Notes: I am heavily inspired by the new office romance anime that came out this winter 2025. And because I'm too old for teenage school romance, I want a romance that I can relate to!

Chapter 1: First Meeting

For the first time in his life, Athrun thinks he's in love.

He was already in his mid-twenties but had been uninterested in romance and those sorts of things even back in his school days. He always turned down people that confessed to him or asked him out to the point that his friends joke about how cold he was and if he was a cyborg in human skin.

Now, all those speculations about him being a robot can rest.

His mind drifts to that person every chance that it gets. He finds himself wanting to spend more time with her and getting to know more things about her. He catches himself smiling like an idiot whenever his phone buzzes and it's a message from her. He's never felt this way about anyone before. It was such a wonderful feeling. Love, that is.

The string of coincidences led to meeting her and he couldn't help but wonder if this was fate.

~Flashback~

Athrun stepped away from the sensors he was working on. He turned his attention to his computer and checked their team's group chat. It was surprisingly active at this time of day with the incessant buzzing. When he read the messages, he was surprised to read that Nicol, the person who was supposed to bring the prototype to the branch, had been down with a cold. Everyone in the chat was wishing him a speedy recovery while also figuring out who would cover for him.

Vino: Please rest and recover Nicol!

Sarah: Since Nicol is out sick today, we need someone else to take MBF-P02 to the main office by 1pm. Who is free to take it?

Chandra: I can't go, sorry! There's an urgent task from manufacturing that I have to finish by 3pm!

Abby: I don't have a change of clothes with me… T_T

Sarah: What about Rusty?

Vino: He's on paid leave today.

Athrun could sense that people were unwilling to take on the job. It made sense to him, as they were all busy working on their respective projects with tight deadlines to make it to the expo. The main building was quite a distance from the development facility and they had to lug the machine with them. Not to mention, they had to change into corporate clothing to enter the building as their uniforms in the facility were more to protect them from any potential hazards in the site, but were not something they would wear in an office setting.

Nicol: Oh no, this is truly bad timing huh…

Murdoch: Nicol! Why are you logged on? Just lie down and take it easy today!

Nicol: I'm sorry! I just can't help but check…

Athrun: I'll go.

Athrun sent the message to the group and sighed. He was busy himself, but at this rate, the prototype would end up sitting here all day. He kept spare clothes in his locker for these kinds of emergencies anyways. Besides, Nicol might force himself out of bed and go there himself if no one else would do it.

Vino: Nice! Athrun, you saved the day!

Nicol: Thank you Athrun! I owe you!

Athrun: No problem.

Sarah: Now Nicol, please do us all a favor and get some rest!

Nicol: Yes, Sarah-san!

The trip felt like a much needed break for his brain, Athrun thought while he was on his way to the headquarters. For the past few days, he has been clocking in long hours in the office, fine tuning and testing minor calibrations of his machine. But now, he was walking leisurely, pushing Nicol's prototype in a trolley. He found it relaxing and a change of pace.

He finally reached the massive main building and headed for the elevator along with the equipment. Unlike the development facility where everyone was a bit laid back as long as they had their protective equipment on, everyone here really looked like office workers, with their suits, blazers, ties and heels. He changed into one as well, but he stuck out because of the bright blue trolley he had with him.

The delivery was swift and he gave instructions to the person receiving the machine. Once that was done, he dropped off the trolley in the storage room and proceeded to the common area of the building where food was being sold. He would grab lunch to go and return to work. Usually he makes his own lunch to bring to work but he was doing too much overtime recently and as a result, he had no energy to make one when he gets home.

He was contemplating what he should buy when the elevator opened to the food hall. There were a lot of people and he realized it was already break time for most of them. In his department, people just ate whenever they were free and most of them ate on their own instead of eating with each other.

"Athrun? Athrun! Hey!" A familiar voice called out to him.

"Dearka?"

It was his long-time friend, Dearka. He was having lunch with his co-workers but he stood up from the table to approach him. They work for the same company, but they were assigned in different departments and Athrun was situated far from the main building. They barely see each other in the office. If they do see each other, it would be on weekends when Dearka wants to go out for dinner and drinks.

