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"How do you always know how people are feeling? You always seem to know and always seem to say the right thing," Leif groans, exasperated. He'd been trying to figure out what was wrong with Tobin. He'd been so moody lately. "Whatever power you have, I want it."
Zoey laughs, the sound almost manic. She sounded tired.
"You can have it."
Leif only has a moment to be confused before lightning strikes, only a few inches from the building, turning off all the power. He jumps, frightened a little, at the booming thunder that follows.
The entire office is silent for a moment as the lights flicker back on, struggling to do so.
Leif looks over to Zoey in confusion, hoping he hadn't been the only one to see what had just happened, but something was off.
She takes a deep breath and suddenly Leif can hear a loud barrage of instruments; drums and guitars.
Then it gets weirder because she starts singing.
Freedom! Freedom! I can't move
Leif looks around him, hoping that he isn't going crazy, that someone else has noticed her random singing, but everyone else seems to be working.
Not a single person is looking in their direction.
Freedom! Freedom! Where are you?
She's dancing.
Leif doesn't think he's ever seen her dance in his life.
Actually, now that he thinks about it, he doesn't think he's ever heard her hum, let alone sing. Yet she was here, dancing on the tops of tables, rocking her head so hard she had to have a headache.
As she kicks some papers off of Max's desk, he notices that he doesn't even seem to notice.
The whole office has to be playing a prank on him.
There's no way that no one noticed what she was doing.
'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves.
The music suddenly cuts out and Leif is left staring at her, confused.
The office seems perfectly fine, none of the desks in disarray and her hair and clothes seem unruffled, as if she'd been standing there the entire time instead of dancing about.
Someone's pranking him.
"Are you alright?" she asks him.
"What do you want freedom from?" he asks in retaliation and she seems surprised for a moment, as if she'd been thinking about it a moment ago and he somehow read her thoughts.
That wasn't possible though, right?
"What are you talking about?" she asks, schooling her facial features into a look of confusion.
"You were just—" he trailed off. Had he been hallucinating, imagining things? What was going on? "You were just singing about wanting to be free of something. You sounded... pained," he explains.
"No I—" she trails off, clearly thinking about something.
He watches her closely as her brows furrow.
She couldn't be pranking him. She wasn't that good of an actor.
She looked as if she was having a conversation with herself.
Then she straightens, a smile breaking out across her face for a second before she schools her expression into something more calm.
She grabs his arms, dragging him into a break room, checking to make sure no one was around, explaining to him that something had happened to her and she was forced to hear people's deepest desires and thoughts in the form of song.
"That's crazy!"
"Really?" she asks, arms crossed. "I didn't actually sing. No one else seemed to know what's going on... somehow- somehow you got my power."
"That's insane!"
She glares at him and he is about to argue when the notes of a piano, slow and sad drifting through the air and she grins at him knowingly.
He shakes his head and leaves the room, searching for the soulful voice singing such a sad song.
I would catch a grenade for ya
He thinks he knows this song, has seen the music video and knows how painful it is, this unrequited love this person must be feeling.
All he wants is to comfort the guy singing this song.
He follows the voice, the sound weaving around the office as though he's dancing through coworkers, a leaf in the wind and chaos that is their office.
You know I'd do anything for ya
Leif stumbles into a different breakroom, tripping over his own two feet when he sees who it is sitting in the corner, arms around his legs.
Tobin?
Yes I would die for you baby
But you won't do the same
The music fades with the roar of a train, just like the music video and he knows that this is real. There's no train here and yet he'd heard one.
"Leif?"
Leif startles back into himself, reminded of where he was and he shakes his head.
It's clear his friend is in pain and he needs someone to talk to. Clearly he had unrequited feelings and he just needed to talk to someone, to get it out.
Pushing his own feelings aside, he settles on the floor next to his best friend, his crush, and resigns himself to finding out what's going on.
"What's up?"
"The ceiling," Tobin jokes, the words a little flatter than usual. They seem almost, angry.
Leif merely raises a brow, watching as Tobin's shoulder sink, resigned to his fate. His friend always knew when something was wrong.
"Just thinking about a guy," Tobin mutters and Leif's heart flutters in his chest.
"A guy?"
Tobin stays silent and Leif thinks about the lyrics he'd heard.
"You like him, but you're sure he doesn't like you back," Leif fills in and Tobin's shoulders slump in further in defeat. He merely nods. "Well, whoever he is... he's stupid. You are a beautiful human being an—"
Leif is silenced by lips pressed against his own and he can't help but melt into the touch.
He pulls away quickly when the moment catches up to him. "Wait! What about the guy you like?"
"You're the guy you idiot," Tobin laughs and pulls Leif into another kiss and if they don't show back up to work for a little bit, that's nobody's business but their own.