he always had to be the very best, but ukai was definitely impressed.
“welp, back to work.” suga shrugged. this desk definitely wouldn’t clean itself, and he wasn’t sure if he could trust anyone else to go through his things. maybe he could trust you. knowing you, you’d organize everything by what you thought was worth keeping and what wasn’t, then let him figure out if your guesses were right.
“hey, uh, wait.” ukai said, catching suga’s attention once more. “what are you doing for lunch? i could take you out. my treat.”
lunch? with ukai? suga wasn’t sure if he was all too fond out that idea. free food, sure, but having to deal with ukai alone at a restaurant seemed like a bad nightmare. you never know what could happen in such an event.
“ah, no, you don’t gotta do that.” suga said as he quickly tried to think of an excuse to get out of this. “i gotta… ya know… clean and stuff.”
“what about we set up a picnic in the break room?” ukai proposed. “order some pizza and talk about you know who.”
nope. nope, nope, nope. suga knew ukai was just itching to talk about you. the only feasible solution was to get as far away from the office as possible and go out for stupid lunch. the sacrifices suga had to make for the sake of keeping his secret, well, a secret.
“haha, um… you know what? yeah, let’s go out. that’s a good idea, man.” suga stood up from his chair. ukai jumped up and down, overjoyed, which brought more attention to them. suga figured going right now was the best bet, so he quickly grabbed his coat and briefcase in order to leave right away. “let’s go now, actually. what place you thinking of?”
“oh, i know just the place.”
•••
after an awkward drive, ukai and suga found parking in the city before walking over to a popular strip of restaurants. suga assumed being a boss had its perks as there was no way he could afford to eat like this all the time. thank god ukai was paying for this.
there seemed to be amazing places to eat around here, but suga found ukai leading him to the outside of what seemed like a… maid cafe?!
“ukai, what is this place?” suga asked, hoping and praying it wasn’t what he thought it was.
“it’s my favorite spot.” ukai said, noticing suga hesitate. “i go here all the time. come on.”
“if it’s what i think it is—”
“it’ll be fine!” he interrupted suga. “don’t be shy now.”
suga let out a sigh before he followed ukai inside. it was exactly what he thought it was. he was at a maid cafe.
“no… no, no, no.” suga shook his head. this couldn’t be happening to him right now.
suddenly, a pretty woman in a maid outfit walked up to them, greeting ukai first as he was a regular. “mr. ukai! come, come have a seat wherever you’d like.”
“sana!” ukai greeted her. it was even worse that he knew the employees by name.
“there’s no way…”
•••
“ukai took me to a maid cafe.” suga said through gritted teeth. he was being interviewed outside the cafe, other cameras filming what was going on inside as ukai was being pampered by the waitresses. suga was lucky to have a chance to rant. “he took me to a FUCKING maid cafe.”
“you know you’re—”
“god, i’m tired of you guys scolding us over language. you’re just gonna cut most of this shit out in post anyway.” he cut off the crew member. he wasn’t necessarily wrong, but the poor editors had a lot of work cut out for them with the way the employees of japan pulp and paper act. maybe they were better off documenting another branch…
•••
meanwhile at the office, tanaka walked up to your desk unannounced, digging his fingers into the bowl of jellybeans you always had out for everyone. you don’t even wanna know where his hands have been. now that you think about it, does he ever wash his hands? you wanted to gag.
“tanaka, can you not shove your hands in the bowl like that?” you ask with a disgusted look on your face.
“whatever. all the good flavored ones are gone.” tanaka rolled his eyes as he continued to dig into the bowl.
“it’s a communal bowl…” you sigh.
“am i not bestie material?” he asked you out of nowhere. “i thought me and ukai were besties.”
you weren’t sure why he was asking this all of the sudden, but if validating him meant he’d leave you alone, then you’ll do it. “yeah, you’re bestie material, tanaka…”
“would you ever consider me to be your best friend?” tanaka questioned.
now, tanaka was a terrible worker, but he wasn’t necessarily a bad friend. he would definitely do crazy shit for the sake of his coworkers. you remember on your first day tanaka told you he kept ninja stars under his desk incase of intruders and he would defend you in an instant. sometimes he was a little dumb, but he had a good heart, shockingly enough.
“sure?” you shrug.
“excellent.” tanaka said before walking away all of the sudden.
while he wasn’t looking, you quickly grab the jellybean bowl and throw away its contents. you stare at the camera for a moment as they’ve captured what you’ve done before panning to ukai and suga returning from lunch. you instantly smile upon seeing suga’s face.
“hey.” you greet him.