"Hey! Great timing! How have you been?" Dearka then put his arm over his shoulder when he finally reached him. He was slightly annoyed with that as they were in the office, but he didn't voice out any complaints since they were good friends. "It's rare seeing you here! Did you transfer departments?"

"No, I just delivered the prototype to be used for the demo later." He responded curtly, not wanting to stay and talk. Knowing his friend, he'll start chatting him up and he'll have a hard time excusing himself.

"I see." Dearka didn't sense that he was in a hurry so he chattered some more. "I thought you did since you're in a suit!"

"I changed only because of the dress code in the building…" Athrun answered him and weaseled out of his touch. "Anyway, I have to get back to work. I'm just here to buy myself something to eat but I'll head back to my area right after."

"Oh that sucks, I was going to invite you to sit down with me and my colleagues from my department if you had time." Dearka looked disappointed but understood his predicament since they often would talk about how they were fairing in each of their departments. He then immediately jumped to another topic. "Before you go, by any chance, do you have plans tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Athrun then realized that the next day was already Saturday. He had been too absorbed with work to notice that it was the end of the week already. He didn't really have any plans but to sleep in, but he figured that if Dearka was asking, he would invite him to the usual izakaya. "No, I don't…"

"Great! So you can come with us!" Dearka beamed, already assuming that he already said yes. "We're going bowling with my girlfriend and my team mate! That girl over there." He pointed to the blonde woman that was seated with him and was chatting with their other co-workers. "Isn't this great, you can finally meet my girlfriend!"

"Huh?" Athrun was in utter disbelief. He said that he had no plans thinking that it would be their usual hang out, but to be with other people that he didn't know? He didn't mind that he was meeting Dearka's girlfriend, but having another girl with them was another issue! Was Dearka planning on setting him up again? He should already know by now that he doesn't like these kinds of things…

Then he realized the next day was also February 14… Valentine's Day.

"February 14… seriously?" Athrun raised a brow at him.

"No no, don't get me wrong! I'm not asking you to have a double date with us." Dearka had a hunch of what was going through his friend's mind and he vehemently denied it. "Geez, you have little faith in me…" He acted a bit offended with the way Athrun shot daggers at him. "It's really not what you think. That girl's brother was originally supposed to come with us, but he suddenly couldn't make it. So now, we need another person to fill in that slot since it's already paid for."

Athrun still eyed him suspiciously, unconvinced. "There's no one else that can go? What about your other colleagues?"

"We tried asking them just now." Dearka explained to him while motioning at the other two people that were in the same table. "That girl has a date with her boyfriend, that boy sitting next to her doesn't like to do anything physical… We persuaded him to go, but he really didn't want to. I was actually just about to contact Yzak, but you just appeared in the building out of nowhere!"

Dearka didn't seem like he was lying but Athrun wasn't really thrilled to tag along. If there were four of them and Dearka was bringing his girlfriend, then it was highly likely his attention would probably be with his girlfriend the whole time. And it was Valentines' Day so he expected that Dearka was in that romantic mood. He would probably be left to his own devices and have no choice but to engage with the other person with them. He was already foreseeing how awkward it would make him feel because he wasn't the type to do small talk.

"Well I…" He was abot to say that he'd rather not go after confirming that he was free. But before he could get to that, Dearka spoke again, possibly knowing that he was about to say no and had an argument why he should.

"If I recall, the game center we're going to has a collaboration with the anime that you like… What was it? Ga- no it's… Son…?" He was thinking hard about it while Athrun got impatient and glanced at his watch. He was being held up by Dearka and he didn't realize it as he was still deep in thought.

When nothing was coming Dearka's mind, he decided to call on his companion. "Yo Cagalli! Can you come over here for a sec?"

A girl with blonde hair rushed over to them. She had a very cheerful demeanor and Athrun already knew that she was the outgoing type like Dearka. "What is it?" She acknowledged his presence too by doing a small bow even if Dearka hadn't introduced them yet. He returned the gesture as a sign of respect.

