Work Text
The office is mostly empty when Ryan wanders through, on his way home on a Friday evening, and if it weren’t for the faint glow of her PC monitor he wouldn’t have even noticed Kelsey sitting there in the dark by herself. She’s tucked into her corner, legs pulled up to her chest in the desk chair, staring blankly at the screen in front of her, and it’s the slight frown pulling at the corners of her mouth that makes the decision for him; he turns in at the end of her desk row, and drops into Zach’s empty chair next to hers. She doesn’t even startle, just turns to give him a tired smile.“What’s up, Kels,” Ryan asks, chin resting in his palm and elbow on the arm of the chair. Kelsey shakes her head and blinks at the screen dolefully. She’s switched to her glasses from her contacts and pulled her hair up into a messy bun since he’d last seen her, briefly at lunch, and Ryan scoots his chair closer as she rubs her eyes.“I said something dumb earlier and now I gotta— ugh. You ever tell a lie to get out of something and then have it blow up in your face?”“All the time,” Ryan says, without hesitating, and feels a bloom of satisfaction in his chest when it manages to drag a chuckle out of Kelsey. She smiles just that little bit brighter at him. “Wanna talk about it?”Kelsey’s quiet for a minute, using her grip on her desk to twirl her chair back and forth, almost a soothing action. She seems to be gathering her words, so Ryan waits.“My mom was trying to set me up with one of her friend’s sons. I told her I was seeing someone so she’d drop it, but now she wants to know more.”Ryan sucks a breath in between his teeth, wincing. He’s been there.“Yeah, uh. That’s. Yikes.”“Oh, it doesn’t stop there,” Kelsey laughs, “I might have implied that it’s pretty serious, and now she wants me to bring my non-existent boyfriend to brunch on Sunday, so I gotta figure out another lie to get out of that. So stupid.”Ryan watches the irritated twist of her mouth, the way her eyes glitter behind the frames balanced on her delicate nose. He knows how much she — everyone — has been under pressure lately, with the Multiplayer team downsizing considerably. She doesn’t need this on top of everything else.“I’ll go with you,” he says, before he even really thinks about it.Kelsey swivels around slowly to stare at him, brow furrowed.“Ryan, that’s ridiculous.”“I mean, it’s this or some other ridiculous lie that you’re gonna have to come up with,” he shrugs, “Unless you just wanna tell her the truth, you could probably do that.”“Oh god,” Kelsey groans, “No. I can’t do that.”“I’ve got your six on this, Kels.”“I know,” she laughs and covers her eyes, as though physically trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so tired, I don’t know why I’m kind of crying.”Ryan pushes up out of the seat, leans over her desk to save her work and switch off the monitor. Kelsey makes a weak noise of protest but doesn’t actually move to stop him, so he doesn’t think she’s really all that invested in finishing her editing anyway.“Come on. Let’s get dinner and figure out our story,” he says, holding out his hand to her, squeezing when she slips her fingers into hers. When she holds on to his hand all the way down to the parking lot, he tells himself it’s just the practice they sorely need..Kelsey knows all the great Italian and Sicilian places to eat, so she picks a restaurant for them. It’s a little bit fancy for them, considering they’re both coming from work, and Kelsey’s dress is a lot more acceptable than Ryan’s t-shirt and jeans, but the servers greet them with big smiles and show them a table on the patio.“We met at work, obviously,” Ryan says, twirling pasta around his fork. Kelsey’s pouring herself more wine, and she tops his glass up too.“Did you ask me out, or did I ask you?”“I asked you,” he says, “I liked you for ages and it just took me a while to work up the courage.”“I liked you too but I’m not great at making moves,” Kelsey says, sitting back in her chair. “Mom’ll eat that up. She knows how I am around people.”Ryan laughs and tries not to talk with his mouth full, takes a sip from his glass and leans forward conspiratorially.“Where do you want to go on our first date?”“I mean,” Kelsey shrugs, “Disney’s right there. We’d both have fun.”“Oh, you’re good at this.”“Thanks,” she smiles at him and wiggles her eyebrows. “I think.”Ryan winks at her, but not very successfully judging from the way she bursts into peals of laughter at the sight. She really is very beautiful when she laughs.“Oh, you’re
bad
