Chapter Text
It's another new work day.
Anubis strides out from the elevator, a cup of hot latte in his hand. He notices that the atmosphere is a little different today. Why the weird gazes from his colleagues? Some female colleagues even giggled among themselves when he passed by them. Confronting them directly is out of the question, so Anubis could only eavesdrop on their conservation, trying to deduce what happened today. But no matter how hard he listens, he still cannot conclude anything.
Even though Anubis pretends to be calm, his pace is much faster than usual. He walks towards his office room, a completely transparent room with floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides.Not far from his office, he sees that one person who shouldn't be in his room, and that person is now pacing back and forth inside the room.
Charles, his rival department manager.
The rivalry between the two is a well known fact throughout the company. However, both Charles and Anubis's performance are spectacular, and hence no one has yet commented on their competition. Seeing Charles in the office, Anubis has a feeling that he would be having a long day ahead.
Under everyone's intense gaze, Anubis finally reaches his office room. As his secretary, Neelam whispers towards him：
“Mr.Anubis, Mr.Charles wants to discuss with you regarding matters of the project at that time.”
“Understood, thank you, Miss Neelam.”
Anubis walks towards the office door's room. Charles is wearing a smart navy blue suit today, donning a maroon tie. When he realizes Anubis has arrived, he stops in his tracks, and points rudely at Anubis:
“Close the fucking door.”
Sensing the slight annoyance and anger in his tone，Anubis puts down his latte and office bag on his seat. After that, he closes the glass door gently, not forgetting to throw a reassuring smile towards Neelam.
“Neelam said that you came for the project.”
Charles continues to point at him angrily ：
“Pretend we're having an argument.”
“You wanna fucking tell me why？”
Fortunately, even after hearing this random request out of nowhere, Anubis is able to remain calm and composed.
Still pointing at Anubis, Charles inches in closer. Due to the height difference, he looms over Anubis. Under the gaze of those blue eyes, Anubis hears something that sobers him up more than coffee ：
“Someone discovers us kissing in the car and the rumor is now spreading like wildfire, so for now…”
“…For the love of God, please yell at me as much as you want.”
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Outside, everyone is busy with their own ‘work’, while slowly gathering around the transparent room. The crowd is getting bigger as the employees are spectating their own lead managers arguing with each other.
“I heard that it's because Anubis got the project this time, and Charles was forced to assist him, and he was very unwilling to comply.”
“Not because of the rumor that is circulating right now？”
“What rumor ？”
“Well, someone discovered Mr.Charles's car, and lo and behold, that person saw Mr.Charles and Mr.Anubis were in the car！”
“Seriously!? Do we got any evidence to prove this ？”
“It's too dark to take pictures, but according to the rumor, the car had signs of shaking ！”
“Oh please, without any photos or film, this is just a baseless rumor！”
“And if it's true, are we now witnessing a lover's quarrel？”
“Probably not, both of them basically don't see eye to eye with each other, I think that they are now quarreling over the project.”
The acoustic glass windows block out any voice coming from the room, and the employees could only watch their managers angrily shouting at each other on mute. Those outside are now watching with their arms folded, cautiously discussing with each other the current situation. Even Shintarou, who is not interested with all those rumors, even peeks towards the office room, his keyboard starting typing out all sorts of nonsense.
“Whatever the matter is, today's morning ‘tea’ is really good.”
Albert concludes, sipping his piping hot English Breakfast tea slowly.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
In the room.
Anubis spreads out his hands, yelling at Charles ：
“Who the fuck spreads the rumor ！？”
They even choose the perfect place for a rendezvous after numerous selection and analysis, so how in the world can someone still bump into them?
“Beats me！？But fortunately, there are no photo or videos as evidence.”
“Ah, that one is real fortunate ！”
“But rumor has it that the car is shaking！”
“Oh, for fuck's sake！”
Anubis points furiously outside the window, and the moment he looks out, the employees outside immediately averts his glare.
“Must be fucking Ciel！”
“Or is it Gion？”
“No fucking way！He was on a date with Livio on that day, Livio even posted those pictures on his social media！”
“I don't care who was spreading the rumor anymore! Right now, we need to act like we don't get along with each other, so that the rumor can be stopped！”
Shouting at each other like this, both of them couldn't tell whether they were really quarreling or not. While catching his breath for a moment , Charles looks over at Anubis, a shorter figure than him. A sudden thought pops up in his mind ：
Oh, how he wants so badly to just kiss him right here, right now. He wants to see how Anubis would react, how the spectators would react.
The two are rivals in the company, from being hostile to each other, to appreciating the strengths of both parties, to gradually having private meetings to ask each other for advice. The banters and ridicules thrown at each other become their own unique love language. After they started dating, the two agreed to keep public and private affairs separate and to not disclose their relationship to the public.
It's really, really annoying.
Charles has the urge to just slam open the door and shout：“That's it, the jig's up！We rivals are dating, and we even live together！”
“DON'T. YOU. DARE.”
Charles notices the dangerous glint among those dark brown eyes, which seems to see through his inner thoughts.
“If you dare to do whatever is in your mind right now, you will be sleeping on the floor tonight！”
Saying this, Anubis even points vigorously on the office's carpeted floor.
Arms akimbo, Charles leans his head forward towards Anubis, and he promptly responds ：
“Ah, but it's only the truth wanting to kiss such a gorgeous person that is right in front of me！”
Charles sees Anubis's pupils shrink ever so slightly as he clenches his lower lips. After a few seconds’ pause, Anubis points at himself, then at him：
“Fuck！How do you want me to respond ！You're the one who dragged me into this act of yours！And now this out of the blue ?!”
