Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ugh” Leif plopped himself onto the couch dramatically.

“Long day?” Tobin said, turning from the stove with fake sympathy, warranting Leif to heave himself into a sitting position to glare at him over the back of the couch.

“Oh don’t you start-” Leif huffed “some of us actually stay late when we have work to do.” Tobin put his hand over his chest, faking offense.

“Excuse you? I’ll have you know I finished my work early- and thus went home on time. You know what? You just lost yourself dinner privileges- I’m eating this entire lasagna myself.”

“Whaaaat? No, you wouldn’t!” Leif said, hoisting himself up and laughing, “Not even you can eat that much food in one sitting!” Tobin grinned as he served up two plates and brought one over to Leif.

“No, I wouldn’t, but it's bold of you to assume I haven't eaten a whole lasagna myself before.” Leif raised an eyebrow, the effect partially ruined by the fact that he had already started eagerly devouring the lasagna in front of him.

“dude, when on earth did you eat an entire lasagna yourself? And why would you bluff? I can tell when you’re lying.” Tobin took a bite of his lasagna and chewed for a second before replying.

“Well for one, college was weird man- I think I ate whole lasagnas at three am the night before a test several times.” He chuckled, “And as for the bluffing, I knew it would make you laugh, and it seemed like you needed it man.” He accompanied his last statement by stuffing far too large of a piece of his lasagna into his mouth.

Leif tried to ignore the warm feeling that Tobin’s last statement left in his chest as Tobin walked back over to the stove to start cleaning duty, having mostly finished his plate already. Luckily for him, the soft moment was immediately ruined by Tobin’s next statement.

“Besides- the only reason why you weren’t done working was because you were busy flirting with the boss.” Leif nearly choked on his lasagna at that one. After some very undignified coughing, and a silent thanks to his talent for acting for the lack of blushing on his cheeks, Leif sent yet another glare Tobin’s way.

“Really? Low blow dude.”

“I know!” Tobin said, putting the Tupperware of lasagna in the fridge, seemingly delighted with himself. “You know I’m never going to let you live that down right?”

“Unfortunately” Leif put his plate on the coffee table and flopped back down onto the couch. “It was one time! Almost a year ago! For like a month! That’s less time than it took you to get the gold achievement in “Better World”! I don’t understand why everybody thinks it's so hilarious, I mean it wasn’t even one-sided!”

“Dude, you hooked up with the boss, and drunk sang her a karaoke love song. That’s prime make-fun-of material right there.” Leif groaned a bit at that one,

“Yeah, that was pretty bad wasn’t it?” Tobin, to his credit, did wince in sympathy.

“Yeah dude, it was. But don’t despair-” He ruffled Leif’s hair as he walked by, “I’m sure you’ll do even more embarrassing things that’ll make it seem like nothing!”

“That doesn’t help,” Leif said grumpily, trying in vain to fix his hair with his fingers. “Heading to bed?”

“Yeah, you should too, it’s already pretty late and-” He cut himself off and finished his sentence in sign language, the mischievous grin on his face betraying his intentions.

“And what does that mean?” Leif said, annoyance in his voice.

“Nothing!” Tobin said cheerfully before turning the corner, hollering a “Night!” before disappearing from Leif’s line of sight.

It wasn’t that Leif had anything against sign language- but he didn’t know sign language. His parents had him learn French, German, and Spanish as well English from the time he was four, as well as several other languages of the dead variety- but sign language had never made the list. He had been meaning to learn it ever since Abigail started interning, but between Joan and Chirp and his growing feelings for his best friend that he was most definitely ignoring, he hadn’t had a lot of time to learn much but the alphabet. Which wasn’t helpful in deciphering whatever his best friend was saying to and about him. Leif suspected they were insults, and very much wanted to retaliate.

So, despite the protesting of his eyelids, he pulled out his tablet and clicked on the app he had downloaded to help him learn and started the next lesson.

He fell asleep not long after; and woke up the next morning with a blanket covering his shoulders, a pile of French Toast in the microwave, and Tobin already at his Saturday cooking club, probably fighting with Susan over who's pancakes were better.

Chapter Text

5 days to launch

Fast forward a few months and Leif thought he was ready. He had been steadily ignoring what he could of Tobin’s signing so that he could fully understand instead of picking up bits and pieces. The launch of the Chirp was at the end of this week, meaning when he dropped that bomb that he now knew sign language after a week of Tobin thinking everything he had signed was beyond Leif’s understanding at the launch party, it would be a very satisfying double victory.

