Love is not Extinct ~ HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
Eerie Office Hours
It was just another late night at the office of inSport! Magazine. Journalists were typing away at their computers, finishing last minute assignments to meet their deadlines, and the editor-in-chief was in his office working to make sure that everything was perfect before they submitted the work for the final print.
Akaashi Kenji was used to keeping these kinds of hours with his job. Especially when he had to constantly wrangle a group of talented, but unfocused sports journalists who, although they produced high quality work, were easily distracted and had to constantly be reminded of deadlines. Sometimes his job seemed much less prestigious than it sounded. Half the time all the editor-in-chief was, was a glorified babysitter making sure the children all got their homework done. Except if they didn't get it done, he was the one who would end up with a failing grade.
Leaning back in his chair, Akaashi arched his back to stretch his stiffening muscles, mentally preparing himself for the next piece he had to review. That was when the lights flickered. Stopping mid-stretch, he looked up at the fixture above his head curiously but brushed it off and turned back to the computer to continue his work.
Then the power went out completely. Akaashi sighed.
He was just standing up to go and check out what might have happened when he heard a slow creaking sound to his right. Looking over, he could see the door to the storage room was cracked open slightly. He knew that he had closed it after the last time he had gone in there. Walking over, he reached out to grab the handle so he could open the door and investigate.
Suddenly the door burst open and a large white blob lunged towards him with a loud scream. "Boo!"
Akaashi just blinked, confused, as he stared at the figure under a white sheet who stood there awkwardly for a moment before dropping their arms and their shoulders, slouching in defeat. Akaashi reached up and pulled the sheet off to reveal one of the talented but irresponsible journalists, Bokuto Kataro, looking dejected.
"Aa-kaaa-shii!" he whined with a pout. "That was supposed to scare you. Why don't you look even slightly startled?
"Sorry." Akaashi held out the sheet to Bokuto with the same blank expression. "Did you want to try again and have me act scared." Bokuto snatched the sheet with a frown.
"No! That defeats the point. I was trying to scare you!"
"Well, I apologize for disappointing you." Akaashi moved back over to his desk and sat back down. "Have you finished your work yet?"
"Well…" Bokuto started to say but his boss didn't let him finish.
"Then perhaps you should save the games of scaring people for later and finish your work so that we can all go home." Bokuto's shoulders slumped more as he drug his feet out of the editor-in-chief's office, turning the light back on on his way out.
"How did it go?" Komi Haruki, the magazine's web designer and tech specialist, asked once Bokuto shut the door on his way out. He had been waiting outside, being the one who assisted his colleague in flickering and turning out the lights in their boss's office. "He didn't look like he even jumped."
"He didn't," Bokuto pouted, slumping into his desk chair. "Not even a flinch!"
Kuroo leaned to the side to look around his computer screen and look at the journalist. "Akaashi is too calm for something like that to scare him. You need to be a little more creative."
"Oh! I have an idea, we should be able to at least startle him this way." Komi said excitedly, leaning in as Kuroo leaned over his desk to listen in on this new plan, all three men grinning.
Akaashi got up from his desk after reviewing another submission. He needed to take a break and walk around, and he definitely needed fresh coffee. As he stepped out of his office he glanced around, taking a mental inventory of who was still there working and who had finished their assignments and left for the night.
As usual, Bokuto was still sitting at his desk, tapping his fingers on the wood as he stared mindlessly at his screen. It was hard to tell if he was deep in thought or letting his mind wander because he didn't want to work. Out of everyone in the office, Bokuto was the biggest handful.
Kuroo, who's desk sat against Bokuto's, facing him, was diligently typing away. Akaashi was sure that Kuroo would have likely been finished with his work already but probably had gotten distracted chatting with Bokuto or one of the other staff members. Kuroo was a hard worker and always got his submissions in before the deadline but had a bad habit of pushing things off sometimes.
On the other side of them he could see that Komi was also still here, though not currently sitting at his desk, his computer screen was on and his notebook that he kept all his lists of to-do's was sitting open next to his keyboard. And in the desk facing Komi's, Onaga Wataru, their high school sports journalist, was busy typing away with headphones on as he bounced his leg to the beat of whatever he was listening to.
Akaashi knew that this month had been an exceptionally busy one seeing how many people were still left. In the pair of desks behind Onaga, Shirofuku Yukie, the health and nutrition journalist, and Konoha Akinori, the supplement and nutrition journalist, were also both still busy working and they rarely ever stayed late. Both of them were known for their organization and their ability to stay on top of, and usually ahead of, schedule.
On the opposite side, behind Kuroo, Sarukui Yamato, the sports news journalist, was leaning back in his chair chatting and not doing his work until his desk mate, their national sports journalist, Washio Tatsuki threw a paperclip at him to get his attention to Akaashi who was out of his office and had looked over at them. Suddenly Sarukui was very engrossed in his work.
It seemed that the only two that weren't here late was their intern, Anahoirt Shuichi, and the product advertising coordinator, Suzmeda Kaori. Akaashi was going to have to put more emphasis on employees staying ahead on their work. Even with the busy month, he was a bit disappointed that so many of his staff were having to stay late so that they would meet their deadlines. Clearly he was not properly doing his job in managing them and that error needed to be corrected.
Walking between two desk clumps, he headed into the employee break room to fill his coffee only to have someone jump in front of him out of nowhere. "Heya boss!" Komi grinned brightly but a second later his grin faltered.
"Hello," Akaashi responded, stepping around the man to get his coffee. "Shouldn't you be at your desk?"