It's kind of fun flirting with him occasionally, Charles shouts back：
“Sorry！Say，I think we can be more dramatic now！”
“What do you want me to do？!”
“I'm gonna poke you. Poke me back.”
Anubis scoffs.
“Oh, I'm gonna poke you all goddamn day.”
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
“And now from the live scene ，Charles starts poking Anubis's shoulder and oh my, Anubis retaliates by slapping away his hand with such fury！”
“Our dear Mr.Anubis doesn't cowers and instead he pokes back Mr.Charles ！”
Ciel is having such fun broadcasting the argument, letting others who couldn't get close enough to the office room to know the general situation.
“Who says they are dating？They are going to put each other to death！”
“I told you the two of them would never date！If they date, you can read my name backwards！”
The onlookers see that both of the managers are glaring at each other, Anubis tries to poke back provocatively but unfortunately due to his height, he can only poke Charles's chest. Naturally, Charles slaps off his hand furiously.
“Say, I don't mean to interrupt your fun, but aren't you all afraid that the boss will come checking？”
“Oh please, what are you afraid of？The director is gone for vacation, no one's watching us.”
“And besides，the two who are holding the highest positions right now are arguing inside, so just relax~”
The crowd outside gradually got bigger. The cleaning lady has wiped the same vase numerous times, to the point where it can reflect her face.
As if ignoring the peanut gallery, the ‘argument’ continues.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Being poked by the chest causes Charles to stifle a few grunts, and he immediately smacks Anubis’ shoulder, signaling him to stop.
“Are you ok？”
“Yes, but for the sake of my sanity, please poke elsewhere.”
“Well sorry for being shorter than you！”
Anubis slaps Charles's arm with all his force.
“So how are we gonna end this！”
“When I walk out that door，I want you to tell me “You bastard，get the fuck out of here，I call the shots for the project！” good and loud！”
“I will, they're gonna hear me throughout the whole building ！”
Anubis flails his hand outwards, and then closes in to give Charles a long hard stare.
“What else！”
“It's almost done, know that I really love you.”
“I know，I bought two movie tickets，let's go out and watch it together this weekend.”
“I look forward to it！Say, looking at you closely, glad there's no marks on your neck. ”
The moment he hears this, Anubis's rationality is thrown out of the window . He suddenly shoves Charles, the blonde nearly stumbles and falls due to the sudden push.
“Fuck, have you forgotten！You kissed everywhere, EXCEPT FOR THE NECK！”
After steadying his footing, Charles stares back at him.
“I am indeed a genius for this…”
“That's it, you are not getting the floor, you are getting outside！”
“I really love you！Also, I'm gonna shove you now！”
“Go ahead！”
Charles responds by shoving Anubis.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Alexis is getting nervous.
“Oh no，they've started pushing each other，I think it's time to stop them.”
Ciel pulls him back to his seat.
“Relax Alex, we are now reaching the climax. Just let them be, I think those two wouldn't get to the point of murdering each other.”
“But！”
“Easy there, we will intervene if things go south. Felix, pass me the chips！”
Neelam, who is in the best seat, has attempted to reach for the phone numerous times to call security. Usually when these two meet up, they only exchange banters so seeing them getting physical is a rare occasion. Also, it's unusual for both of them to have such a big fight, after all, they are well know for their politeness, amiability and high performance. So seeing those two perfect persons bickering like this, it makes them more, humane？
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
The last close up, the last stare down. They can even feel each other's warm breath on their face.
“I fucking love you.”
“Save this later when we get back home.”
They nod at each other provocatively. Charles storms towards the door, flinging it open with such strength. The glass door slams against the wall with a strong bang.
“You bastard，get the fuck out of here，I call the shots for the project! ”
“Fuck you, Anubis！”
As soon as Charles opens the door, everyone immediately scurries away, focusing back on their work. In response, Charles put on his business smile, his blue eyes viewing the whole office.
“I hope we didn't disturb you because of our small ‘discussion’.”
Nope, nope, definitely not.
“Did someone recorded it？”
Who fucking dares ？They wanna die？
Charles's smile is still warm as ever.
“I've been hearing some ‘weird’ rumors. Those rumors will eventually die down, but…”
In a split moment, those blue eyes become as sharp as a falcon.
“…I hope it's best that the person spreading the rumours will never be caught by the person involved .”
In everybody's heart, they mourn for the rumor spreader for one minute.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
“Fake, it's all fake.”
“What a pity，those two actually look like a good match，don't you agree，Carla？”
Carla, who is sipping her boba milk tea, nods in silent agreement.
“Carla，your face looks red，are you having a fever？”
“Oh, nono, I am fine. Thanks for asking, please don't worry.”
Rumor, huh? When she hears it, she treats it as a mere topic for gossip by the pantry. But what a coincidence that Carla learns a special skill.
Lip reading.
And unfortunately (or fortunately ?) for her，the whole glass setup of the office room allows her to clearly ‘hear’ the conservation of the two men. Although she couldn't hear the dialogue, their lip shapes have already revealed everything.
She is so curious, how did they fell in love with each other? Who confessed first? And judging from their talk , they, they even cohabitate!?
Numerous questions flash through her mind, but even if she reveals it, no one will believe her, right? She is reminded of Charles's death glare, telling her colleagues is tantamount to asking for death. Curiosity kills the cat, and Carla doesn't want to be that cat.
Well, let's just treat it as her own secret gossip.
（End）