Chapter Text
“Hey, are you alright?“
You felt the hand on your shoulder only after you heard Zac‘s voice.
“Uh, yeah yeah… I‘m good. Just a little nervous, I guess.“ That was the truth, but for different reasons than he might be aware of.
It was your first day at the CollegeHumor office. Zac Oyama was an old High School friend of yours who repeatedly urged you to apply for the art department of the company that rose to popularity from the internet. You gave in, and low and behold, got the job! Apparently, all those years being locked in your room hunched over your art supplies finally payed off.
Now you stood in the large, open office space and yes… you were nervous, but not because it was your first day or the fact that working for such a popular company intimidated you.
Okay, maybe that too.
No, the reason for your nervousness stemmed from the redhead standing at the opposite end of the room. Your eyes zeroing in on his frame, blatantly ignoring the man he was having a conversation with.
All you saw was Brennan Lee Mulligan. A man you‘ve been a fan of since longer than you could remember. You were fascinated by him, how effortlessly he could string words together, act his heart out and make you laugh. You told none of this to Zac of course, he was Brennan's colleague after all and you didn’t want to make things weird between them.
“No need to be nervous. You’re practically family already! Come on, let me introduce you to everyone.“ Zac grabbed your arm and pulled you alongside him, dragging you through the office space.
You were thankful for Zac, honestly, you loved this little dork in your own way. But sometimes you wanted to rip the positive energy straight out of his beaming smile.
As you made your way across the hall, greeting everyone who came your way, you felt yourself becoming more tense the closer you got to the other side of the room. Brennan’s presence alone leaving its mark on you.
God, this is embarrassing, he’s just some random dude, chill!
“Aah, Zac! Here with the new poor soul?“ Brennan’s voice sounded with his signature suave as soon as he saw the two of you approach.
“The one and only! Fresh and ripe for the blood sacrifice,“ Zac quickly snapped back. This got a bright laugh out of Brennan and a giggle out of you from their funny banter. You could get used to this already. Although it felt surreal standing before Brennan now, in flesh and blood.
“Brennan, this is Y/n, a friend from way back… Y/n, Brennan…“ Zac introduced you with a wide gesture.
Immediately Brennan extended a hand towards you, which you hastily took. Your nerves only slightly comforted by the warm smile on his face. When your fingers touched, you felt electricity dance atop your skin, like a shockwave of adrenaline that made you shudder immediately. Unaware if he felt it too, you tried to blow off the feeling. Probably just feeling starstruck, or something.
When you looked up Brennan smiled down at you, taking you in before he spoke: “Pleasure! Any friend of Zac is a friend of mine!“ He was just as nice as you imagined him to be and for some reason it made you even more nervous. At least if he would have been a dick you could just ignore him and move on... but of course not.
“Seee...“ Zac chimed in from behind you. You smiled timidly. He was right, you were treated as family. It was new, and refreshing.
“So, art department, right?“ Brennan’s eyebrows rose in question, clearly unsure if he remembered correctly.
“Yup, that’s me! I’ll take care of the props, graphics and some animations if needed.“
“Rad, that will come in handy! My desk is right next to the art department, so feel free to drop by if you need anything, okay?“
Great, that means I get to see him every time I leave my desk.
You were praying to the universe that this silly infatuation, or whatever it was, would leave ASAP so you could focus on your work.
You nodded before Zac pulled you away to greet the next stranger.