Leif left the apartment earlier than Tobin did; as usual. He spent the bus ride to work only half-listening to his Dracula Audiobook. (He had it close to memorized at this point anyway) He got off at his usual stop, near his and Tobin’s favorite coffee shop. They had discovered that Max and Zoey frequented that same one, but they were easily able to avoid them. Neither Zoey nor Max were blessed with the “Morning Person” gift that Leif and Tobin had. Plus he had overheard them talking about scouting out a new place- so he assumed that he wouldn’t have to worry about running into them. He gave the barista Autumn his and Tobin’s usual order, who seemed cheerier than usual as she wrote on his cup in swirly writing. He didn’t ask- but if he had he would have found out that the reason was that she had gone stargazing the night before with her new boyfriend, who would be picking her up after her shift to go out to lunch with and meet her parents. The service was quick, as usual, and soon he was out the door and in the elevator at Sparkpoint. He dropped off the coffee at Tobin’s desk, who in favor chucked a yogurt at him, assuming (correctly) that Leif had once again forgotten to eat breakfast this morning. Leif lowered his desk from the standing position to a height more suitable for sitting and pulled out his swivel chair before snatching a spoon from the fruit bar and starting into both the yogurt (it was strawberry, one of his favorites) and one of the many last-minute coding issues with the chirp.

A few hours later, Leif swiveled in his chair in time to see Abigail return from her lunch break. He bit back a small grin as he watched her throw a sneaky glance at Tobin’s desk before whipping out a paper airplane and throwing it at him while Zoe wasn’t watching. Leif almost rolled his eyes when it bounced off Tobin’s head, who started and nearly dropped his fidget spinner before spinning to face Abigail with an equally mischievous looking face. Leif had to question if they really thought they were being or if they were just messing around for the fun of it.

Leif had been keeping an eye on Tobin all morning- and it had yet to yield much he didn’t know. Other than that Tobin knew far too many vine references than what was normal. And that any insults he did sign were far more juvenile and kind than he let on. Leif didn’t know why he found that surprising- Tobin was both the most intelligent and most stupid person Leif had ever met, but he wasn’t mean, at least not intentionally. So far “Mrs. Frizzle” was the most insulting thing he had signed that day, and admittedly Zoey’s sweater had been a bit...unorthodox that day.

But this had been what he had been waiting for, Tobin and Abigail's daily gossip session. They had hit it off when Abigail first came to visit- and now that Abigail was interning at Sparkpoint and they were seeing each other on a near-daily basis, they had more or less become the prank duo of the floor. (Rip to all of Zoey’s pens) Luckily, as Tobins “BFF” Leif rarely found himself on the pranking side of their escapades. At least that was the excuse Tobin gave; Leif suspected it was because he, as Tobin’s roommate, had a great vantage point for revenge pranking.

Leif finished a line of code before subtly settling himself in to watch, if all went well, he could get some excellent blackmail material out of this.

-------------------------------perspective change *lightning noises*------------------------------------------

Tobin started off by melodramatically holding up the offending airplane;

“Lose something?” He dunked it into his trashcan and paused for effect before continuing, “I mean, of course, something other than your fashion sense?” He jokingly raised a judgemental eyebrow,

“Says the one wearing his e-girl wannabe hoodie for the third time this week” She snarked right back, grinning as Tobin mimicked gasping in mock offense before also breaking into a smile. Greetings out of the way, she moved on. “Any updates?” Tobin rolled his eyes,

“Unfortunately Zoey is still oblivious as ever; she needs to step it up- I’ve got 10 bucks on them getting together before the launch” Abigail pulled a candy bar out of her purse and took a bite out of it.

“And Max? Any progress on his end?”

“He used a truly awful pickup line on her this morning, and that’s Me saying that. Luckily for his dignity and unluckily for my 10 bucks she didn’t even seem to notice.”

“Good Grief”

“I know! They’re so oblivious! At this point, I might have to intervene!”

“Please do, it would be hilarious to see you butcher being match-maker.” She signed, biting off another chunk of the candy bar, pointedly ignoring the playful glare being sent her way. “Besides, it’s not like you have much room to talk, huh Mr. Floofy Hair?”

“ONCE, I called him that once! And we are not having this conversation again!”

“Why not? I for one think it’s adorable that you like him. And isn’t it kinda the queer agenda? Pining for your best friend?”

“Bold of you to assume I would adhere to any agenda- queer or not!”

“Yet here we are.” She signed, smirking.

“You are vexatious as they come Ms. Pugnat”

“And you aren’t?”

“Fair enough, and how was I not supposed to fall for him? Have you seen him? He’s flipping adorable!”

“None of the rest of us have.”

“You all have bad taste.”

“Sure Tobin.” She rolled her eyes, biting the last chunk off of the candy bar and crumpling up the wrapper. “But do let me know when you finally make a move, I have twenty bucks on you two.”

Chapter Text

4 days to Launch
Zoey stared at her computer screen rather grumpily. Today was supposed to be a good day Universe! She and Max had managed to wake up early enough to grab breakfast at a cute cafe nearby; and it had left her feeling so upbeat she had forgotten all about the multitude of last minute chores and glitches her team had to fix before the launch. Now, she was back in reality, and was not happy about it. She grabbed some cereal from the bar and ate it extremely slowly, doing everything she could to procrastinate starting. Eventually though, she did have to start coding, slouching over her desk as she typed, ignoring the fond looks Max was shooting at her from across the office that told her she wasn’t being subtle or professional about her displeasure. She shot him a glare and straightened her back, pointedly focusing on the screen and on not sticking her tongue out at him. She feigned extreme interest in her work for all of about ten minutes before she found herself slouching again. Ugh, she couldn’t focus at all today! Is this what it felt like to be Tobin? Suddenly his near constant fidgeting and chatter made a lot of sense, and Zoey found herself impressed that he managed to be at all productive if he found work this boring every day. Her thoughts were cut off by a hesitant note ringing out through the office.
Zoey quickly sent a quick thankyou up to whatever was up there and leaped out of her seat to spin around to find her singer. However, when her eyes landed on Leif staring forlornly staring out the window at his desk, with the light conveniently streaming onto him like a dramatic stage light, she almost asked for the receipt because DANG IT. All the people in the office; and it had to be Leif.

