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This wasn't exactly the best situation to be in.
It was already rather late in the evening, and in a perfect world, Grian would've gone home for the day already. Instead, Grian had gone into one of the storage rooms, looking for some materials he needed for his maths class. It was dark in this overgrown closet, especially since there were no windows, so it was taking him longer than he wanted. And that's when the door opened, bringing Grian's attention away from what he was doing.
There was Scar. He grinned at Grian as the door clicked shut behind him.
Oh no.
Grian had been avoiding Scar for a few days now. The last time Grian spoke with the other man was after he spent the night at Scar's house. During that night, Grian had a nightmare and ended up sleeping in Scar's bed with him. Scar even held him! It was mortifying to think about now, which is why Grian was avoiding him. Unfortunately they both worked at the same school, so meeting again was inevitable.
“Grian!” Scar called out to him. “You're here late!”
“Yeah. I was looking for something, but I don't think it's here. I was just about to leave.” Grian could come back tomorrow morning instead! He was probably just too tired at the moment to find what he was looking for. He definitely wasn't fleeing because Scar was here!
“Oh, I see. Well, before you go, I was wondering if we can have a talk-”
“Oh geez, I'm just so tired! I need to leave immediately!” Grian loudly talked over Scar, walking to the door. He pushed on the handle. He pushed on the handle again. It wasn't turning? He pulled instead. The door wasn't moving.
The door was locked? Grian turned back to look at Scar, his mouth agape, “Uh, do you happen to have the key?”
Scar looked a little annoyed, which was fair, Grian had just tried to run away from him, but he didn't answer. Instead he tried the door handle himself. “Oh. Did I lock it by accident?”
“Did you?” Grian felt his smile slipping away. Had Scar locked it by accident? That definitely seemed like something he would do. Grian had not locked the door before coming in, that was certain. “Okay, how are we getting out of here then? Is there anyone left at the school who can let us out?”
There really wasn't any other way out, there were no windows in this room. There were some vents, but Grian had no idea where they lead and he’d rather not get stuck in them. It seemed like a large safety hazard that the door could lock from the outside like that, but that was an issue for another day. The more important issue was getting out of here quickly without talking about Grian’s feelings!
“I think Cub's still here! I'll text him!” Scar pulled out his phone and immediately started tapping away. It felt like it took him a very long time to send Cub a message. He just kept tapping and tapping and grinning to himself.
“What's going on?” Grian asked, his patience wanning. “Is he coming?”
“Oh, sorry, Cub was telling me a very funny joke!” Scar laughed under his breath as his eyes flickered across the screen. Grian was not amused. “Cub said he's busy with the robotics club, he'll be here in about half an hour. But, hey, while we are here together, let's have a chat!”
Grian grit his teeth. The last thing he wanted was a chat! He wanted to go home and cuddle with Maui and Little Pearl and never ever think about how he had fallen asleep in Scar's arms!
Instead of saying that, Grian said through clenched teeth, “What do you want to talk about?”
“I think you know!” Scar said in a sing-song voice. Why was he so cheerful about this while Grian felt like he was dying inside!?
“Look,” Grian started talking while his brain was still churning away, so his thoughts weren't exactly complete. “I know I made things a little awkward, it's not exactly normal to cuddle your co-worker, but we can just forget about this all…”
The smile slid right off Scar's face. It was almost pathetic how much sorrow crossed his face in a matter of seconds. It honestly hurt Grian's heart. He didn't mean to upset Scar! Wait, which part of that statement had upset Scar in the first place?
Scar took a deep breath, looking away from Grian. “Oh yeah! Sure! Let's forget about it all! It's fine. It's all fine!”
Wait a second. Did Scar actually like him back?
Grian had been trying to sort through his deeply buried feelings for the last few days, but he wasn't getting anywhere fast. He was pretty sure he liked Scar, but the situation didn't seem right. They are co-workers, if they decided to date it would probably bring about a lot of drama. And, worse, if it got out to the students, there would be no end to the gossip. Grian didn't want that. But the sad tone to Scar's voice and the way his body was trembling…
That was worse.
