Disclaimer: I don't own Jake and Amir, they belong to themselves and College Humor. Not making any money and no infringement is intended... Nor am I implying any of this ever happened, neither am I trying to tarnish their honor. The 100 theme challenge list can be found on Deviantart.

1. Introduction

That day, Amir could clearly remember, hadn't been very remarkable nor much different from any other day. There was no air of excitement hanging in the office, the weather was nothing to be remarked up: the clouds were heavy and pregnant with rain, ready to pop; he had even gone through his normal morning routine without deviation... It had been completely normal save for one important aspect: the previously empty desk across from his had been filled by a young blond from Connecticut.

This was also the last day that Amir had ever done anything productive in his career.

Amir had been working steadily, eyes glued to the screen and his hands on the keyboard, he had only been in College Humor for a week and wanted to leave a positive impression on the rest of the office so he did as much as he could.

He was suddenly broken from this work-induced stupor when a shadow passed over him, the shadow was unwelcome and distracting. He furrowed his brows and pursed his lips before looking up, his brown eyes meeting blue ones. When their eyes met it was like a switch had flipped within him, and all traces of tension left his face. Those eyes, seemingly endless indigo, drew him in and engulfed him reducing his mind to little more than white noise. It wasn't just the eyes though, it was the face they seemed to have settled and found a home in. It was clean shaven, lightly tanned, with traces of health, and very attractive.

The white noise in his mind had been interrupted for a moment, and he felt a slight nagging in the back of his mind... He noticed the soft lips on that face were moving. Words. He thought. Words. He thought again. He realized now that he should be hearing words. Without warning, the great din of the office noise settled in his mind, greatly disturbing him momentarily. "-m new here." was the last snippet he had heard in a soft, friendly voice spoken by the stranger.

Amir did his best impression of a fish, opening his mouth, closing it, opening it and allowing it to gape for a moment before closing it again. Suddenly, he felt like spiders were crawling around within his stomach and chest; his throat, he found, was bone dry. At first he could not find his voice, but after a few seconds he heard himself speaking, "Sorry, uh, I didn't hear what you said." he gave a goofy grin to reassure himself.

"Oh," the other male said, giving a friendly smile, "I'm Jake, I'm new here." he repeated. Unbeknownst to him, the brunette opposite him seemed to have feelings very nearly mirroring his own.

Amir once again found himself at a loss for words, "Oh." he said dumbly, he put a hand on his stomach momentarily to attempt to quell the spiders that endlessly crawled around. "I'm... uh..." he paused, unsure where he was even going with this, "I'm Amir." he said finally, laughing softly at himself.

Now, in Amir's mind it was well defined that he had never been attracted to another male. However, this rule was completely bent when he felt an unfamiliar warmth glowing in his lower belly at the sight of his new coworker. It was as if this phrase had been revised, with "...other than Jake." had been tacked onto the end of it.

Amir hoped that this stupid nervous behavior he had noticed in himself would end, and soon, before it could progress... Oh how ill placed that hope had been.