Sasuke
The Shinobi floor of the HMM building is in a frenzy, and to be frank, it is getting on my nerves. Receiving overzealous thumbs ups and looks of pride from coworkers when I walked into the office this morning was off-putting. I know this project is also a competition, of sorts, but some of these reactions felt unsavory, to say the least.
My article told my bit of truth, and I wasn't lying about finding myself enjoying the evening, if not to see what Haruno is like outside of boardrooms and pencil skirts. Her outfit last night was something he didn't expect, black, short, and tight fitting. Not to say I didn't appreciate the sight, but it felt unnatural. Perhaps because I'm so used to her work personality and our brief collisions in the apartment building.
From what I can tell, at work, she's professional but doesn't lose her irritatingly bright personality. In the apartment building, the brightness is still there, but maybe a little more snarky. I wonder if she's always like she was last night when she's having dinner with a man. If so, he could understand some coworker's fascination with her. Still, I wasn't sure I would ever feel accustomed to that side of her.
I haven't read her article yet, neither have I anyone else's, but based on the office's reactions, they must be confident in our standing. Perhaps it was the same on Kunoichi's floor.
Truly this entire spectacle is ridiculous. To be judged by outsiders on which sex was more knowledgeable on the other, something that is entirely objective, is only for public consumption. It's working, though. I suspect tabloids to be all over this display only asking for city gossip to take an interest.
Finally finding refuge in my office, I inspect the files left on my desk and glower at the brightly colored sticky notes with more words of congratulations. Gathering all of them and crumpling them all in on hand, they go straight into the bin before I sit down and get to work.
I agreed to this collaboration because work is work, but perhaps I should have gone with my instincts and refused. I don't think I can tolerate two months of testosterone pride and chest pumps of confidence all because of this unspoken rivalry between our two publications. What is the point in it? Both magazines are under the same company.
Already feeling an ache in my temples, I rub them, dreading the rest of the day already.
As if the universe wanted to deliberately mess with me this morning, my office door slams open to reveal two loudmouths that I truly do not want to hear from today.
"Man, you really showed her up on that date, dude!" Kiba announces as he enters the room, Naruto grinning right by his heels.
"But damn, I would have killed to see that "Catwoman dress" you were talking about," Naruto sighs. "You have to admit though, Sakura-chan is a very pretty woman."
"Yeah, yeah, but who cares about that! You got us the upper hand! Surprisingly!"
"Should I be flattered by those offending words?" I ask rhetorically, already feeling a stronger headache coming. "And why aren't you two doing your work?"
"Come on, Sasuke. The day just started. Relax!" Kiba sits leisurely on the couch by the wall while Naruto takes the seat across from my desk. "And you expect us not to celebrate? You even got a cheek kiss by the end of the night. You must be better than we thought."
"Again, is that supposed to flatter me?" I try to focus my attention on the article drafts on my desk, arranging them to piles of adequate ones to those that need revisions.
"Did you even read the other articles?" Naruto peers close. I use my hand to push his head away. "Ouch! Hey!"
"No, I have these drafts to worry about, which is what you two should be doing."
"Ah, nah, man." Kiba stands and turns my laptop to him, opening it and typing what I know to be the website's URL. Turning it back to my direction, I see Kunoichi's website and a large photo of Sakura staring at the camera. "Come on, read her article. You cannot tell me that she's not into you, man. Or maybe, she already dug you before this and was just hiding it by yelling at you."
"By your logic, all of the women you've scorned are still into you after storming into the office causing a ruckus because you didn't call them back." I look at him at the corner of my eyes with a look of incredulity.
"Hey, not my fault." He put his hands up. "Just read the damn thing."
I do, and I do not see what the big deal is. All she said was she had a good night and won't be dreading the next ones. Basically similar to what I stated in my article.
"See! She digs you, dude."
"Where in," I look back at the screen to quote her article, "' Would I actually date him if not for this project? As of now, I wouldn't know how to answer that .' says that she's 'fallen' for me?"