“If there’s a prize for rotten judgment,” Leif lament-sung as he turned around to lean on his desk. Zoey’s jaw dropped, she knew this song. Nevermind, this was amazing. “I guess I’ve already won that.” He slouched against the desk dramatically, “No one is worth the aggravation,” He gave a very unsublte glance to Joan in her office before shaking his head and pushing off the desk. “That’s ancient history, been there, done that!” Joan, Max, and Abigail all jumped up from their desks to form an almost-half circle around him. Joan and Max started singing and Abigail began signing.
“Who’d you think you’re kidding? He’s the earth and heaven to you!” Zoey blinked in surprise, she would not have expected any of them to sing that role, but hey, heart songs didn’t lie. And she couldn’t say that she minded a chance to hear Max sing. They herded Leif into the middle of the bullpen, continuing to sing, “Try to keep it hidden, honey we can see right through you!” Joan and Abigail both jumped onto nearby desks, while Max slung an arm over Leif’s shoulder to sing directly to him. “Girl you can’t conceal it, we know how you’re feeling, who you’re thinking off!” They all gave teasing glances, and Leif shoved Max off him to stalk forward towards the girls.
“Oh nooooo” (you all know how it goes but i dunno how to write it so pls use your imagination dears) “No chance! No way! I won’t say it, no no!” Joan and Abigail both jumped off their desks to take turns fake swooning into Leif’s arms, who grumpily caught them.
“You swoon, you sigh, why deny it oh oh?” Leif set them back on their feet before bringing his hands up to his head forcefully in chopping motions,
“It’s too cliche! I won’t say I’m in love.” He sagged his shoulders and then took a seat on the desk Abigail had stood on. “I thought my heart had learned its lesson,” He grabbed Joan’s hand and they turned and looked at each other fondly, “It feels so good when you start out.” Joan yanked him to his feet and turned away, and Leif rose his hands to clutch his head, “My head is screaming get a grip girl,” He flicked his hand in Joan’s general direction before moving his hand to his chest, “Unless you’re dying to cry your heart out!” Tobin suddenly shot out of his chair, and Zoey whipped her head around to see that Abigail had migrated over to him whilst Leif had been singing, and was now standing next to his desk and looking rather annoyed.
“No chance! No way! I won’t say it no no!” He sang as he started backing up defensively as Abigail trailed him, signing semi-aggressively.
“Give up! Give in! Check the grin you’re in love!” Tobin stopped just a few inches short of bumping into Leif, who was standing with his back to him.
“This scene won’t play! I won’t say I’m in love!” Leif joined in the next line as they both began expressively moving their hands at their surrounding singers, Max standing with his arms crossed next to Leif, Joan standing just off to the side of them singing rather exasperatedly, while Abigail stood in front of Tobin signing.
“No chance! No way! I won’t say I’m in love!” They duetted, their voices blending together impressively well.
“You’re way off base! I won’t say it!” Leif sang as he began walking back to his desk, glancing back at Tobin as he did so- the unsure look on his face contrasting the confidence of the lyric.
“He won’t say it no no.” Parroted the trio, rolling their eyes. Tobin flinched and turned back to look at Leif just as he had turned back to his computer. He sighed heavily,and turned away.
“Get off my case, I won’t say it!” The trio shook their heads disappointedly, and started drifting back to their desks, with Abigail lingering, looking back and forth between the two with obvious frustration. “At least out loud,” Tobin sang, deflating as he walked back to his desk, “I won’t say I’m-” His voice cracked and he paused, before finishing the lyric in ASL alone. “In love.”

Zoey sat there stunned for a moment, and that moment was all it took for the scene to return to normal, with Joan glaring at Glenn from the doorway of her office, Leif furrowing his brow at a line of code, Tobin typing away at his computer, and Max sending an impressive “what the heck” look at his screen. Zoey blinked heavily, scrunching her entire face up in frustration and bafflement.
Crap.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t that Zoey disliked Disney songs, in any other situation she would be delighted that they had sung one- and it wasn’t even that it was a love song! She had heard a lot of love songs at this point, from Tobin even! But Zoey and Mo had figured out that there were three types of songs; ones that were born from really strong emotions, ones the universe just wanted her to be aware of; and the ones that she was supposed to do something about.

This was one she had to do something about. Drat. Why did it have to be something about romance?! COME.ON.UNIVERSE. Couldn’t she have one easy problem?! Where she wouldn’t have to talk to her co-workers about romance? Ugh. 

