Work Text:
You were sitting at the big wooden table in the living room of the Taskmaster’s house, the crew and their cameras right in front of you. You could feel them all looking at you. In your hands, you held the smartphone you had been given for the task.
Being on this show — Taskmaster NZ— even if not as a contestant, but as part of a task, feels like the achievement of a lifetime for you.
The current task for the comedians is to find out the age of the person they are chatting with. And the contestant on the other side of your phone who has been given this task is Hayley Sproull, which you are very happy about because you think she is just the cutest. She just asked you a question that you stared at for 30 full seconds:
“Who is the cutest celeb?”
The camera crew has set up a small monitor in the living room transmitting the live feed from the main camera. You can see Paul and Hayley sitting in the caravan, facing each other.
“She’s not even typing. Probably thinking about it really well.” Hayley says with a warm smile for Paul.
You swallow. Shit. Should you do it? Is it too embarrassing? Or could it work and they see it as a cute little joke, even though it is the whole truth?
You take a deep breath (hopefully this footage is not shown later in the episode, because the “It was just a joke!” excuse would not work very well) and type:
“Paul Williams.” Send.
You don’t even put the phone in your hands down on the table. Your eyes go straight to the monitor.
“Shit. Stupid idea. Stupid idea!” you think and cringe, even though you’re not showing it in your body language.
You can see Hayley reading your message and then she starts to laugh.
“Who is it?” asks Paul in his shy assistant persona.
“Well, Paul,” she replies. “I hope you have no plans this evening. Because I just got you…”
She shows Paul the phone.
“… a date!”
Paul looks at the phone, his mouth slightly open. He is so perfect in his little submissive role, but… couldn’t you see a little grin on his face the first moment when he read your answer? Just a split second before he switched back to ‘Assistant Paul’?
He looks back at Hayley.
“Well, I’m really nervous about the age now.” he says, and Hayley laughs at his joke. So do you.
You’re not even mentally ready for the next few questions. You feel too embarrassed, but you also can’t stop thinking about that little smile.
Hayley’s time is over now; she guessed 25 years, which is actually not bad, and you can finally relax.
While the crew is on their way and packing for their well-deserved lunch break, you are still sitting at your desk, holding your face in your hands and trying to hide your blush from the cameramen and the unit manager assigned to you.
“Well done, Y/N. You can relax now. See you out there.” she tells you with a smile.
You enjoy having the room to yourself and collecting your thoughts. Slowly you realize that it wasn’t so bad. It was a cute answer. No one will take it as if you were totally in love with Paul. Even though the crush is definitely real.
You hear a knock at the door, although it is still open. You take your head out of your hands and look towards the entrance, and your eyes find… Paul.
“Hey, good job!” he says. “You’ll probably get Hayley some good points.” he continues, smiling at you as he stands in the doorway.
Other thoughts should be going through your head right now—funny, charming statements for the conversation that is about to happen about your celebrity crush answer. But you can’t stop thinking about how good-looking he is. You are actually grateful for these thoughts because they keep you calmer than the others would.
“Haha, always happy to help.” you answer.
He smiles at you.
“We’re getting lunch. Are you coming?”
You’re a little confused because he doesn’t really show any reaction to the fact that you told him he’s your celebrity crush a few minutes ago.
“Yeah, sure. I just need to collect myself and calm down a bit. It was pretty exciting.”
You stand up and notice that Paul does not answer right away. He just looks at you and slowly closes the door.
You swallow. He walks over to the desk, face straight, and asks, “So? Is it true?”
You open your mouth, but no words come out.
“You have a crush on me?” he continues. You stand with the table behind you.
You swallow. “Haha, you must know that you’re cute. And I thought it was a funny answer.”
“Funny?” Paul smiles.
He leans over to you. You've never been this close to him before, and you can't stop thinking about how badly you want to kiss him now. His lips are only inches away from yours, but he stops just before they can touch and asks:
“Is this okay?”
Your eyes are fixed on his lips and only on his lips. You smile. How can he be so hot? Then you nod and finally you find yourself in the middle of the best kiss you have had in a long time. You love the soft moans he makes and feeling his tongue drives you crazy. You want him so badly. His hand moves slowly down your spine and every touch makes you shiver. He grabs your ass and you can feel him getting hard against you.
The kiss gets rougher and the room is full of your little moans, even though you are just making out. The thought of what it would be like if the two of you went a little further makes you dizzy.
Paul breaks the kiss. “Oh fuck.” he says, pulling away. “We really should get back to that conversation.” His eyes are still closed and his mouth is a mess. “After the shoot... at my place?” he purrs.
You answer: “Oh yes. Please.”