Might be a double upload because I can't sleep, but we shall see
Enjoy, lovelies!
xoxo
Derek
The events that had taken place over the last week called for a regroup at Tully's Monday night.
Joan and I were a bit hesitant to recommend Tully's because Alex was no longer drinking, but he assured us he'd be fine, and he surprisingly was.
He asked Tully for a Jack and Coke, hold the Jack. Tully looked at him weird a moment before pouring the soda, but as soon as Alex saw him start to unscrew the Jack Daniels cap, Alex stopped him.
"I'm serious," he told Tully. Tully's eyebrows raised at that.
"Never thought I'd see the day." Our good friend and bartender replied, passing just the coke across the bar table to Alex. "I thought you were pulling my leg."
Alex shook his head. "Nah I'm officially off the sweet nectar of the gods. Addiction has been running rampant in the family for too long, so I'm breaking generational curses or whatever the hell the kids are saying these days."
That got Tully laughing, and he gave Alex a courtesy top off with more coke after he took his first sip.
I'm sure the coke was cheaper than the Jack Daniels anyways. Made me wonder how much money I'd be saving if I quit drinking...
And thus the group delved into our usual gossip. We started with Alex and how his honeymoon went.
"It was incredible," Alex gushed excitedly. "He made my dream a reality. Literally. He booked a last minute stay in Tahiti and Bora Bora, and while my dreamland fictional butler Jer Jer wasn't there, we did have personal staff bringing round the clock virgin cocktails for the days we sat on the beach doing absolutely nothing. It was literally a dream. One that only included me and him- no offense. I love you guys but having that much alone time with my b-husband," Alex corrected himself, "was seriously needed."
I smiled at that, remembering the dream Alex had told us about during one of our gossip meetings at work. He was trying to explain how he managed to get that gash on his forehead, and why Christian spent the night at his place.
Whenever Christian wasn't torturing the innocent, he was obviously taking time to be a good husband to Alex, and that's all I could asked for.
Alex kept his telling of events brief, clearly trying to tap dance over all the sexy sexy time I'm sure the two had. Joan, being Joan, pushed for at least some of the romantic and naughty details.
All I could do was have a little silent freak out as Alex dished out the deets, because I knew it was going to be my turn to share the events of the week soon... and I was nervous as all hell all of a sudden.
"Enough about my sex life, please, this prodding should be reserved for Derek."
Great. Thanks, Alex.
"Oh?" Joan's eyebrows raised as she turned to me. "So you and John, huh?"
There wasn't enough liquor available to discuss what Alex walked in on today... or what he might've walked in on had he been just a few minutes late. Not enough liquor in the world... but I still asked Tully to pour me another round.
"Listen," I threw the shot back like it was water, "I really don't want to get into this..."
"You're not getting off that easy," Joan replied. "Did you finally talk to him?"
"From what I saw, I think they are well past the stage of talking." Alex interjected, which made Joan turn to him.
"From what you saw?" She questioned, then looked back at me.
"We may or may not have kissed. Again." I clarified. Joan's lips curled up into the most devilish grin.
"You don't say."
I signaled to Tully to pour me another. He gave me a half a shot with a look that told me to watch my drinking tonight. I think he still had PTSD from Alex's heavily intoxicated nights. And it looked like he just replaced the glasses Alex tried to juggle but broke.
"It's... I don't know what it is, but I like it- and him." I did one terrible job of explaining.
"Well at least you're not claiming to be fully gay. I've cleared far too many viruses from straight porn websites off your company computer, to have you insult my intelligence like that."
-
By the end of our night at Tully's, I was positive the gang was more confused than before about what John and I were. Hell, I was too. For the first time ever, I wasn't as straightforward as I usually was with my sexual encounters.
Lol. Straightforward.
Anyways, this wasn't like the time I fingered a girl at the movies, or got a blow job in the bathroom of an arcade- something I don't recommend because I got the ick from the dirty floors immediately after coming in that poor woman's mouth.
This was... different.
That was only further confirmed when I drunkenly made it home and into bed, before getting a text from John.
What would you and your tamagotchi like to eat next weekend?
The largest smile spread across my lips at that. If I wasn't laying on my back, I just know my feet would have been kicking in the air like a damn teenager. I honestly forgot all about our plans this coming weekend because of how this mess of a week had started.
I texted back:
What's your favourite dish to make?
I was about to set my phone down, ready to call it a night because John surely had to be asleep by now. It was a little past midnight... but another text came through seconds later.
Ratatouille
That made my already massive smile widen. It reminded me of the animated movie I convinced the gang to watch after The Gala.
In the movie, they were tearing that dish up, so naturally I responded with:
Yes. Absolutely yes. One hundred percent yes.
Then my drunk ass added a smiley face after. As soon as I sent it, I immediately regretted it. I was doing too much, I thought, but the last text John sent that night put me at ease... and damn near put me in a hospital from the irregular heart palpitations.
Perfect. It's a date.
:)
-
I thought there was no possible way I was going to survive a full week of work, working in the same building as John, but I didn't actually see him a whole lot throughout the week. Or like at all.
"He's caught up in off site meetings with his board members and Christian." Alex explained with irritation when I tried to look casually around the fifth floor for the nine thousandth time. "Speaking of which, did you and Joan also get a weird email from Christian?"