Her eyes flickered between the two coders, trying to decide the lesser of the two evils. Well, evil was a strong word, more like annoying she supposed. There was Tobin, who, while admittedly a sweetheart deep down, tended to be abrasive (usually unintentionally) and his mind rarely left the gutter. Although he had been getting better with the whole “Tobin 2.0” thing, and Zoey might even tentatively call him a friend. 

A work friend, let’s not get too out of hand here. 

But that didn’t mean she wanted to talk to him about anything even romance adjacent .

Leif, on the other hand, had an even worse relationship with Zoey.  He seemed to have gotten over the anonymous review situation, but honestly, Zoey could never tell with Leif. Even with her song powers, Leif didn’t exactly wear his heart on his sleeves unless he was surprised or really upset. Or plotting something, and those were fake emotions, on fake sleeves, so they didn’t count. It wasn’t that Leif was a bad person per say, more that he just didn't seem to particularly care about being a good person. He just wanted to be a successful person. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh, Zoey thought, Leif did care about people. Just not most people.

Zoey thought he cared about his little sister Eve, she visited once from Europe and burst into the office one day to give him a giant tackle hug before eagerly exploring his desk and touching and messing with everything. Which was big no-no usually when it came to Leif’s stuff, he made it clear that it was his stuff and his stuff alone. But instead of getting mad at Eve or even annoyed, he had just stood there, answering her questions and occasionally keeping her from breaking things. All with a fond and indulging smile. Until she had decided to drag him off to a new restaurant she had heard about, completely ignoring his protests about how “he had work to get done” and “It was barely past noon”, instead opting to yell at Joan (from across the office mind you) that she was kidnapping her brother for the day. Leif had turned red and temporarily lost the ability to speak, and Joan had just raised an eyebrow that managed to look both annoyed and amused, before waving them off. 

Leif had come back into the office the next day with a sheepish smile on his face, and his apologies to Joan who had largely ignored him. Considering, Leif had come back to surprisingly minimal teasing. (Tobin had seen to that, before she had kidnapped Leif, Tobin had wandered over to say hi, and wasn’t even done with his introduction before Eve had cut him off with an “Oh please, hoodie, nice smile, you must be Tobin! Leif’s told me all about you, we’re practically family already!” , and given him an excited bear hug that had nearly knocked him off his feet, before bouncing back around to Leif with a “ hey what’s this do” . It had taken Tobin a few seconds to recover from the shock as he made his way back to his desk, before smiling softly down at his keyboard as he started typing again). 

And Tobin, Leif cared about Tobin. Apparently more so, or in a different way, than Zoey thought he had. From coffee runs to high fives for things that didn’t quite warrant them, even Zoey had noticed the ways Leif had shown his affection for Tobin. Nobody else could get away with ever messing with Leif’s hair, yet Tobin usually ended up ruffling it up by the end of the day, with minimal scolding. 

Oh, and Joan. Leif cared about Joan. Probably, or he had at one point. In any case he respected her at least. So yeah, Leif cared about people, sometimes.

Zoey considered this, picking at her llama-patterned sweater as she did so. Ugh, as much as she did NOT want to be haunted by renditions of Disney’s Hercules, she was most definitely not excited about this. Zoey would prefer to talk to Tobin, but since Leif had sung most of the song, it seemed like he would be the most effective choice. And the last thing she wanted was to have to talk to both of them. 

Zoey scooted her stool over to Max’s desk, hoping to both get his opinion on the subject, and buy herself some time to procrastinate.

“Heyyy” She said awkwardly, and Max raised a questioning eyebrow in response, “Sooo, new piece of hot gos, I just heard a heart song.” Max turned away from his keyboard eagerly,

“Okay, and?” Zoey winced,

“It was a love song,” Max widened his eyes and his face broke into a smile,

“Oh my God, who?” Zoey slumped onto his desk, mumbling out her answer

“Leif” Max bit his lip, his entire demeanor changing, before making a sympathetic noise and leaning closer to her,

“To Joan again?” Zoey swiped her tongue between her lips, and Max glanced at her mouth, momentarily distracted, before forcing himself to focus again.

“Fortunately no, but…” She trailed off, and Max’s mind raced with the implications before he hunched further over his desk to pickedly whisper,

“Oh God, he sang to you didn’t he?” Zoeys jaw dropped

“No!” She said a little too loudly, jerking up from her seat,and Glenn and Sam turned from where they were playing Galaga on their phones to give her judgmental looks. Zoey was too shocked to give them more than a half-hearted side eye as she sat back down. Luckily both Leif and Tobin seemed too absorbed in whatever they were working on to notice her “Zoey Shenanigans” as the office had dubbed them. She lowered her voice back to just above a whisper,

“He sang to Tobin.” She said, before hastily continuing, as if speaking faster would make what she had to say less true. “And you and Joan and Abigail were the backup singers to what I might have forgotten to mention was a song from freaking Hercules , and then at the end Tobin sang to him too- and I just don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do about it!”  Max’s jaw dropped a bit, and it took his mind a few moments to comprehend what he’d just heard.