“Do you not want to forget?” Grian felt his voice nervously rising in pitch. He couldn't tell Scar how he felt before, when they were together in bed. The moment didn't feel right. But what would be the right moment? Confessing his feelings in this storage room didn't feel right, but Grian couldn't stand Scar looking like a kicked puppy either. The longer this was drawn out, the more both of them would end up hurt.
“Listen, Scar.” Grian took a very deep breath. He was going to do this. He had to. “I actually rather fancy you. I know that it's not really appropriate to have a workplace relationship…”
Grian trailed off for the second time in this conversation, but this time it was because Scar looked ecstatic. Scar bounced on the heels of his feet, “You mean it? You like me?”
“Yes?” Grian replied. He felt an immense amount of relief now that he had told Scar the truth. Scar hadn't rejected him either, not that Grian expected that. Not when Scar was so clearly emoting exactly how he felt. Grian felt very stupid now for not just admitting his feelings to Scar in the first place. “I mean I don't go sleeping in just anyone's bed, you know.”
“I didn't think you did!” Scar moved in a step closer to Grian, and he was already fairly close. He put a gentle hand on Grian's upper arm. “I really like you too, you know?”
Grian felt a bit of relief to actually hear those words from Scar. More than that, his chest felt warm and fuzzy, like he was wrapped in a warm blanket. Scar really liked Grian. They liked each other.
“I'm glad.” Grian smiled at Scar, happiness clogging out any doubts from his mind. “So, are we dating now?”
“We haven't even been on a date yet!” Scar chuckled. “I think we skipped some relationship steps!”
“Alright, let's try going out on a date then?” Grian laughed back. “I'm free this Saturday. There's this restaurant I've been wanting to try, if you want to go with me.”
“That sounds great.” Scar marveled at Grian for several long seconds. “But do you think we can skip some more steps in our relationship? Because I really want to kiss you right now.”
The hand on Grian's arm felt so hot suddenly. He was very attuned to Scar's touch at the moment, and he also really wanted to kiss him. It felt silly to have their first kiss be in a supply closet, but Grian had a vague idea that none of their relationship would go normally. So why not?
Of course the thought of kissing Scar did make his heart pound so fiercely that he was certain he was shaking. He didn't know if he was ready for this, but overthinking everything had only brought him misery. So Grian threw caution to the wind, nodded his head, and leaned in closer to Scar.
Scar got the message, leaning in to him as well. Grian closed his eyes, the few seconds before their lips met feeling like an eternity. Floating in a state of not kissing, but so close, so very close.
And then their lips met. It was tender, soft, and filled Grian with more joy than he thought he could contain. It felt so shockingly real, like everything else in his life had been muddled, but this, this was what he had always been waiting for. It wasn't his first kiss, but it was the first that made him feel like this.
Grian placed a hand behind Scar's head, deepening the kiss. He stayed like that for only a moment more, because, like most things in his life, he was interrupted.
The door to the storage room opened. Grian quickly broke the kiss, although not quickly enough, and shot backwards from Scar, ending up several feet away, his back against a shelf. In the doorway stood Cub, spinning a key on a keychain around his finger.
“Wow.” Cub said dryly. “Making out in the closet at work. Didn't see that one coming.”
“We weren't!” Grian tried to deny the obvious.
“We were!” Scar replied with glee.
Grian felt his face glowing red. It was time to flee for real this time. He quickly passed by Cub, heading out the door, speaking rapidly, “Thanks for opening the door, I'm going home now, bye!”
“Alright, no problem.” Cub chuckled.
“See you on Saturday for our date!” Scar called after him.
Grian stumbled down the hallway, overcome with embarrassment. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any students around, so it didn't matter that he was red from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.
But, since no one was looking at him currently, he really didn't need to be embarrassed. Grian smiled, still feeling the lingering traces of Scar's lips against him own, and skipped down the hallway.
He was so very happy to be dating Scar.