The Man in the Office (Tanner X Paul)

Chapter One

Paul's POV

I pulled my car into my usual parking spot close to Red Base at Hi5 Studios; taking my keys out of the ignition I looked up, movement catching my eye over at Orange Base. Tanner was there being weird with his camera, obviously vlogging; I don't know how to describe it, but there's just something about the way that that tall man moves that looks so elegant and hot; man how I want to feel that body and kiss his lips, feeling his mustache and beard rub against my face. I slapped myself harder than expected to get myself out of my daydream, I rub my face in hope to stop a red mark from showing up where I slapped myself. I grabbed my phone and keys, getting out of my car I scanned my keycard giving me access to the building. I said a quick and polite "hey" to some people that I passed.

I loud out a happy sigh as I set my stuff down, collapsing on my chair. I didn't hesitate to turn on my computer knowing I had a lot of stuff to do before today's GG shoot. I logged onto my computer, blushing as a photo of Tanner and I appeared as my wallpaper; it's a simple photo, but one of my favorites, we're just posing like idiots in the GG set, the lights were illuminating Tanner and me perfectly, adding streaks of light into his hair. I stared at the photo, a goofy smiling plastering its way onto my face. Is it possible to love someone this much without knowing if they love you back or not?

"Dude, what's up with you? You've had your eyes glued to your monitor since before I walked in here," I jumped at the sound of Connor's voice, pulling me away from my thoughts of Tanner. I looked over at Connor, biting my lip awkwardly, I didn't expect anyone to catch me looking at Tanner and that hot body.

"I-I.. It's nothing, just got lost in thought" I quickly spoke, as I clicked to open up the file I needed on my computer. Thankfully Connor dropped the conversation, but I could tell he knew something was up; how was I supposed to tell him what was going on? How am I supposed to tell him that for the past seven months I've had the biggest crush on someone who I work with, and it has caused me to question everything I have known about myself and my sexuality. It's actually still harder than it sounds, this is something bigger than a simple crush. Curse Tanner and his soft blonde hair making me always want to run my hands through it; curse him and his bright blue eyes that cause me to get lost in them until I feel like I'm going to drown. His bright smile and laugh just makes me really smile and calm no matter how bad of a day I'm having. I'm so jealous of Gunner for being able to live with Tanner, I wish I could be in Gunner's shoes even just for a day just to be near Tanner.

After a couple of hours of working and trying to keep my mind off of things, it was time for the GG shoot, I headed to the set, managing to be the first one there; I help set up the equipment, getting the game set up on everyone's computer and sitting down in my seat before anyone else showed up. Tanner showed up a few minutes after I sat down and I acted like I didn't see him, but how was I going to miss that amazing man?

"Hey, Paul, what's up? How are you today man?" Tanner greets me as he gets his mic, hooking it up as he sat at his computer next to me.

"Hey, Tan-Man" I felt that goofy smile return to my face "I'm good man! Excited for this shoot! It should be a lot of fun!" My voice became really cheerful as I talked to him, gosh I'm just like a teenage girl, always way too happy to talk to my crush.

During the shoot, I couldn't help but look at Tanner a lot; which at this point is pretty normal for me, I smiled and laughed more at his jokes, he just always seems really funny to me. I didn't think anyone noticed about it until after we were done filming, Connor stopped me before we got back to our office. Behind me, I could hear people walking around getting things they needed and talking to people they needed to talk to; it was getting close to lunchtime so a lot of people were rushing to get the work done they needed to be done before lunch.

"Dude you didn't tell me you were gay!" Connor confronted me, I quickly pushed him into our office before we continued talking and someone overheard us; I don't know why he didn't just wait until we were in the office anyways.

"I'm not gay! Why would you say that?!" I was trying not to overreact, but that's easier said than done.

"Are you kidding me? It's so obvious! The way you get all flustered around Tanner, you are always talking to yourself about him!"

"And so you just assume I'm gay?! I do like girls!" I paused after I spoke, going quiet "At least I think I do..." I mumbled quietly, biting my lip roughly.

"Paul..." Connor spoke carefully, not wanting to make things worse.

"I don't know okay! You're right! I like Tanner! But that's about the only thing I'm certain of!" I shouted a bit, not loud enough to get anyone else's attention, but loud enough to catch Connor off guard. Finally saying something about it felt weird, it was something I was keeping to myself for so long that it felt... wrong to talk about.

"Paul, I'm sorry, I'm here to talk about it if you need" Connor offered, he really is a nice guy, I should have been able to talk to him about it before, but it really is hard to even let the words fall out of my mouth.

"I...I love Tanner..." I choked out, shaking my head as I walked out of the office, slamming the door a bit behind me.