at that.”“Yeah, but I don’t let it hold me back,” he admits, and he’s a little bit enamored with her giggle, the way she moves her whole body, almost spilling wine down the front of her dress.They plan out everything as they eat. The flirtationship, the actual date-proposal, the outfits they wore, where they went, what they ate and what they talked about. Ryan thinks, after three hours of good food and smiling so hard his cheeks hurt, that they make a pretty great team. It feels less like fabricating a lie and more like developing a story — even if he’s not quite sure what the distinction is.By the time the sun starts to go down and they’re winding up to leave, Kelsey’s looking down at her phone so he takes the opportunity to slip his card into the bill wallet and hand it over to a waiter as stealthily as possible.“Everything okay?” He asks her, and nudges her ankle under the table with the toe of his boot to get her attention.“Just checking in with the daycare, they said they’d keep Chewie for me until 10 pm,” Kelsey says, tapping out a few more words before sitting down her phone and folding her arms. Chewie’s doggie daycare is only 10 minutes away from work, so they’d left Ryan’s car in the lot and taken Kelsey’s, knowing she’d need to come back anyway and that it’d be easier to take the same car to the restaurant.During dinner, they’d talked about Chewie too. Ryan had, in fact, met him and played with him before, so they didn’t need to fabricate much of
that
story at all (Ryan was a dog lover, but didn’t have much experience with larger, rambunctious dogs, and had been slightly overwhelmed by Chewie’s excitement during their first meeting).Kelsey looks at the table between them for a moment after setting down her phone, brow furrowed in confusion. “Hey. Where’d the bill go?”“Oh, I paid,” Ryan says, waving his hand, secretly pleased that he’d managed to sneak that past her. With all the work-stress she’s been shouldering lately, Kelsey deserves to be treated a little, he thinks. “Don’t worry about it.”“Ryan,” Kelsey beams at him. “You absolutely didn’t have to do that.”“You’ll get me back,” he shrugs, nudging her with his foot again to let her know he was kidding. His stomach flips when she, ever so gently, nudges him right back..They’re walking back to Kelsey’s car as the thought strikes him, and Ryan has never been very good at keeping his mouth shut, so he just says it.“We should kiss.”Kelsey has her hand on the door, and Ryan has yet to walk around to the passenger side, but he comes to a complete stop when she does. Kelsey tilts her head at him and then leans on the door with her hip.“I’m listening.”“It’s gotta look natural, right? In front of your family, I mean. And first kisses are always— you can always tell when it’s a first kiss.”It’s getting dark out, but Ryan can still tell that Kelsey’s blushing when she breaks eyecontact and turns her head away, holding her chin high and thoughtfully. He’s suddenly struck with guilt, and clears his throat, taking a step back.“Maybe that’s too much,” he says, apologetically. Ryan’s always been free with his affections, with gal pals and girlfriends and, as he’s become older and more grown, guy friends too. Lord knows his housemates — and even Shane — have been on the recieveing end of an honest smooch or cuddle. But Kelsey’s more reserved than that, more careful than him.Except—“You’re right,” she says, her posture relaxing, and Ryan still feels bad, but there’s a small spike of relief at her words. “We should, um, practice.”“Yeah?” Ryan asks, and steps closer again, his throat weirdly tight, his shoulders suddenly tense. “Right now?”“Sure,” Kelsey’s still leaning against the door of her car, but she unfolds her arms and holds her palms out to him. “Lay one on
me, Bergara.”“Okay,” he says, surprised, as he slips his hands into hers, and moves in close. “Okay, I’m just gonna.”“Okay,” Kelsey echoes, softly, and the slow curve of her smile draws his eyes down to her mouth. He squeezes her hands in his, gently, and then just leans in. Just does it. Kisses her.And, not that he was expecting it to be
bad
but, he’s surprised when it’s
good .They don’t awkwardly bump noses or teeth and she only giggles once (sounding nervous), right as their lips touch, and then the noise is stifled. Her lips are soft, and just the right amount of chapstick-slick to slip against his, and without really thinking about it he lets go of her hand to instead cup her cheek, tilting her face into the kiss and angling his own to make it