"The game center we're going to tomorrow, what anime did they have a collaboration campaign with again?" Dearka was too distracted trying to remember what anime it was.

"Gundam SEED!" Her face brightened up when she told them that.

"Gundam SEED?" Athrun didn't even realize that he replied to her without thinking. Dearka was right, it was the anime that he liked when he was younger. But that series ended years ago so he was surprised to hear it being brought up now.

"That one!" Dearka was satisfied now that he knew what it was. "I remember going to your house in the past and seeing a lot of model kits and posters from that show on display in your room."

Athrun frowned when Dearka brought that up. Did he really need to tell this other girl his business? Although, she doesn't seem to be the type to look down on people and treat them differently just because they like, or in his case, liked, anime.

"Oh, so you like Gundam SEED? Me too, me too!" The girl named Cagalli turned to him, squealing happily to find someone else that liked the same thing that she did.

Now he was in the spotlight and she was directing a question to him, he couldn't stay quiet now. "Y-yeah…" He didn't know what else to say but to confirm it.

"Have you watched the movie yet?" She then asked him but Athrun was puzzled at what she was referring to. He didn't need to wait any longer because she continued. "Because of the recent Gundam SEED sequel, there have been so many collaborations popping out. This bowling session for Round1, I had to battle out slots with other fans…" She told the story in a very serious tone and he nodded along. It was obvious to him that she was a very big fan of the series until now.

Wait.

Wait a damn minute!

Did she say…?

"There's a sequel?" Athrun surprised himself and Dearka by reacting the way that he did. It finally registered to him that she was asking if he watched the Gundam SEED movie, but he didn't even realize there was a movie that was released in the first place. There were so many questions in his head. When did this happen? How on earth after many years? Why didn't he hear about this?

She nodded enthusiastically, getting even more excited that he showed more interest. "Yes! It came out recently! You didn't know?"

"No…" He admitted. Work has been really hectic for him recently and he mostly kept to himself during his free time. He also didn't have social media and would have missed any announcements and his small circle of friends don't keep up with anime either. There must have been promotions plastered around in public, but he probably didn't pay enough attention to notice.

"Hold on, let me show you!" Cagalli pulled up her phone, typed something and then showed him a photo of the new poster with the main leads that he recognized immediately…

Soichiro, Rie, Akira and Nanako… [1]

Ah! It's really them!

"Gundam SEED FREEDOM…" He read the text. "So it's really true… I thought that the movie was permanently shelved because the scriptwriter died…"

"I know! It was very surprising to all SEED fans!" She agreed and was very animated speaking about it. "The announcement just came out of nowhere and the next thing I knew, there was a movie release date in theatres! I even went to the first screening on the very first day that it came out!"

"Oh… I see…" Athrun's voice trailed off, his mind now drifting to his younger years.

When he was in middle school, Gundam SEED was his favorite show. He loved the first installment so much. While he didn't like the next installment, he still looked forward to the movie that would have come out two years after the second season ended. He hoped that the movie would tie the loose ends and make up for the very bad writing of Gundam SEED DESTINY. He felt like his favorite characters, Akira and Nanako, had been done dirty in the second season…

He recalled tuning in to the latest updates. The release date was pushed back a number of times because the scriptwriter was unfortunately fighting an illness. Even so, he waited patiently for the time she would recover and they could resume the production of the movie. However, it never got to fruition as the scriptwriter's health continued to decline and eventually led to her death.

Ever since then, there had been no further news on it and every fan rightly thought that it was the end of the road for the franchise. As a big fan himself, he was incredibly sad but accepted that these things happen. Eventually, his interest also waned and he moved on to other things.

But they picked it up again it seems!

Dearka put his arm back over him and was now convinced that he had to go with them. "You like the show and you're free tomorrow so why not join us for bowling? It's going to be fun. Right, Cagalli?"

"Ah, you are?" Cagalli looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Do you want to go with us? We just need one more person! I know you just met me so it might be a bit…" She must have realized that she might have come off as too forward so she reeled her excitement in.

For some reason, now that he got to talk with Cagalli and realized that she was an otaku like him, he wasn't as opposed to going bowling with them now.