"Yeah…" he drug out the word as he turned and started to leave the room. "I was just getting myself a snack." He said before he walked back out to his desk.
"Man, nothing phases him," Sarukui said with a low whistle as he leaned back in his chair, turning to face his coworkers.
"Something has to…" Kuroo said thoughtfully. "We just have to figure out the right thing to get him with."
Quickly all of them turned around, looking back at their screens and making themselves busy as Akaashi walked back out of the breakroom with his refilled coffee. Shirofuku stood up and gathered her things as the editor-in-chief walked by.
"I just sent this month's submission to you. Sorry it was so late this month," she said, bowing her head respectfully to Akaashi before making her way out of the office to head home. Akaashi nodded then looked at Konoha who was still keeping busy.
"I will be finished soon as well, I'm just reviewing it one last time before I send it." Konoha said.
Akaashi took a sip of his coffee, pleased. "I hope that the rest of you are also getting close to turning in your submissions." He got no responses as the remaining employees continued to make themselves look busy. Resisting a sigh, he went back into his office, shutting the door. It was going to be a late night.
As the time went on, the luck of the men remaining in the office did not improve. It seemed like nothing phased Akaashi. Despite all their tricks the editor-in-chief hadn't even flinched once.
Onaga had suggested that they find a way to bang against the window in his office from outside, positive that that would startle anyone. After gathering all the mops and broomsticks from the closet and taping them together, Onaga had gone outside and banged the tip as hard as he could against Akaashi's office window, causing the cleaning tools to fall apart and the mop to hit him in the head. When he came back up he was disappointed to learn that all he had gotten out of the editor for that work was a glance behind him.
Sarukui took advantage of his chance to try and scare the boss by rigging an air horn to the bottom of Akaashi's chair while he went to the restroom. When he came back and sat down the horn blared loudly, even startling some of them who had known it was going to happen. But Akaashi just looked down at his chair, confused, before reaching down, taking it off and getting back to work without even asking what was going on.
Washio suggested that they send him an email with a video clip that he had seen with a major jump scare out of nowhere. They were all sure that this would work.
To: akaashik
Subject: CHECK THIS OUT!
Check this video out! Pretty cool!
watch?v=HqGsT6VM8Vg
Five minutes later, without any reaction from Akaashi, Bokuto received an email response.
To: bokutok
Subject: RE: CHECK THIS OUT!
While that was an interesting video and an unexpected ending, I don't think that looking up these types of things is the best use of your time. Please get back to work so that we can go home and remember that I cannot leave until you also finish your work.
Defeated and out of ideas, the five men turned to Kuroo with pleading glances, hoping that he would have a brilliant idea that would allow them to finally get the satisfaction of startling their boss. Kuroo leaned back in his chair and pondered this for a moment before a smirk came across his face.
"Well it's a little risky...Bokuto would have to be the one to do it but I think this could work." They all leaned in close as Kuroo explained his plan.
Kuroo figured that the reason Akaashi had not been startled before was that even though their attempts were surprising, he never felt like his life was truly in danger. Akaashi was just too level headed and calm to be illogical about those things. So the new plan was to stage a scene where Akaashi would truly believe that something was going to physically attack him, and they would use Bokuto because they two had been dating for years now and, unlike the rest of them, Bokuto wouldn't get in trouble for trying to pull something like this off. At least not as much trouble, and Bokuto seemed completely fine with these odds.
They helped Bokuto quietly climb on top of one of the bookshelves just outside of Akaashi's office to wait for him to come out so that he could jump down on him and scare him. Bokuto was so anxious and excited that it was hard for him to stay still as he waited.
Finally, Akaashi emerged and Bokuto, nearly slipping as he did so, jumped off the bookshelf and on to Akaashi's back. But to the amazement of all that were watching, Akaashi didn't look startled. In fact, he hadn't even dropped the files he had been carrying. He simply just looked back at Bokuto, confused.
"What are you doing?"
"Dang!" Bokuto pouted as he slid off the man's shoulders. What happened next happened so fast that before anyone else could react, it was over.
As Bokuto slid off his boyfriend's back his heel caught against the edge of the still wobbling bookshelf that he had just leaped off of. This caused Bokuto to lose his balance and fall backward just as the entire shelf began to fall forward, ready to topple over on top of him. Akaashi's eyes widened in horror, knowing he would be unable to prevent the shelf from falling, and with its weight it could seriously injure Bokuto.
Without a second thought he dropped the files in his hands, the papers spreading across the floor as he dove down, wrapping his arms around Bokuto and using the momentum of his dive to roll both of them out of the way and into the wall on the opposite side.
Breathing heavy and clutching onto the larger man, Akaashi's heart was racing in his chest. He gripped onto the fabric of Bokuto's shirt, burying his face further into the man's chest.
"Damn it Bokuto, don't do things like that. That was extremely dangerous, you could have gotten hurt." His voice softened as Bokuto felt his cheeks warming up at Akaashi's reaction, the editor-in-chief trembling just slightly. "You scared me."
Bokuto smiled as warmth bubbled up in his chest. Not because they had finally figured out how to scare the stoic man, but because he was overwhelmed with love. He wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"I'll be more careful Keiji," he whispered in the man's ear before kissing his cheek softly. "I promise."
Usually Akaashi would have pushed Bokuto away, he was very strict with him about being professional in the workplace and that they should never bring their relationship into the office, even if everyone there knew they were dating. But right now, he didn't care. Bokuto was safe in his arms and he needed that right now and had no intentions of letting him go until he could calm down a little more. Only then would he get after the men in this room for wasting time pulling off these ridiculous stunts instead of getting their work done.