I nodded my head. Christian sent something out this morning about us meeting this evening in his office, but the context of the meeting wasn't included. I had no intentions of staying late for work, but alas I also had no fucking choice when it came to the Ivanovs.
Eight million people on this planet, and Alex chose that guy... of all the gays. Just incredible.
"What's it all about?" I asked Alex, watching as he finished clearing up space on my company laptop that was making it lag.
I assured him numerous times it wasn't a virus, but he still had the same attitude he usually had when it was a virus, so I assumed this work week was kicking everyone's ass.
Alex shrugged. "No idea. With Christian though, it could be anything."
And Alex was right. Because once six rolled around and I found myself in Christian's office across from him and Alex, at I sat next to Joan and Brad, I realized this meeting could be about damn near anything.
The last person to walk through Christian's office took me completely by surprise.
"I just spent all fucking day with you Christian, this meeting better have importance or I'm billing you separately for it," was the first thing John said as he entered the office. Once he looked past Alex and Christian, to glance across the desk at us three, his eyes immediately found mine.
The smile that spread across his lips had me fighting for oxygen. I couldn't leave him hanging though, so with my now very heated face, I flashed him a quick smile in return before putting my attention back on Alex and Christian.
I heard a chair being dragged across the shallow carpet before John positioned it right next to me, and took a seat.
Great, I thought. Now I was going to focus on nothing but how good he smelled. Fucking perfect.
Christian crouched down to pull something out from under his desk, before retrieving a megaphone. Alex looked down at it, then him.
"There's no way that's necessary," he was quick to say.
Christian looked up at him, before beckoning for Alex to bend down a bit. "Baby we talked about this," I heard the great Ivanov whine like a child, as he whispered "support me in public, question me in private."
Alex's eyebrows furrowed as he whispered back "now when has that ever been our relationship?"
Christian paused a moment.
"Considering we're all sitting across a desk from you two and can hear you both clear as day, I highly doubt the megaphone is necessary," Brad spoke.
"Fair enough." Christian replied irritably before setting the thing on his desk. "Now you're all probably wondering why I gathered you here tonight."
"With an email as descriptive as that one, no fucking shit," I heard John grumble. A smile broke out on my face as I glanced over at him. His eyes caught mine and he sent me a wink before focusing on Christian again.
Fucking breathe, Derek. In and out. In and out. Fuck, he smelt great.
"Well," Christian continued, choosing to ignore John, "it has come to my attention- well, HR's attention-"
"Do you guys really have an HR department?" John looked past me to ask Brad, who slowly nodded.
"Not much of one, but it exists. And trust me, I'm just as surprised as you are."
Christian cleared his throat, ending the side conversation. "Our department has brought up some troubling concerns about the workplace relationships here. There was an... incident reported Monday afternoon."
My face immediately got red at Christian's words, right as they registered.
Fuck.
Shit.
There's no way.
No like really, there was actually no way. Alex was the only one I thought who saw us, and the irony of him reporting it would've been too wild. Plus he'd generally just never do that. Everyone knew the HR department was the opps.
John's face looked to be getting a bit rosy, and he glanced over at me for just a fraction of a second before Christian continued.
"This incident means a meeting needs to take place for me to lay down some new expectations. From now on, all relationships must be kept professional while in office. No quickies in random places, like the back stairwell or the janitors closet." Christian directed that last part at John and myself.
"Well that seems a bit homophobic," I muttered.
Christian and Alex just stared at me a moment.
"I'm not even going to entertain that one." Christian shook his head slowly. "Now, if you'd like to know who actually ruined it for everyone, look no further than Brad."
...And we all did just that.
John and I leaned forward to turn to Brad and Joan next to us. Brad's face was turning bright red at rapid speeds, spreading across to the tips of his ears down to his neck. Joan had suddenly become interested in Christian's bookshelf on her right.
Well.
This was not where I thought this was going at all.
"Now, given the situation with Brad, I'm going to let this very very detailed report suddenly disappear." Christian took a piece of paper that was on his desk and tore it up. "However, I expect each and every one of you to show some workplace etiquette while on site. You all have homes and bedrooms you can go to, act like it. Put a cap on the horniness, you pubescent teenagers."
John turned back to Christian. "And as for you and Alex?" He questioned.
"I'm the CEO, and he's my husband. I don't have to explain myself to any of you."
Alex rolled his eyes at Christian's response, before turning to John. "We, too, will be exercising some workplace etiquette."
"No we won't," Christian cut in.
"Yes we will," Alex quipped back.
"No. We. Won't," Christian shook his head.
"Yes, we will." Alex insisted, giving Christian a look.
"We'll discuss this at home." Christian replied quickly before turning back to us. "Anyways that's besides the point. It wasn't me and Alex who made it to HR."
"Speaking of which, what situation could make the most holy unadulterated Brad commit such a sinful devilish act?" John directed that question over at Brad.
I was glad someone in the room had the guts to speak to the Ivanov's like this, cause I'll tell ya this much, it wasn't about to be me. I had zero desire to question either man's sex lives when they both made in a day what I made in a year.
Not my tax bracket, not my problem.
"I don't have the time to get into that tonight," Brad replied quickly. "But I'm preparing to leave for business relations next month... in Russia."
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