The last part of his workday that should bore him the most was actually the highlight of his day.
After a long, usually interesting day at his Battle Factory, he was always needed at the Battle Tower for a mandatory meeting amongst all the Brains. When he first got the job (easily), he had found them an incredibly boring way to end his hours. But lately, he always left disappointed that it seemed to end so quickly.
The short boy rode up in the elevator to the floor, become aware of how hard his heart is starting to pound and the wide smile on his face, blushing in embarrassment and taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He wore a blank expression as he finally walked into the meeting room.
The room was empty. He was used to always being earlier than his co-workers, and he didn't mind. He simply sat himself in his spot, to the left of the head of the table where Palmer sat, and pulled out his machine, beeping away with it. Eventually, the other Brains poured in, and they waited together for Palmer. It was a normal routine.
Then the tall blond strode into the room and Nejiki felt his heart skip a beat. He tried his best, like he had been for the last few weeks, to keep his composure. He was always successful at that at least, but never in trying to tear his eyes away from Palmer.
He drank in the Tycoon's image as he quickly talked, obviously impatient to get home, something Nejiki knew and was disappointed by.
He took in every detail of his face. The large wrinkle by his mouth, caused by an almost constant smirk, which he found adorable. The wrinkles around his eyes. His blazing, gorgeous golden eyes. The ever familiar smirk as he spoke proudly of his Battle Frontier. It was attractive whenever he spoke so passionately about the Frontier, the area which he had built up on his own, that fact making Nejiki feel even more enamored.
On top of his head was his signature mop of blond, messy hair. He often longed to run his hands through it, not minding the idea of his fingers snaring on tangles and knots, to tug on the tails only to see his adorably grumpy face, brush the bangs out of his eyes. Mess it up, smooth it back.
He looked at the neck covered by an off-white turtleneck, as it always was. Nejiki always suppressed the urge to tug it down to bare his neck, wondering if it was as kissable looking as the rest of his skin he showed (which was not much). He looked at the deep green jacket, yearning for the chance to take it off of his shoulders after a long day, sit down and massage his shoulders...
Nejiki madly shook his head, and took a deep breath. He was getting carried away. He tried to focus on the Tycoon's words, spoke in his alluring smooth voice, rather than his body and appearance.
...But he didn't just like his appearance, he argued with himself and completely forgetting about trying not to think about Palmer. The man's impatient antics were sometimes annoying but mostly adorable, his passion for the Frontier and his Tower was admiring, his paranoia (mostly about his analysis machine) was amusing at best. And sometimes his clueless nature was aggravating, but yet a lifesaver; the teenage genius knew for sure that his fellow co-workers knew of his gigantic crush on their boss, but for their boss himself...
He was as dumb as a box of rocks about it. Completely oblivious. Nejiki could buy him a cup of coffee like he had after a few meetings before, a million times more, and his boss would chalk it up to nothing beyond Nejiki being nice for some reason or other.
It was irritating sometimes, but at most, he felt blessed he had a crush on such a dumb man.
He blinked his intensely focused eyes as his crush got up, the other Brains following suit. Getting up slowly, he felt that inkling of disappointment and also the need to interact with him beyond their work.
"Tycoon!" he called out. He briefly went red at how loud and desperate sounding he seemed to be, managing to get it off his face as the man turned to look at him, the other Brains obviously withholding giggles at the nerd as they quickly went off to leave them alone.
"What?" He put his hands on his hips, obviously twitching with impatience. Nejiki stuttered for a moment, trying to think up what to say.
"Well... may I walk home with you sir? ...To talk about the Frontier. I'll buy you a coffee."
The older man raised a brow and simply shrugged, turning away and walking off. Nejiki took it as a yes and followed close behind him.
They chatted about the Battle Frontier, Nejiki feeling his heart race whenever the man spoke so proudly of it, and not feeling so guilty about drinking in his image again, feeling lucky to walk beside him as they walked to his home.
It felt like it had only been a minute as they finally reached the destination. Nejiki blinked in surprise and just noticed how hot his hands felt from his untouched hot tea. Palmer reached up with one hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Er, well. Gotta head inside now."
"Yeah..." Nejiki felt awkward and disappointed for another time that day. "...Thanks for letting me talk with you."
"Yeah yeah, no problem." His boss smirked a little, then looked off to the side, mumbling, "I liked your company. You're not as annoying as I thought."
Nejiki widened his eyes a bit, unable to hold back his blush, looking away as well as he tried to regain his composure, failing but managing to speak clearly at least.
"Well. I like your company too, Tycoon. 90% of the time." Nejiki smiled a bit, unable to hold back the geeky percentage.
"...Heh." He shrugged. Nejiki finally looked at him, able to see a hint of a blush on the father's cheeks. He reached up and scratched at his blond head of hair again. "Sounds like we should hang out more often then...?"
"That sounds good." It was an understatement.
"...Yeah. See you tomorrow then." He turned sharply, walking quickly to the front door of his house, slipping inside.
"...See you." Nejiki smiled still as he stared at the door for a moment longer before turning to leave, taking a deep breath before starting off towards his own home.
Maybe he had his hopes up high, but Nejiki felt like he had entered a door. If he could not get closer beyond what he already knew about his love interest, he at least was welcomed to a friendship with him. Maybe they could not be more than that, and he had suspected that much a long time ago, but he enjoyed the feelings he got whenever he spoke with the passionate, smug, clueless, dumb man.
And now his days wouldn't end in disappointment. Now they were all highlighted in desired gold and green. And his name was Palmer.