Chapter Text

Rubber Band Ball

Chapter 1

Rookie pushed his rubber band ball around his desk numbly, the office job he had was proving to become a dull chore as all office jobs eventually did. He at first thought it was perfect, his love of people and love of making people happy seemed like a perfect fit for a job where people ask for help or complain about the company he worked for. At this point though, Rookie had forgotten what his company even produced, in fact he had forgotten why he had applied in the first place.

The phone rang and he picked it up with a smile, ah he remembered, the people.

"Hello this is Stationary Wise complaints and help desk, this is Rodrigo Rook speaking, how can I help you?" He said, his mind playing on auto mode.

"Yes, hello, I'd like to file a complaint about a help desk member I had previously... They spoke very rudely and failed to help me at all!" An older woman crowned from the line.

"Oh that's terrible! Don't worry madam or miss, I'd be more than happy to put your mind at rest by properly dealing with this issue. Could you tell me the person's name?" He gasped, voice full of sympathy his fellow coworkers had lost.

Once he had finished the call and filed the complaint he sat back with his arms behind his head and feet on his desk. He shut his eyes and sighed. Another successful mission completed by-

"Rookie?"

Rookie's eyes shot open. No one here called him that, no way, they all were way too boring to use nicknames. And he knew that voice. He sat up instantly and scanned the room, his eyes met with a stylish man standing by the water cooler. His mouth dropped open.

"JPG?!" He practically whispered in awe. Even so, the stunning dark-skinned man with a fancy business suit and tie chuckled.

"I can practically hear what you are saying despite you being over there, I told you not to call me that!" He called, walking over to meet Rookie. Rookie scrambled to look presentable, the cubicle having hid some of his shame. He brushed chip crumbs off his shirt and rolled down the sleeves he was so used to pulling up out of spite. He almost forgot to pull his dumb tie off his dumb shoulder, but thankfully he did just in time.

"What on earth are you doing here, Rookie? I haven't seen you since the academy!" Guy chuckled. Rookie couldn't help but marvel at how well he had aged, his clean-shaven face and beautiful red hair that was always brushed and cared for so lovingly. And of course, he still wore his signature sunglasses. 'The window to the soul has to be protected' he had once told Rookie.

Rookie snapped out of it just in time to deliver a normal response within a normal time frame, he rubbed his neck and beamed excitedly "Heh yeah! After the academy, I didn't feel right following through, so I decided to look elsewhere for work and eventually settled with here!"

As he gestured to the workplace he couldn't help but feel ashamed for the lack of colour, it looked as if someone had taken a picture of a bright office then set the filter to black and white and then decided to repaint everything so it fit the picture. He frowned as he remembered the looks his coworkers had given him when he decorated his space with fun toys and gadgets to make it brighter and more exciting. He had hoped this would encourage the others to get creative, it didn't.

"Settle? That doesn't sound good." Guy leaned on the cubicle and glanced at his colourful decor, he sipped from his cup to conceal his delighted smile. "Glad that this place didn't drain your style though," he eyed Rookie's attire and lack of hat "mostly."

Rookie flustered under his unwavering gaze. "It's alright. But what about you? Surely you got so far after the academy testing!"

The testing had been the worst part. Rookie had failed the test 44 times, on the 45th try, Guy was there. They had met whilst training, Guy had said that Rookie's positive attitude and childish antics were funny and well needed in a hard environment. He encouraged Rookie to try the test a final time. "I know you can do it, you may think differently but you aren't stupid." Rookie thought it was a nice gesture but knowing Guy had passed the test first try always made his compliments feel sour and fake. He knew they weren't. But they felt that way.

"Yeah well... After the academy, I decided to go a different route." Guy shrugged, leaving more questions than answers.

"Oh? And what on earth are you doing here? You trained for piloting and stuff in the academy right? I expected to see you again in your jet pack, flying next to planes and saving burning buildings!" Rookie chuckled, pretending to flex non-existent muscles.

Guy laughed heartily. Rookie felt himself blush at the sound. God. Having a crush on the stunning man in the past was embarrassing, but it was way more embarrassing that by simply seeing the man again had only revived and increased that once dead crush. But what was most embarrassing was that Rookie had never ever once confessed to having said crush.

"Actually I'm currently working in the office above, our water cooler broke so I decided to come here and use yours. Glad I did." He smiled.

"Yeah, me too. It's cool to see you again." Rookie murmured, looking down to hide his contagious smile.

"We should hang out! Wanna go to a bar?"

Rookie opened his mouth to reply when Guy held up a hand.

"Ah! Wait, you still don't drink right?" Rookie shut his mouth, Guy smiled. "That's cool! I know a great coffee shop," Rookie opened his mouth "They serve brilliant hot cocoa, you'll love it!" Rookie shut it. He bit his lip to hide his surprise, Guy sure remembered a lot about him.

"Sounds perfect!" Rookie grinned.

"Great! Your boss is coming so I'd better go, pretend to look busy!" Guy said in a hushed tone and winked through his sunglasses.

Rookie squeaked and started typing random notes on his computer, his boss walked by, surveyed his still colourful desk, and rolled his eyes. He kept moving. Rookie froze, wait how was he meant to get in contact with JPG again? He internally corrected himself to saying Guy instead of JPG. He took note of a weird feeling in his pocket, he pulled out a business card that wasn't there before.

He looked down the hall where JPG was, he was watching him with a hand over his mouth as he hid his laughter. Rookie gave him an odd look and gestured from pocket to his hand, which now held the card. Guy shrugged and gave an exaggerated 'idk what you talking about' look. Rookie rolled his eyes and looked at the card.

'Jet Pack Guy
Pilot, wearer of suits, handsomest agent four years in a row, friend.'

His number was printed on the bottom. Rookie giggled and stealthily pulled out his phone to add it in. He was glad he had still kept his name, he wondered if he still had his jet pack...?

'Very modest JPG, you sure have changed.' Rookie texted with a smirk. The reply was instant.

'My new boss made all of his colleagues joke cards, this was mine, thought it would be fun to keep!'

Rookie pouted angrily. 'Aww man, why is your boss so cool?!'

'I just attract cool people I guess, it's how I met you.' Rookie held the phone against his face as he silently screamed. He blushed furiously.

'Thanks bud.' He sent back, he felt like slapping himself for such a terrible reply. Quickly he tried to recover by starting a new topic. 'So what time do you want to catch up?' He bit his lip and waited.

'Whenever you're free, bud.'

Rookie let out a groan, audible for the people around him. A new text came in.

'Stillll at the water cooler.' Rookie blushed and peeked from behind his cubicle, sure enough, he was leaning on the wall and staring down, he was smirking.

'Stop hanging around, your boss is probably worried!' And sure enough, he left. Rookie felt like his boring day got a whole lot more interesting.