“What the hell ?” Zoey dropped her head back into her arms,

“I knowwwww”

“You might end up making me lose the office bet on those two.”

“Max! Not the point!”

“Zoey, as funny as the fact that he sung Hercules is, and as weird as it is that I was part of the number, is this really any more shocking or awful than any of your other heart songs? I mean even Joan’s joined in on the betting pile at this point, even if it was partially as a joke, we all saw this as a possibility. I mean, an unlikely possibility but still!” Zoey glared at him.

“Max, not only does this mean I will have to talk about romance,” Zoey made a disgusted face, “-with someone, that someone is going to be either Tobin or Leif!” She threw up her arms, “And that is not going to go well.” Max bit his lip to try and keep from smiling in amusement, before furrowing his brow.

“Wait Tobin or Leif? Didn’t you say Leif was the one who sang most of the song?” 

“Uhhh, maybe? I was kinda hoping you’d give some advice on who to talk to and that that advice would be to talk to Tobin?” Max raised an eyebrow,

“Well it sounds like you already know who you have to talk to, and are talking to me in hopes that I’ll tell you you’re wrong, which isn’t going to happen. Because, like usual, you are right.”

“Ugh”

“Unless you’d prefer to talk to both of them about it-” 

“Nope!” Zoey said, beginning to scoot her chair away, “No thanks!” Max stood up and caught her by her sweater, and lightly pulled her back.

“Zoey?” Zoey avoided his gaze,

“What are you going to do?” Zoey glared at him before grumbling something under her breath,

“Didn’t quite catch that.” Zoey exhaled loudly,

“I’ll talk to stupid Leif about his stupid feelings about stupid Tobin, happy?” Max smiled patronizingly,

“There, was that so difficult?” 

“ This” Zoey slightly hissed, “isn’t the difficult part”.

Zoey managed to do pretty well avoiding Leif, and having to talk to Leif, and really even thinking about Leif. Turns out that a large amount of work and only a little bit more time to do it is a fantastic distraction. However, a certain co-worker named Max was infuriatingly good at noticing when she was avoiding something, and had practically dragged her out of her desk to shoo her towards Leif, who was sitting at the cereal bar. She sent Max a half-hearted glare as she walked towards the coder, but all he did was smile cheekily in return.

“Heyyy Leif,” Zoey said awkwardly, sliding onto the stool next to him at the fruit bar with an awkward wave. Leif glanced at her and gave an only semi-sarcastic distracted wave before returning to eating the slightly over ripe pomegranate he had grabbed from the fruit bowl. Zoey bit her tongue lightly, no sense in postponing the necessary “So…. Romance huh?” Leif jerked just a little bit before freeing, his spoon halfway to his mouth. He swallowed painfully, 

“I really don’t know why you would say that.” He said stiffly, resuming movement and apparently pretending that he hadn’t frozen like a deer in headlights.

“Mhmm, totally; you’re right. Romance is completely irrelevant when it comes to Tobin.” Leif’s mouth dropped, thankfully free of his pomegranate, he gaped at her like a fish, struggling for words.

“I don’t think- I really don't...uh- what?” Leif’s voice dropped off sounding just a bit desperate. Zoey raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to sort his thoughts out. Seeing that she wasn’t going to interrupt him, Leif sighed in defeat, abandoning his fruit to put his head in his hands.

“It’s really that obvious huh?” Zoey grimaced,

“Kinda, yeah.” Leif shook his head and swore quietly under his breath,

“So you know who it is?” Zoey hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder

“I mean, like I said earlier I-”

“I just don’t know how I didn’t see it- I mean I’m his best friend!” Leif interrupted, carding his fingers through his hair anxiously, “Or at least I thought I was!”

“I mean, it can be hard to identify feelings, especially when we don’t want to accept it-”

“It’s just-” Leif interjected again, and Zoey would have been annoyed if not for how stressed out Leif seemed. Geez, and that was coming from Zoey . “I’ve been wracking my brains, and I can’t figure out who it is!” Zoey froze, her confused brain trying to make sense of whatever that bull crap that just came of his mouth was. Leif continued rambling, not noticing Zoey’s sudden mood shift. “I mean, Abigail referred to the person he liked as his best friend , and given that she’s teasing him about makes me think that it’s not her, which considering that I always thought we were the only two in competition for that role really throws me off. I mean, maybe it’s somebody from his cooking club-”

“Wait wait wait, hold up, what?” Zoey put her hands up defensively, “I think we’ve boarded onto massively different trains of thought here. What- what are you trying to say.” Leif looked at her confusedly,

“I’m..trying to figure out...who it is that Tobin likes??” Zoey laughed before she could help herself. When Leif didn’t join in she stared at him with dawning realization.

“Leif-you can’t be serious.” Leif bristled offendedly, 

“You know what? Ok, listen, I’ve only been aware that he even likes somebody since yesterday’s lunch break, and considering what very little information I’ve been able to glean in that timeline I think I’m doing a pretty good job of narrowing down just who it is that he likes.” He turned away and tried to look aloof, but Zoey’s disbelieving gaze prodded him to continue rather harshly. “We can’t all be little-miss-mind-readers like you Zoey!”

