Work Text:
If there was one thing you learned early on at Wayne Enterprises, it’s that the CEO was batshit crazy. Bruce Wayne was a great boss, yes. The benefits and pay that every single employee got, no matter the job, was unheard of for a company like this. It was a heavy rumor that Bruce Wayne absolutely refused to cut the pay or benefits whenever it was discussed. For that, he had respect from nearly everyone. However, his other actions made the man himself questionable.
Ramona started working in W.E. only a few months ago. She had been a junior hire in their tech department and had cried tears of joy when she signed the papers that allowed her access to her health insurance. Gotham was not a great place to live in terms of crime and the smog in the air; however, it was cheap. She had an apartment that was only two hundred a month, and it wasn’t like she was going to find that anywhere else.
Bruce Wayne had a cheap health insurance offered to nearly everyone in Gotham, but the benefits working for him made her question if he was even getting a profit from his business. He was kind to the staff and even remembered their names. Ramona had worried he’d be like any other CEO horror stories she had heard before.
She figured it out pretty early on that his ridiculous persona was just that: a persona. He was a total loser when out in public, but in the security of his company, and when you could have a conversation with him, you could tell he was actually brilliant. Odd, but brilliant.
However, Ramona was quite sure Tim Drake’s act wasn’t an act. She’s pretty sure the kid is just batshit crazy. He remembered their names, complimented them on their work, and even gave them all a raise. But he had a type, and his type was Kryptonian.
“Go away, Superboy.” Tim Drake said casually, as if it wasn’t strange at all for a literal superhero finding you at work. Superboy had a large steaming coffee in his hand. It made the room smell like hazelnut. “I’m busy.”
“C’monnn,” Superboy bemoaned, “You haven’t paid any attention to me lately.”
Tim Drake didn’t look up from the screen of data, which Ramona was supposed to be walking him through. She always had to walk Bruce Wayne through her work, but Tim clearly didn’t need it.
Superboy looked over at her as if saying “You agree with me, don’t you?” She raised her hands up in surrender awkwardly. Tim Drake clicked on a strand of data and deleted it. His fingers moved quickly as he typed something new.
Ramona could barely pay attention to his explanation of how she mistyped a few letters due to Superboy slowly inching towards the young CEO. Tim Drake lifted his hand and glanced up over the frames of his glasses.
“Do you not understand what ‘don’t bug me at work’ means?”
“I do.” Superboy smiled, that boyish one he did in interviews. “I miss you, T.”
Then, surprisingly, Tim Drake blushed. It was barely there, and Ramona knew it was only obvious because of how pale the man looked under the bright lights of the lab. It took everything in her to not gape at her boss.
“Go away.” Tim said, but held his hand out for the coffee, which Superboy gladly gave.
“See you tonight?”
“We’ll see.”
Superboy smiled like it was a yes, winked at Ramona, and then flew out of the building. Ramona stared at Tim. Tim didn’t look at her, only took a long sip of his coffee, and got up. She pretended to not notice the little smile he had and instead looked back at her work.
_
Edward has worked for Wayne Enterprises for nearly three decades now. He had risen through the ranks from secretary to the head of the marketing section. Bruce Wayne had often come by to check on his team’s new ideas, and change anything he hadn’t quite liked, which wasn’t much.
Bruce had been a good, if ditzy, boss. When his son, his third one at that, took over the company after Bruce got into a skiing accident that left him out of public eye for over a year, Ed had kissed his good career goodbye. All he needed was a snot-nosed teenager taking over his clean, professional ads and replacing them with gen Z bullshit.
W.E. was a respectable company. They cared about the people, were one of the most technologically advanced companies, and were incredibly diverse. Their prices were affordable, and anyone could find a product they wanted. Now, that was all going down the drain.
But, instead of a bratty kid coming into his office, it was Timothy Drake in a well-tailored suit with a file filled with questions. He asked about their process, what inspired what, and if there was anything Ed had been thinking of advertising. He was direct and to the point, taking notes of everything Ed said, and followed it up with reasonable responses.
When the meeting was over, Timothy left without much fanfare and simply left a card with his email and work phone number on it. They had monthly meetings, which usually took place with all the managers from the differing sections within W.E.
Ed hated these almost as much as Tim seemed to. The new CEO had shortened the three-hour meeting to two hours, and even then, he rushed people through their presentation half the time. He was great one on one when it was obvious he controlled the route of the conversation, but awful when it came to group work.
“And,” Kathy from the insurance department continued, “We have had a 5% rise in sales for the new package of car insurance we released in – um, what is that?”
Ed looked away from the screen, to where Kathy was gaping at, and saw a Metropolis superhero flying outside the window. Superboy waved cheerfully, and when Tim put his head in his hands, the hero proceeded to knock on the window.
“Go away,” Tim said, not even bothering to raise his voice. “I’m at work.”
Superboy made a few motions with his fingers. Tim’s face made a complicated expression. Then, he let out another sigh and closed his folder.