"Alright, I'll go." It was the second time he uttered those words today. A few moments ago, he planned to utterly turn down Dearka but since hearing about Gundam SEED, it changed things for him. He was interested in the collaboration and how it would be different from a normal bowling session. Would there be themed rooms? Posters? He heard that these campaigns have themed food, drinks and giveaways too.

Besides, with how Cagalli genuinely looked forward to the event and had been really friendly to him thus far, he didn't have the heart to say no.

"Really? You're going? Ah, thank you!" Cagalli was relieved and was practically beaming having found someone to fill in the extra slot. "We're going to have so much fun! We can also all watch the movie afterwards if you'd like!" She offered.

"Ehh? You mean the SEED FREEDOM movie?" Dearka didn't seem to like the idea one bit. He must have other plans with his girlfriend during Valentine's Day.

"What? Why are you making that face? Miriallia says she's also curious and would love to watch it! You have dinner plans anyways, so there's time until then!" Cagalli insisted and the name was familiar to Athrun, it was Dearka's girlfriend. So she knows Dearka's girlfriend too?

Dearka sighed in defeat. "I got it. Okay, okay. We'll all watch it afterwards. That's fine with you right?" He turned to Athrun to check in with him if he was okay with it.

"It's fine with me…" It really was. This was all new to him and he found himself excited and wanting to see the movie himself if they didn't offer. Although, he didn't remember much about the series so he made a mental note to read up on it before they all meet up.

"Yay!" Cagalli almost jumped in her place and was really happy with the turn of events. "I'll be careful not to spoil you-" She paused and then lightly hit Dearka. "Omae! You didn't even introduce us to each other!"

"You're right, you're right. Sorry 'bout that." Dearka playfully stuck his tongue out, realizing his blunder. "Please go ahead!"

She turned to Athrun and gave another bow to him. "I'm Cagalli Yula Athha. I work with this guy! It's nice to meet you. Thank you for accepting our invitation!"

Dearka finally released him from his grasp so that Athrun could do a proper introduction. "I'm Athrun Zala from Robotics. Nice to meet you too. I'll be in your care." He did the same and lowered his head.

"You're from the Robotics Department? I see! That explains why I've never seen you around here before..." She nodded her head and took in that information.

"Athrun's pretty amazing. He's been creating mini robots ever since we were still in high school… for fun. That's why when we graduated from the university, he didn't even need to do a job interview. He was absorbed right away into the company. Matter of fact, there were many companies competing to get him to work for them." Dearka told her and that seemed to impress her a lot. Athrun frowned internally because didn't think it was necessary for him to be telling her all that.

"Really? Wow! That is awesome! You must be really good at what you do. What kind of robots do you make?" Cagalli was now asking more about him and as much as Athrun wanted to stay and chat with them, there was still work waiting for him and his break was running thin.

"I'm sorry, can we continue this tomorrow instead?" Athrun said apologetically, not wanting to sound rude but he really had to cut this short. "I really need to head back to the facility soon… I have a meeting in a while and the walk back is quite far."

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Cagalli didn't seem to mind and was cool with it. "I apologize for talking so much! I didn't realize you were in a hurry."

"No, it's fine..." He shook his hands as it wasn't that big of a deal, he could still make it back without any issue.

"He's a busy fellow. They're making the final preparations for the expo, so they're scrambling to get things done today…" Dearka explained to her.

"If that's the case, we shouldn't keep you. You should go ahead." She was all smiles and was very understanding of the situation. "We're meeting each other again anyway."

"Thank you. If you'll excuse me, I'll go ahead. Dearka, just message me the details of the meet-up. See you, Cagalli." He nodded to both of them in acknowledgement and walked to the kiosks to get himself a quick bite.

"Roger. See ya!" Dearka casually confirmed.

"See you tomorrow, Athrun!" Cagalli happily bid him goodbye. "It was really nice meeting you!"

Thinking about the next day, his lips formed a slight smile. He genuinely looked forward to it.

Notes:

[1] So the Gundam SEED characters… I couldn't think of what name to replace them so I'm just using their VAs' names.