“You’re an idiot. Leif I mean this in the second nicest way possible but you are an idiot .” Leif sputtered in protest, “Leif, do you really think anybody else is even close to the title of “best friend? You really think anybody else could stand being around Tobin long enough for him to fall in love with them? Face it, you are literally the only option in the “Tobin’s love life” betting pool.” Leif blinked a few times, before scrunching his face up in a pained looking way. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight and strained.

“Zoey, what exactly are you suggesting?” Zoey took a deep breath, and then, as gently as possible,

“Leif, he’s in love with you.” Leif sucked in a breath, “And I think you’re in love with him, as much as you don’t seem to want to admit it.” Leif stared at her, and it took him a couple tries of opening and closing his mouth before he managed to get sound to come out.

“How do you- how do you do that? I-I mean, wow I just.” He picked his abandoned pomegranate off the counter and spooned another bite out, his hands eerily steady. When he continued his voice was careful and flat, professional. “Zoey, Tobin can’t be in love with me. That’s impossible.” He laughed humorlessly. “And you, coming and suggesting that and saying I’m the idiot.” He shook his head, and stared resolutely at the counter, avoiding Zoey’s gaze. “This conversation is over Zoey.” 

Zoey clenched her fists, willing herself not to take the out. She certainly wanted to, wanted to speed walk away from Leif and this difficult conversation. But the threat of being haunted by a Hercules song for the rest of her life cohered her to try one more time.

“I suggested two things,” she heard herself say softly, “I notice you only acknowledged one of them, which makes me think maybe I wasn’t wrong-”

“Zoey.” His voice sounded calm on the surface, but after working with him for years Zoey could identify the desperation underneath. She sighed, and stood up, turning only slightly to face him.

“Look even if you can’t...say it out loud, I think you need to admit it, at least to yourself.” And with that she walked away, not allowing herself to look back as she made her way back to her desk.

“Wow.” Max leaned back in his chair, “Just...wow.” Zoey moved her head up from where it has been mushed into her folded arms,

“I know.” She said miserably, before letting her head fall back into her arms.

“So he really had no clue? And denied it when you pointed out his obvious -”

“Max,” Zoey said reprimandingly, “If I hadn’t told you, you wouldn’t know about his feelings, and goodness knows I wouldn’t have if he hadn’t sung them to me.” She grumpily took a sip of the chocolatey drink Max had ordered for her from a nearby coffee shop. 

Everybody else had already left for the night, and Max was forcing her to eat something before he let her keep working. She had already finished the mediocre lasagna that she’d ordered from a take-out place down the street, and she had to admit she appreciated it. Although she’d been too busy to realize, (Tobin had found a glitch in the system and the team had banded together to hurriedly fix it before Joan or Ava found out and gave them one of their ‘inspirational speeches’), she’d skipped her lunch break and had been starving. Max had been working alongside her, so he was probably just as exhausted as she was. But if he was, that hadn’t stopped Max from questioning Zoey pretty much non-stop about her conversation with Leif. 

“And honestly, with his heart song being so forward about him not wanting to admit it, I guess I shouldn’t have expected him to just pour his heart out to me about it but-” Zoey groaned and massaged her temple with her fingers before continuing, “I’m just really hoping that it’s enough to get him to realize it. I really don’t want to get stuck in another song loop. Or have to interfere again.”

“I mean, if he does keep singing it’s not the end of the world right?” Max said, looking down at his own sugary monstrosity of a drink as he stirred it, avoiding Zoey’s gaze as her head snapped up in shock, “You can just let him sing for a while and then try again once he’s cooled off? Like say, maybe, next month?” He trailed off and looked up at her, biting down on his lip to keep from grinning and his eyes sparkling. Zoey reached across the desk and smacked his shoulder, but she couldn’t help a surprised laugh from escaping her lips.

“Maxwell, I am not about to subject myself to a month of Leif singing just so you can win the office bet.” Max laughed, rubbing his shoulder with a small “Ow”, and Zoey pursed her lips, trying and failing to regain her composure. And watching her struggling not to giggle just made Max laugh harder. She considered smacking him again, or bringing up how badly he’d lost the last office bet (Simon and Glenn had not gotten together, despite all the “chemistry” Max had ‘picked up on'), but decided to be merciful when the alarm on her phone went off, signaling the end of the thirty minutes Max had talked her into allotting for eating and resting. Max groaned when it did, but started wheeling his chair away back to his desk nonetheless.

“Whelp, for your sake and the sake of my shoulder,” he rubbed it again exaggeratedly, “I hope it was enough for him to snap out of it too.” Zoey rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile fondly at him before returning her attention to the screen in front of her.

Chapter Text

Her talk with Leif was apparently not enough to snap him out of it. Because by the time lunch break Leif had sung no less than three separate heartsick love songs. He wasn’t repeating the songs at least, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying and distracting as heck when your coworker burst into a rendition “Heart Attack” complete with brogrammers and backup dancers while you were trying to code- God, that wasn’t an image she’d be able to get out of her head any time soon.

