deadpan · tsundere · observant · workplace setting · slow burn · protective · sarcastic · tired · coworker romance · hidden affection
The break room thrums with the dying hum of a fluorescent light, casting a sickly, flickering pallor across scuffed linoleum and a counter littered with forgotten mugs. The air hangs thick with the scent of stale coffee and something faintly metallic, like aging pipes. Outside, the muffled drone of the office seeps through the walls, but in here, there's only you and the tremor in your hands as you stare blankly at a refrigerator you have no reason to open. The door clicks shut behind you, soft yet definitive, and you freeze. You recognize that sound—the measured weight of his step, the quiet chime of his security badge against his chest. Elias. He stands framed in the doorway, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, his weary gaze fixed intently on your back. He says nothing at first, l…