“hey.” suga said as he hung his coat up.
ukai eyed the two of you before going into his office. you wondered what that was about, but you shook it off and went back to talking to suga. “so, how was lunch?”
“oh, you know, pretty productive.” suga then held up a printed picture from lunch, one with him, ukai, and a bunch of waitresses in maid outfits posing together. it was worth the money. “got a lot of work done.”
you blink for a moment as you soak in the picture in front of you. never would you have guessed that out of all places. still, it was hilarious.
“you’re the worst.” you say jokingly. “there’s no way.”
“ah, but there is.” suga replied. he blushed as you began to uncontrollably laugh. it was adorable. he found it to be one of his favorite sounds in the world.
you manage to control your laughter after a few deep breaths. no more joking around. “pretty sure you’ve got more cleaning to do.”
“yes, ma’am.” he jokingly saluted before going back to his desk.
suddenly, kiyoko stormed up to ukai’s office. you couldn’t remember the last time anyone ever saw her so angry like this. you even feared steam would come out of her ears, and since she was knocking on ukai’s door, you knew it wasn’t anything good.
“ukai, takeda and i need to talk to you.” she barged in.
ukai raised his hands defensively, acting as if he were getting arrested. “i didn’t kill him, your honor!”
“what?”
“…what?”
kiyoko didn’t have time for nonsense. she was livid. “ugh, come on. you’ve got some explaining to do.”
before ukai could try to protest, kiyoko dragged him away from his desk and led him to takeda, the last person ukai wanted to talk to right now. it didn’t matter what the matter was, he hated talking to human resources.
“specs, what do you have the female specs dragging me here for?” ukai groaned as kiyoko forced him to have a seat.
“uh, a new charge appeared on the corporate credit card—” takeda began to say as calmly as possible.
“you spent a hundred bucks at a maid cafe! you didn’t even get approval for this!” kiyoko interrupted him, yelling over takeda. if there was any good cop, bad cop action happening, it was clear who fit which role.
“it was a business lunch!” ukai argued. “who said i needed approval?”
takeda let out a sigh. there was a reason ukai couldn’t be trusted with anyone’s money, even his own, for that matter. he felt like he had to treat him like a child, despite ukai being the one in charge.
“ukai, you just got your corporate credit card back.” takeda scolded him. “do you really want me to take it away again?”
“what am i, a five year old? this is ridiculous!” ukai exclaimed.
“corporate is gonna be so angry!” kiyoko argued with him.
“look, suga needed a relaxing lunch.” ukai explained. “he’s been depressed and it’s been affecting his productivity. how is that not work related?”
kiyoko froze. now she’s wondering if ukai knows what she knows. does he know what she knows? takeda didn’t seem to budge by ukai’s explanation.
“he seems fine to me.” takeda shrugged.
“you're not his friend, you don't know what i know.” ukai said. “he is in love with a girl he works with who's engaged, so just cut me some slack, okay?”
unbeknownst to them, nishinoya overheard the whole thing as he walked by. “are you talking about y/n?”
no fucking way. ukai is at a loss for words, same with kiyoko. he fucked up big time.
•••
“this is bad. so bad.” kiyoko said frantically to the camera. it was safe to say she was freaking out. “did suga tell ukai? or did he figure it out? god, suga! you’re such an idiot! i can’t stand this madness!”
•••
thanks to ukai’s big fat mouth, suga’s secret had spread throughout the entire office like the plague and he had yet to figure it out, but he would soon enough.
the first person nishinoya told was asahi, who didn’t really have much of an opinion on it as he was merely a temp. once word got to hinata, however, that was when the train really started rolling. suga had no chance to swear nishinoya to secrecy, so his secret was finally spilled to everyone. well, everyone except you… for now.
hinata rushed to kageyama’s desk. had he gone any faster, he would’ve crashed and knocked over all of kageyama’s things, even his computer. it certainly wouldn’t be fun having to pay for a new one.
“jesus, hinata!” kageyama jumped out of his chair. “what are you tryin’ to do?! kill me?!”
“no, no!” hinata exclaimed. “guess what? suga has got it bad for y/n.”
woah. even kageyama couldn’t pass up hearing such juicy information. he was rather impressed in suga’s taste in women too. you were a rather attractive woman, after all. “what? really? not bad, suga. not bad…”
ukai walked by as hinata spilled all the beans to kageyama. as hinata noticed ukai’s presence, he just had to get his opinion on the matter. after all, it was ukai’s fault the secret was revealed to everyone.
“hey, ukai. do you think suga is gonna try to break up the wedding?” hinata asked.
ukai was put off by such an outlandish question. he felt so guilty about this, as shocking as it was. suga actually put his trust in him, and he blew it in less than a week. some boss he was.