And it wasn’t like she could even stop it, Leif’s songs weren't the universe telling her to keep talking to him, he was just a flaming dumpster pile mess of emotions that were spilling out of him in song form. 

So she was just stuck listening to his (admittedly good) voice ring out across the bullpen as he bounced between denying being in love and admitting he was in love and being very upset about it as Zoey tried to focus on work. Honestly, if not for the fact that she was 5’2 and didn’t like conflict, Zoey probably would have tackled him by now. Instead, she settled on sending a hefty glare in Leif’s direction- who had been pointedly ignoring her all day.

To say she was relieved when Leif was chosen to grab coffee and lunch from the cafe across the block would have been an understatement. Her relief didn’t last long though, as soon as the elevator doors closed, soft instrumental music started up. She nearly whacked her head against the desk in frustration, but forced herself to remain upright as she looked around. Her heart immediately sank when the music focused around Tobin, who was re-arranging the cup of pencil’s on Leif’s desk that Leif had accidentally knocked over as he left. To Zoey’s immeasurable relief, Tobin didn’t sing, only smiled softly, maybe a little bittersweetly as he finished arranging the utensils and moved back to his desk. He hesitantly started typing again, and the imagined piano and strings faded out.

Zoey couldn’t keep herself from gaping a little bit as the now glaringly obvious right course of action sprang into her mind. Of course! She could talk to Tobin! She internally smacked herself, Tobin had sung first, and out of the two he  had been the one Zoey had wanted to talk to in the first place. Normally it wouldn’t have taken the universe throwing her a bone for her to come to that conclusion, but with the stress and lack of sleep she was currently functioning on- Zoey thought she could be forgiven for being a little slow on the uptake.

Zoey glanced around the room, finding the room to be distracted enough for her to be able to have a little one-on-one with the brogrammer. Without giving herself any time to overthink it, she scooted her chair out from underneath her desk and used her feet to propel her until she reached Tobin’s desk.

“Have a minute?” She asked, trying to keep her voice light and casual. Tobin turned to face her, a tired but genuine smile washing over his face.

“Always Red- what’s up and cracking?” A year ago Zoey would have cringed at his overly-bro vernacular, a week ago she would have teased him for it, probably bringing up his memorized dictionary to do it. Now, she was far too tired to muster up more than a small disbelieving smile before continuing.

“You like Leif,” Zoey said, not bothering to beat around the bush, just look at how well that had played out with Leif, “and not in a friend way.” Tobin blinked twice, and Zoey braced herself for the inevitable denial.

“I mean yeah-...what about it?”

Or not-

Zoey nearly sagged in relief, she knew there was a reason Tobin was her favourite.

“Ok first off, thank you for not denying it.,” Tobin shrugged, “Second, are you planning on doing anything about it?” Tobin sucked in a breath, rolling his lips before answering,

“Not really, may I ask why you’re asking? Is there an office bet on us or something?” Oh dear, Zoey didn’t know what response she was expecting or hoping for, but it certainly wasn’t that , or the weird calm, nonchalant tone he was speaking in.

“Well uh, I’m asking as your superior and kind-of-friend,” Tobin smiled at that, “I care about you and want to help-” 

“Aww Zo, that’s sweet of you-”

“Plus it’s just been increasingly obvious lately that you’re in love with him.” Tobin jerked a little bit and raised an anxious eyebrow at that, and Zoey hurriedly continued to try and reassure him. “Not that I think it’s obvious to anybody else, I don’t think you seriously liking Leif that way has even occurred to almost anybody else on the floor-”

“Zoey, Zoey!” Tobin said, raising his hands to stop her, “I know that . Nobody else on the floor, other than my girl Abby, would even care enough to ponder the nature of my feelings- about him or otherwise- unless there was a bet on it or something, which you still haven’t answered my question about.” Zoey stayed silent, and Tobin rolled his eyes and continued. “I’m not confident in many things- well that’s a lie, I’m confident in many things,” He pulled his feet up to prop them up onto the chair, resting his chin on his legs and waggling his eyebrows playfully, “probably too many if you know what I mean-” Zoey cut him off with an admonishing glare and he shrugged, giving her a look of faux innocence before sighing and continuing.

“But one thing I am confident in is my ability to hide this, I’ve been doing it since high school, and you’re the second person to find out about this- third if you count a random guy at some bar downtown. I’m not going to get caught.” Zoey scrunched her face together in confusion,

“Then why did you react like... that when I brought it up.”

“I..” Tobin started, before trailing off and looking away from Zoey in favour of staring at the screen, before taking a deep breath and continuing. “I’m not in love with him Zoey.” Zoey scoffed and replied before she could help herself.

“Bullshit.” Tobin bristled at that, his legs rearranging themselves so he was perching criss-cross-applesauce on his seat as he drew himself up surprise.

“Did you just swea-”

“-Tobin.” Zoey interrupted in a disbelieving and slightly aggravated voice, “I just- I don’t know how to- ugh.” She buried her face in her hands taking a few deep breaths, yeah, maybe her sleep deprived state wasn’t the best one to do this is, but what choice did she have? She drew herself back up, calmly asking.