The one thing Tim was lax on was Superboy. He had left a few meetings due to the arrival of the colorfully dressed hero, not that Ed really minded. If there was one thing Ed hated, it was long meetings.
“I feel like this is becoming a trend,” said Miles from pharmacy as they watched Superboy fly away a few minutes later with someone who looked a lot like their boss in his arms.
Ed grinned, not bothering to hide it. Kathy can be upset all she wants about her presentation not being finished in front of the boss.
“Do you think they’re dating?” Miles asked.
“That would make quite the scandal.” Arlowe grinned and grabbed her phone. Ed knew that the next few weeks would be whispers of a scandal between W.E. CEO and the hero Superboy.
_
Josie didn’t know what to think of the rumors passing through W.E. about her new boss. Bruce Wayne had several rumors throughout the years, and near the end of it, Josie had started to ignore them. Falling into a fountain while drunk wasn’t entertaining after the fifth time. But Tim Drake had a squeaky-clean record after a year of working here. Well, until now.
“I don’t know, Ramona.” Josie said, “Isn’t Superboy in his twenties now?”
“So is Tim.” Ramona replied, “He’s twenty now!”
Josie sometimes wished she had been adopted by Bruce Wayne. She’d love to run a whole enterprise at twenty. “How did he become boss instead of Dick?”
“Dick hated working here,” Arlowe dismissed. She stabbed at her salad, looking down at it like it had kicked her dog. “I should’ve gotten something else, this dressing sucks.”
“Go get something else.” Ramona replied. “Isn’t the food here amazing?”
W.E. offered free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You just had to have a shift that day to collect it. Josie barely had a grocery bill anymore.
Arlowe glowered at Ramona’s pasta and then huffed as she got up to get back in the lunch line. Josie changed the topic to how Ramona has been doing at her new promotion.
Sometimes she gets jealous of her friends. Ramona is moving up to secondary team leader in just a few years of working in their research division, and Arlowe was the leader of the entire social media department. Josie had been stuck as a secretary since she started working here four years ago.
“That sounds really incredible.” She said, meaning it.
“Thanks!” Ramona replied.
“Yeah, I wish I was good with stuff like that.” Superboy said.
“Thanks, Superboy.” Ramona said.
Josie looked at the superhero with wide eyes, and after Ramona seemed to process the man’s presence, she gaped. Superboy smiled and had a plate stacked high with sandwiches set in front of him.
“I mean, I wish I had a normal job like you guys,” He sighed wistfully and took a bite of a sandwich. He lit up and said, “Wow, this is sooo good!”
“Yeah,” Josie said, feeling a bit out of her element. “They’re pretty good.”
“What do you do for work, Josie?” Superboy asked her.
“I-I’m the secretary for Tim Drake.” She replied.
Superboy smiled at her, this charming thing. “God, he’s the worst, isn’t he? Always a workaholic. I have to drag him out of the office sometimes!”
Josie found herself laughing as Superboy went on about tales of him and Tim Drake. When Arlowe returned, she had a sputtered reaction to him but then dove right into asking for more of Tim and his relationship.
They seemed like good friends, Josie thought. She had always thought Tim seemed lonely.
Superboy ended up leaving just as fast as he arrived, taking his piles of sandwiches with him. Arlowe seemed excited, poor mood from her bad salad forgotten, and pointed her chopsticks at the retreating leather clad figure. “They’re totally banging.”
Josie rolled her eyes, “Just because they’re close doesn’t mean they’re banging.”
“Oh no, they’re totally banging.” Ramona said. “He even knows Tim’s favorite coffee order.”
Josie shrugged and ignored them in favor of the slice of chocolate cake she had snagged. She didn’t really care about their love life; it wasn’t any of her business.
After finishing off her lunch, she wished her friends goodbye and dropped her plates and fork off at the cleaning station. Tim had a few more meetings on his schedule, and once he was off work, he typically let Josie head home early. She only had a few more hours left of her day. She stopped by the coffee machine to grab a hazelnut brew and knew Tim would need this to hold him together over the boring meetings ahead of him.
The elevator was quick, and she dropped her things off at her desk right outside Tim’s office, and then quickly made her way over there. She could hear talking through the door, and knocked before she entered. He had a meeting in ten minutes, and she had to shoo him out of the room, after all.
Inside, Superboy was polishing off his plate of sandwiches with the help of Tim. He grinned when he saw her and greeted her. Tim said hello politely but looked extremely disgruntled.
“Can’t I cancel?”
“Nope.” Josie said cheerily.
She handed him the coffee in her hands and reminded him of his next meeting. She usually attended his important meetings to help write notes – he was a surprisingly strict person with his meeting notes – and walked out towards her desk to gather her notebook and pens.
Superboy floated out of the room after her, and winked at Tim. “See you later?”
“You don’t leave me alone.” Tim replied. He sounded fond.
Poking out just of his shirt collar was a deep red hickie. Josie texted her friends as she walked into the meeting room.
Fine you win. They’re banging.