“hinata, suga is my friend, so the only people that this crush really concerns is suga and y/n...” ukai said. “and also me.”
of course, ukai had to make some of this situation about him. no surprise about that.
as suga tried to get some cleaning done, he felt as if there were more cameras on him than usual. to test the theory, he got up to go to the bathroom. the crew dared to follow him, but suga stopped before entering. there was no way he could let them film him doing his business.
“did the production value go up or something?” he furrowed his eyebrows. “what’s going on?”
before the crew could respond, nishinoya appeared, asking suga the last question he thought he’d have to hear. “suga, why didn’t you tell me you had a crush on y/n?”
his heart dropped instantly. it’s happening.
•••
suga had to carry out this interview in the calmest way possible. he was fuming, sure, but there also was a bit of relief. the burden of his secret was so hard to carry most days. but the only way he could make it out of this alive is if he played it off like he used to have a crush on you.
“well, the cat’s out of the bag. i used to have a crush on y/n and now i, uh…” suga hesitated. “don’t. how thrilling...”
the poorly fabricated lies continued.
•••
now that suga got that dreadful interview was over with, it was time for him to talk to you about the newfound elephant in the room. as he discovered everyone was talking about this crush behind your back, suga decided he was better off confronting you about it. besides, it was either you find out through suga himself or ukai.
suga found you alone, knowing this was the only time and place he could get through this conversation. he didn’t need anyone else hearing in on this.
“hey.” suga spoke up. you look up and see his face, your calming smile putting him at ease.
“hey.” you say. “did you find anything good in your desk?”
“oh yeah, i found a coupon for a free sandwich.” he said. there had to be a way to bring up his crush somehow. “it expired in august, but i did find my phone charger from two years ago.“
“wow, big day.” you reply. big day was quite the understatement.
“i don’t even have that phone anymore.” suga chuckled.
“even better.” you grin.
“yeah.” he blushed.
thinking that was the end of the conversation, you began to leave the room, but suga quickly stopped you. this was his only chance, he couldn’t let it slip away.
“hey, uh, listen…” suga said as you stop in your tracks. you look up to see what he has to say. shockingly, this was harder than he thought it would be. “um, i told ukai on the booze cruise—it’s so stupid—but uh, i told ukai that i had a crush on you when i first started here.”
you felt your heart skip a beat. he had a crush on you when he first started here? now your mind raced back to suga’s first day at japan pulp and paper. he seemed so nervous, so you were the one to welcome him with open arms as you had only been with the company for less than a year at that point. you knew what it was like to be the newbie, so you wanted suga to feel more at ease. you didn’t think anything more of your kindness back then.
“oh…” is all you manage to muster out. you can’t believe you were so blind to it all. now you felt silly for only just now developing a crush on him within the past couple months. it was wrong on so many levels now.
“well, i thought that, uh.” he stumbled with his words. “i figured you should hear it from me rather than, you know, ukai of all people…”
“right…” you nod. even you could agree with that. that would result in a much more awkward interaction with your boss.
“and seriously, it's totally not a big deal, okay?” suga insisted. “and when i found out you were engaged, i mean, you know…”
right, of course. that cursed ring on your finger. no wonder he didn’t see you that way anymore, right? at least that’s what you thought was the case.
“no, yeah, i get it. i mean, i kind of…” you pause. lie, just lie, you thought to yourself. “i thought that maybe you did when you first started.”
“oh, you did?” suga questioned. now he felt a little stupid.
“well, i mean, just cause we got along really quickly…” you shrug. it was the best excuse you could pull out of your ass, really. you clicked with suga faster than you did with anyone else. maybe there was a reason to that, now that you think about it.
“oh, so you saw right through me, great.” he forced a laugh.
“yeah.” you giggle. you were thankful suga fell for your bullshit, him feeling the same. “so are you going to be like totally awkward around me now?”
“oh, yeah, yeah... hope that's okay.” suga replied with a hint of sarcasm.
“mhm.” you nod.
“and y/n?“
“yeah?”
“it was like three years ago, so i am totally over it.” suga said. even if he was far from over it, he had to lie for the sake of saving face. he didn’t want to give up since ukai told him not to, but suga couldn’t let you know the truth just yet. this was merely dipping his toes in the water.
“yeah, cool.” you say before finally leaving the room. suga figured he kept you for far too long, anyways.
“alright, cool…”
•••
“so… suga had a crush on me, huh? emphasis on had, i guess.” you shrug. “more reason to move on from my own silly crush, right?”
the crew share a collective look. you wonder what they’re all thinking. was there something you still didn’t know?