deep .Kelsey freezes up — just for a millisecond, but long enough for Ryan to wonder if he’s gone too far — but then she relaxes into him and opens her mouth, letting him in, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel it all the way down his spine to the very small of his back. She drops her hands to his waist and pulls him in until their hips meet, until they’re both pressed right up against the car and each other.A passerby wolf-whistles at them, and it’s like flipping a switch.Kelsey breaks the kiss, and Ryan steps back again, giving her space, shoving his hands into his pockets to stop himself from touching her again. They’re in
public.There are a few moments of silence, of staring one another in the eye and neither of them moving even an inch.“Uh oh,” Ryan says, quietly, and Kelsey’s eyes crinkle like she’s holding back a laugh, her lips pressed together tightly.“Did we just go on a date?” she asks, and Ryan chuckles, scuffs his foot on the ground and looks down at his sneakers.“Yeah, I think we did,” he agrees. Kelsey, still smiling, jerks her head towards the passenger side of the car, and Ryan takes that as his cue to walk around a climb in.Kelsey is quiet as she drives, Ryan bouncing his leg in the footwell until she reaches over and puts her hand on his knee to stop him.“I’ve maybe been a little disigenuous with regards to my intentions tonight,” she says and Ryan takes a second to reel because he’d been thinking something very similar but less elequently put.“Oh?” he asks.Kelsey sighs, but she’s smiling and her eyes are bright. “So, obviously, I like spending time with you.”“Yeah,” Ryan agrees, because he likes spending time with her too.“And we like a lot of the same things,” she says.“Yeah,” Ryan replies, because she’s right! They
do
like a lot of the same things.“And honestly, we get along
so well
together,” she smiles over at him, something soft in her eyes that makes the back of his neck prickle with that same feeling as before, the same feeling as kissing her.“We do,” he grins back.“And, well. You’re really hot, Ryan.”Ryan, surprised, tips his head back against the headrest and laughs.“Oh my god,” he beams at her. “Kelsey—”“I’m not done!” she switches on her blinker to make a turn, waves her hand at him, and he instantly misses the weight of it on his knee. “Listen. We had a ridiculous idea, and I should have said no right away. It would have been the sensible thing to do, but saying yes meant getting to spend the weekend with you, a very attractive man who I enjoy spending time with.” She clears her throat, quietly. “I was being selfish, but I’d do it again, because that was quite a kiss.”Ryan lays against his seat, watching her, drinking her in. Her hair pinned up messily atop her head, those glittering eyes behind her glasses, the shadow of her collarbone just peaking above the neckline of her dress. The way her cheeks get pink as he keeps looking at her.“Me too, Kelsey,” he says, because she’s said it all better than he ever will.They pull into the parking lot outside work where Ryan had parked, and it’s quiet but his car isn’t the last left there — he’s spent more than enough late nights at his desk to know it’s not unusual to find his co-workers milling around well into the morning hours, even at the end of the work week.Ryan unbuckles his belt and, before Kelsey can say another word, leans over and kisses her again, taking in her little surprised gasp, and reveling in the way she melts into him. Someone will probably see them, and they’ll be the talk of the office by Monday morning, but he doesn’t even care.This time, he’s the first to pull away.“Text me when you get home safe,” he says.“Yeah, you too,” Kelsey replies, a little dazed.“And also text me brunch details, I can come get you and we’ll drive over, or. Something, I don’t know. Lyft, maybe? Do your parents drink at brunch?”Kelsey stares at him.“You… you still want to go?”“Yeah,” he smiles. “It’ll be fun. It can be our second date.”Kelsey’s stare immediately drops into a glare, and Ryan scrambles to get out of the car.“Our second date is
not
going to be at my
parent’s house,” she calls after him, and he braces his hands on the frame as he peers in at her, chuckling at her stunned expression.“Just taking that fastest possible route to the third date,” he says, unapologetically, rewarded by Kelsey’s instant and intense blush.“I can’t believe I like you,” she says, awed, and Ryan barely resists climbing back in to kiss her again.“Don’t forget to text me,” he says. “I have a crush on you, so I’ll be waiting.”And then he closes the door, catching the crescendo of Kelsey’s incredulous laughter just before it’s muffled again.He blows her a kiss through the window and jogs to his car.