"She's definitely playing hard to get!"
I roll my eyes. "How exactly are you the Sex and Women expert? You seem to like to over-speculate."
"I'm the Sex and Women expert because I over-speculate." Kiba shook his head. "Dude, women are a conundrum. Everything they do is calculate."
"That just sounds like sexism to me. I surely hope your article didn't come off that way."
"Hey, I wrote exactly what I thought." Kiba folds his arms above his chest, haughty and confident. That only means that my suspicions are correct.
Naruto shrugs. "Man, who cares about that? What are you planning for the next date?"
"This isn't a gossip publication, so why are you two acting like this is?"
"Dude, it's like nine thirty, chill out." Kiba waves a hand off in dismissal. "Everyone's just curious how you're going to win this thing for us."
"Win this thing, huh?" A new, female voice appears from the door and all three pairs of eyes look to see a not too pleased Sakura with her hand on her hip, eyes in slits as she focuses her attention on Kiba.
"Ah, Haruno!" Kiba grins. "Here for the Uchiha, I see."
She walks in, determined, heels clicking loudly on the ground before stopping in front of him, plastering a smile on her face, and punching his stomach.
Kiba lurches forward, clutching the area she so casually just attacked. I can hear Naruto snicker.
"Shit," he curses, standing upright. "I forget that you're the Health and Fitness Editor."
"And you also forgot how not to sound like a complete douche." Pissed, she folds her arms above her chest. Maybe today will not be so intolerable, after all. "Do you always come off as a frat boy in your articles?"
"Hey, I call it like I see it, and from what I read, you're interested." His last words sound playful, to Sakura's ire.
As entertaining as it is to witness Kiba getting a scolding from the Kunoichi woman, I would much rather not have the rest of the floor looking into my office. "Dog, Idiot," I sigh. "Could you just go do your work?"
"Hey, what did I do?" Naruto complains before his frown turns into a sly, mischievous grin. "Ah, I get it! Don't worry. We'll leave you two alone."
"Do you also want a punch in the gut, idiot?"
Naruto laughs nervously before taking Kiba by the shoulder and leaving as fast as he could, closing the door behind him.
She says nothing for a few moments, just standing in the middle of my office, stewing in her anger, before she shakes her head. "Are those two always so… loud?"
I raise a brow. "You don't think storming into my office to punch someone doesn't qualify as loud?"
She glares at me, red lips in a frown. "I'm mad at you, too, you know!"
"And what have I done?" I lean closer to my desk, fingers laced together as I watch her.
"I thought that the date ended right when dinner ended. No one said anything about the car ride home being part of any of this!"
"Normally, dates end when the two part ways. In this case, we did so when we went into our apartments."
"Yeah, but I thought since, hey, we live in the same fucking building, that this was just a rare kind gesture."
"You seem to be so confident in these unspoken rules." This is almost as amusing as seeing her attack Kiba.
"We both live in the same building, and we did agree not to tell anyone." She's in front of my desk, leaning closer.
"If you're just angry about the polling or something, then maybe just do better the next time." It's a challenge, I know, but seeing her reaction brings somewhat of an odd sensation I don't know how to accurately describe.
Her face is close. My fingers untangle from each other and I move to lean back on my chair, but she grabs my tie before I do, keeping me in position. I glare at her.
"Remember, all's fair in love and war." With one final warning smile, I focus on her red stained lips.
She lets go of my tie and as quick as she had arrived, she walks out, sashaying away. The sound of her heels echoing until she closed the door behind her.
This is going to be more interesting than I had thought.
Note:
Written Affair is my comfort fic to write dksfjsjkdf I don't have to worry too much about length.
Also! In case you didn't know, part 4 of this Occupational Hazard series is almost done in Twitter (cxtwithclxws). It's in social media form and it's more like an epilogue and a peak at how others in the office behave and Sasuke's family background. It's been really fun to make, and I'm thinking of maybe adding it as a whole to AO3 since they're all mostly photos.
Anyway, have a good day!