12 Days of JayTim
Stress and Sandwiches

No matter what Tim did, his eyes always flickered to the beige clock mounted on the wall. It was completely involuntary, and he would always mentally (or outwardly) scold himself every time. He was just so energetic today. Perhaps too much sugar in his coffee? No, it was the same amount that he always used; three packets to take away the blatant bitterness. He's not exactly sure why today's any different for him. Maybe all of this paperwork has finally started to eat its way through his patience. It wouldn't surprise him because all of these files and meetings and possible court cases are just plain ludicrous.

Or perhaps it's what's planned for after his shift, for when he goes back to his apartment. He cleared his throat at the thought. Either way, even though staring at endless files and charts was driving him up a wall, staring at the clock every two minutes and listening to the continuous "tick tock" would drive every ounce of sanity he ever possessed out of his body. He'd like to keep his stability in check, thank you.
He'd have to invest in a digital clock.

Five o'clock rolled around much too slowly for Tim's liking, but he was going to take it gratefully, nonetheless. As he was packing his briefcase with work he'd have to complete on his own time back at home, his office phone began to ring. Tim's pretty sure Alfred would have given him the look of shame if he heard the curses rolling around in Tim's head. With a sigh, he picked up the phone. And boy, did it take every muscle in his body not to slam the phone down and chuck it out the window.

"You what?" he spoke darkly into the receiver. He ran a hand through his hair as he listened to the annoying voice on the other end, his hand turning into a tight fist as the voice continued to speak. "You lost it. You're joking, right? You better be joking because that is due on my desk tomorrow at eight a.m. The entire enterprise is depending on this project, and you fucking lost it?" Tim was about ready to yank out his hair. He wanted to strangle someone, particularly the idiot he was talking to.

"This project took the team three weeks to do on their part. Did you even bother to do anything before you lost it? Wait, you want me to redo it? Why should I, it was your responsibility. I have my own projects to worry about. You have to be kidding me, I am not–" He began to pace around his desk, tugging roughly on his hair before he huffed in disbelief.

"What the hell am I supposed to present tomorrow? A 'Sorry, but my team accidentally deleted the entire files from the system,' maybe? That's not going to cut it. Okay. Okay, you know what? I will do the entire project over again that was your responsibility and I will make sure that you will be not be permitted to step foot in Wayne Enterprises again by the end of this week," he hissed into the phone before he violently hung up the phone.
Great. Just great. Now he had to complete a project that he had no responsibility to prior. Let's forget the fact that he should have been out of the building over ten minutes ago. Now he probably wasn't even going to make it home. He set his briefcase back down on his desk with a bit more force than necessary, and he just fell back into his chair.

"Fantastic," he muttered bitterly to himself before he pulled his laptop back out and set to fixing everyone else's problems. He didn't even bother to call Jason; or rather, he forgot to.

His cell phone started to ring loudly in the office, breaking Tim's concentration, and the man groaned in frustration. He ripped the phone out of his pocket and answered the call, hissing "what?" into the phone.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey. What died and shoved itself up your ass?" asked a gruff voice. Jason. "And where the hell are you? You were supposed to be here over forty five minutes ago."

Tim groaned and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Right. It was their date night. "I'm sorry, Jason," he sighed, "but I can't make it. I'm stuck at the office."

"Wait, you're still there?"

"Yeah. Probably all night too. Some idiot messed up and I have to clean up the mess. So until it's finished, I stay here. Sorry, Jason," Tim apologized.

"So… night's cancelled?" he asked, and he sounded a bit more disappointed than he would have liked.

"Afraid so," the younger man murmured. In truth, he'd rather just be curled up against Jason's side because he's warm, relax a bit. Unwind from the stressful workday. Maybe be really intimate because that's always nice and fun. But no, not today. "I'll see you later," was all he said, and he waited for the "yeah, later" before hanging up. He sighed again before burying his face in his hands. He really wished he had another cup of coffee. He'd have to get one soon if he planned to stay up all night in the office. He'd rather not fall asleep and drool on his laptop, thanks.

Eight p.m. rolled around sooner than Tim had wanted it to, and he wasn't even halfway done. Didn't anyone ever hear of flashdrives? Come on. This was ridiculous. He could even feel the caffeine begin to wear off and damn, what a migraine. And then someone had the nerve to simply walk in his office. What the hell?

"Ever hear of knocking?" he inquired bitterly without even looking up from his laptop. He was answered with a snort as a hand set down a steaming cup of coffee and a paper bag.

"Ever hear of a 'give your boyfriend a call'?" he asked, though it was more of a playful jest. He understood anyway. Tim looked up at him in surprise.

"Jason."

"The one and only," he replied with his trademark smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Tim asked, though he sort of got the picture by looking at the food and inviting coffee.

"Bringing you your crack. What else?" he huffed. "Figured you didn't eat, so I brought you something." And Tim just pursed his lips before he sighed.

"Jason, I appreciate the thought, really, but I don't have time to eat," he said.

"What, and you have time to kill yourself? Totally understandable," he voiced sarcastically, eyebrows arched. "C'mon, eat."

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Tim recited

"Or makes you crazier. Seriously, it's just a sandwich. C'mon. Don't make me force feed you," he mock threatened, though if things got that far, he probably would do it.

"Jason, I need to get this done," he said evenly.

"And you need to eat."

"I'm being serious," the younger man said, looking Jason in the eyes.

"And so am I," he replied before he hopped up onto Tim's desk. "So eat."

"Jason, do you even know how important this entire assignment is? It is a huge investment that many other corporations will be a part of, and someidiot ruined the entire thing so now I have to do it all," he said bitterly. "And I–"

"Can chill," Jason said. "I've already taken care of it." The look on Tim's face was priceless because his eyes narrowed to wary slits very slowly, and his upper lip twitched ever so lightly as it tried to form the correct words.

"…What?" he asked. What did that even mean.

"I said I took care of it," he said, sitting up with a smug look on his face. "Meaning the asshole who messed the entire thing up will have the finished assignment on your desk by the appropriate time – seven, was it?"

"It was eight," Tim corrected.

"Guess you'll have it a little early then," Jason mused, and there was that wolfish grin again. It took Tim a while to compute everything the older man just said, but he looked up at him with impressed and slightly relieved eyes.

"I love you." The words rolled easily off his tongue, and it even resulted in a soft chuckle from Jason.

"Yes, I know."

"No, I mean I really love you," he breathed. This was possibly the nicest thing Jason ever did for him because he just earned him a night where he can sleep instead of work at the office. "Wait, what did you do?"

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out," he drawled with a smirk. Tim stared at him for a little while before he shrugged it off. Good enough for him. "Now eat up."

"Can I eat you?" Tim asked with perked eyebrows, and Jason spluttered just a little bit.

"I meant real food," he said as he reached into the bag and held up a sandwich. "Like this… But we'll see. After you eat."

He handed the food to Tim, and with an eyebrow still raised, Tim asked almost hopefully, "Office sex?"

"Okay, that's not fair. You know I can't decline that." It was almost a bit of a whine, and Tim smiled from behind his sandwich.

He didn't think he'd mind seeing his office for a few days after that.