“Tobin, how do you feel about him?”

“Well, he’s great, and an amazing friend-”

“No, like how does he make you feel? How do you feel around him? What do you want from him?” Tobin opened his mouth as if to answer before closing it again, his hands collecting the trinkets on his desk and lining them up, like organizing them would help him organize his thoughts. Zoey almost didn’t expect him to answer, but surprisingly he did.

“I don’t know I… he makes me feel a lot of things, like not quite happy- I mean he does make me happy but- I feel, I dunno almost like a softer version of content around him? And sometimes I’ll be angry or annoyed with him but that contentment will still be there through it? Not making the bad feelings lesser, but making them.. different?” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “I want- I want to kiss him in the mornings when I hand him coffee, supposed to be straight black because despite his best efforts he is not a morning person but with a little bit of sugar because he’s a wimp when it comes to bitter things. And- and I want to cuddle him more than just when one of us is really upset or tired, and I want to call him “babe” and “sweetheart” and nicknames other than just “ dude ”. And I want - I really want to be his boyfriend- to have that sort of relationship with him. And I want to be happy just to be his best friend but I can’t- ” He trailed off, looking down miserably as his chest heaved, pulling in the oxygen that he'd forgotten to breathe in during his burst.

Zoey took a beat to try and digest all that,

“I-” Tobin looked away again, his eyes starting to shine with unshed tears, and Zoey made her voice softer. “Tobin, that sounds a lot like being in love.” Tobin pursed his lips and looked up for a second before turning back to her, and when he did speak, his voice was fragile. Like every word he was saying was liable to break him.

“I can’t be in love with him Zoey, that just-” He took a deep breath, “That would just make it even worse.” Zoey parted her lips, trying to understand as he pulled his legs back up so that he was hugging them once more.

“...worse?”

“Look, liking your best friend like that for years , and never saying anything and just pining after them for that long? That’s bad Zoey, that feels pathetic .” He shook his head, “To be fully in love with them? Zoey that just makes it all the worse. Especially-” His voice caught and it took him a moment to continue, his voice going from the quiet desperate it’d been to a flat, defeated tone. “Especially when you know they don’t even like you back.”

“That...that sounds rough buddy.” Zoey internally cringed at her abysmal choice of words, and wished, not for the first time, that the universe had granted her people skills instead of musical hearing. “But do you really know that he doesn’t like you back-”

“ Yes .” Tobin nearly whined out, his voice more pained than Zoey had ever heard it. “Zoey...don’t you think- don’t you think I haven’t tried? I flirted with him nearly all through highschool, and then when we moved in together, and he never-” Tobins arms, which were still wrapped around his legs, clenched for a moment as he hugged his legs tighter to his chest. And then that awful defeated tone was back “I wasn’t exactly being subtle Zoey, if he liked me he would have made a move. Besides-I think we both know he’s still pining over Joan.” With a final squeeze he let his legs fall back to the floor as he turned his seat back to face his desk.

“He’s really not.” Zoey said softly, not knowing what to say.

“Even… even if that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t love me.”

“And even if that’s true, that doesn’t mean that you don’t don’t love him- ”

“ Zoey ” Tobin said, the desperation bleeding through reminding Zoey all too much of how Leif had said it- “I just, he means too much- I just,” his voice got even quieter, and when he spoke again he sounded more tired than Zoey had ever heard him. “Zoey please, I can’t .” Zoey hesitantly rested a hand on his shoulder, relieved when he let it stay there.

“Ok.”

The elevator doors opened to reveal Leif balancing an abundance of lattes and frappes in his arms and Zoey hurriedly turned to Tobin, speaking in a low voice.

“Just- think about it? Leif isn’t exactly the most observant and I think- I think there’s more than a good chance he might love- or at least like you back.” Leif neared her desk, so Zoey scooted herself back to take the coffee from his waiting hand as he pointedly avoided meeting her eye. She sent a pair of awkward finger guns in Tobin’s direction. “Thanks for the update Tobes!” 

Her voice sounded far too high for the casual tone she’d been aiming for, and Leif must have picked up on it because he nearly sent her an amused look before catching himself and looking the other way as he delivered coffee to the rest of the coders. 

By the time he reached Tobin, Tobin’s posture was relaxed and he was able to give Leif a cheesy smile as he accepted his coffee with a cheery “thanks bro!” in a voice that entirely lacked the shakiness that had threatened to consume it only moments before. 

Oh Tobin , she thought as Leif patted him fondly on the shoulder before walking back to his desk, not noticing the way Tobin’s not-yet cleared eyes following him forlornly as he went before returning to his screen.

Oh Leif, she thought when Leif finally reached his desk, turning back to look at the now working Tobin, his eyes lovesick and yearning.

It was so obvious; Zoey didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. Zoey eye’s flickered from one coder to the other as both of them forced themselves back to work. They had both fallen for the other; that much Zoey knew. What she didn’t know was what on earth she was supposed to do.