“right..?”
•••
suga was thankful his conversation with you went rather smoothly. all he had to anticipate now was ukai’s explanation for the mess that’s been made. who knows what ukai will pull out of his ass, he was so predictable yet unpredictable at the same time.
ukai jumped when he heard suga knock, even worse when he saw his face. he knew exactly what this was about, so ukai had no choice but to motion for him to come in.
“hey.” suga said, closing the door behind him. no way could anyone else hear this right now. hell, suga, would lock the door and board it up if it had to.
“i know, i know, i know.” ukai sighed. “i messed up.”
it was actually a surprise to suga that he was owning up to his mistake. he figured he should go a little easy on ukai for the time being, depending on his future responses. “yeah, i was kinda wondering what happened with that…”
“i um… you know, expense reports.” ukai said, frantically trying to explain his way through this. “and then stupid specs! he’s such a hard ass. he got all on me about our lunch—”
“the one at the maid cafe.” suga interrupted him. the puzzle pieces were coming together.
“yes, the one at the maid cafe! said corporate was gonna be all pissed about it, and…” ukai began to tear up, not even trying to fight back his emotions. “i ended up spilling the beans! it was an accident, honest! god, i hope this doesn’t affect our friendship, suga!”
wow. and to think suga was just crying to him merely days ago. now the tables have turned. suga didn’t know whether this was sad or hilarious. would it be wrong to think it’s both? he sure thought of it to be both ways.
as much as suga wanted to totally flip out and scream his head off, he just… couldn’t. for one, he’d probably lose his job, but this situation was inevitable. secrets can’t stay secrets forever, no matter how much you want to hold them close. they always make their way out of your grasp somehow.
“hey, hey, hey. relax, man.” suga tried to calm ukai down. “it's… it’s not a big deal.”
ukai wiped away snot and tears, which was quite disgusting. “it’s not?”
“yeah, it’s fine.” suga let out a sigh. “it was bound to come out one way or another, i guess. everything’s gonna be alright, okay?”
“yeah… okay.” ukai nodded. he was thankful to not be on suga’s bad side, which he‘s never seen at its fullest potential. no one has, really. suga is far too patient for this hellish company.
“good… good.” suga said. “see ya.”
man, ukai was such a violent crier.
as suga left ukai’s office, he eyed you for a moment, seeing you were walking over to where he just was. you would have no choice but to see ukai crying like a toddler, which no one should ever have to see in their entire life.
“good luck.” he quickly whispered to you as you walked past him, confusion written all over your face.
huh?
shrugging off suga’s random comment, you head into ukai’s office anyway, not even bothering to knock as the door was already open just a bit. nothing seemed out of the ordinary to you yet, as if ukai isn’t unordinary anyway.
“hey, here's your schedule for next week.” you set the paper down on ukai’s desk before noticing he’s wiping away tears. “woah, are you okay?”
“yeah, i'm fine.” ukai sniffled. “look, about you and suga—”
“oh no.” you shook your head. was that what he was crying over? woah, did suga make him cry? nice. “ukai, you don't have to—”
“no, i feel like it's my responsibility as your boss and also your friend.” he cut you off, but you didn’t see any need for this. you and suga cleared the air already, right? plus, ukai considering himself your friend was quite a stretch.
“no, really, it's okay.” you insist. “i know that suga had a crush on me when he first started or whatever. but that was a long time ago, so…”
“what? no. it wasn't that long ago. it was on the booze cruise.” ukai said.
what the hell could he possibly be talking about?
“suga had a crush on me on the booze cruise or he told you about it on the booze cruise?” you furrow your eyebrows.
ukai very quickly realized he fucked up once again. he figured he was better off shutting up for once in his life. “ahh… yeah… i’m just gonna… shut my mouth. i’m clocking out.”
“oh… okay.” you say quietly as ukai stood up and walked out of his office so he could leave for the day. it was about five o’ clock, after all.
you follow ukai on his way out and see suga packing up, putting his coat on before grabbing his briefcase. he can detect your presence, even when leaning over for his briefcase as he could see your mary jane’s in his vision. black and shiny, just the way they always were. you never, ever left them scuffed.
“you need a minute?” he asked as you walked by.
“yeah, just need to get my coat on.” you reply.
suga waited for you to pack up before you walked out together, both heading towards the elevator. you and suga enter, just the two of you, stealing glances while the other wasn’t looking until your eyes inevitably meet. you can’t even deny how often he makes your heart race, it was almost a nuisance.
you didn’t know how long this song and dance would last, but you needed this feeling to go away before june. it simply can’t go on any longer.