Stapled Daisies

He pushed back a few stray hairs and wished to high heaven, he hadn't volunteered to work today.  He could be at home, where it was cool and... Not here.  But instead, he's stuck at work on a Sunday, with the A/C dead... On what was said to be the hottest day of the year.  Worse, he was stuck working with Austin...

Samuel sat up some and stretched, yawning as he looked toward the other young man. He really should stop complaining... Even to himself.  After all, work was hard enough to find lately and this was a pretty sweet deal.  Model for the magazine when you were needed, but you were also required to help out around the office at any given time and make sure all other offers you received went through them. To assure you didn't end up double booked, or working for someone to closely related to a competitor of the magazine or their advertisers.  And it wasn't like Austin was a bad guy, just... Silent and always seeming to be brooding over something.  Which really worked to his favor in getting photo shoots where the guy needed to look all... Dark and in desperate need of a hug.

"Hey, do you know where they keep the staples?"  A deep voice said from behind Samuel, causing the man to jump and turn to look up at another man behind him, holding a stapler.

"Ah... No, well... I guess I might... Supply room maybe?"  He said, slowly getting up and moving toward said room.  Opening the door, he stepped in and looked around for staples, blinking at just how much stuff was in room.  Picking up a blank CD case, as well as the needed item, Samuel turned to step out the door and felt his cheeks heat slightly at having Austin right there behind him.

"What's in the CD case?"  The slightly shorter man asked, taking the staples and heading back to his own 'desk'.

"Not really sure.  I'll pop it in and we'll see."  He said, heading over to the stereo instead of his own 'desk'.  Mostly they'd been asked to watch the office for the day, take calls and messages, so it was boring with little to do.  Or so Samuel thought.  It seemed Austin had managed to keep himself busy for the last hour, on some project or another.  Popping in the CD, Samuel pressed play and nearly burst out laughing as Mamma Mia started to play out over the speakers.

Sitting back at his desk, Samuel got back to work as a few other ABBA songs started to play out, one after another.  He'd set it to repeat and almost an hour later it had already run through once and started on a second time.  The red head didn't mind too much as, at least it was something to listen to.  Next time he'd remember to bring his iPod with him so he could have music in the background.

It wasn't until Dancing Queen started for the 3rd time that he stood up and stretched his lithe frame, using a bandana to wipe off the sweat from the annoyingly hot room and moving toward Austin's desk.  He could see the pale blond hair peeking out over the cubicle walls and the sight made him grin for some reason.  Moving quietly he leaned over the other to see what he was working on.

"So, what are you doing over here, all busy like?"  He asked, fighting a grin as the other jumped.

Austin looked up at him, pulling papers over whatever it was he'd been working on.  "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's bad to sneak up on people?"  He asked, turning around in his chair.

The tease in him had Samuel nearly straddling the slightly shorter man, despite barely knowing him.  "She might have mentioned it, but I've always been pretty bad at listening to my mother... She wanted me to become a writer, marry the girl down the street and live a nice normal life."

Austin raised an eye brow at him.  "Hmm, well I know you're a model, so strike one.  And with how often it's been rumored you hit on the photographers, sounds like you'd be more likely to either steal the girl down the streets boyfriend or date her brother... Strike two."  He leaned back in his chair and actually gave Samuel an appraising look, a smirk on his lips.  "No strike out, since you seem pretty normal to me... Least if the other half of the rumors is right."

"Other half of the rumors?" he asked, stiffening slightly.

Austin stood up, grabbing a full trash bag to take out, "Rumors are that you hardly ever make it to bed with the guys, just flirt with them." He said, moving past the red head and heading to the back door.

Samuel stood there for a moment, actually shivering in anger.  Not at Austin, but at the jerks who'd spread the rumors... First that he was a total flirt, and then that he didn't put out.  He turned on his heel and went back to his desk to answer the phone, hitting the stop button on the CD player so hard it nearly fell off the stand, if his 'coworker' hadn't caught it.

"Hello, Fashion Unzipped Magazine, this is Samuel, how may I help you? ... Let me see..."  The green eyed man stood up and moved to one of the bosses desks, "Yes I see it right here... No I'm sorry, but I can't actually allow that... I need her approval to send out the sample pages, if you'd be willing to wait about twenty minutes I'll call her an..."  He shook his head and hung up the phone.  "Just because we got the scoop on that new line, everyone's trying to steal it from us."

"That's the only reason we're working."  Austin said, back again in his cubical.  "They were afraid to leave it here and have someone sneak in to steal it.  Heard a rumor that's not even the real article..."

"You sure here a lot of rumors."  Samuel nearly spat at the other, "What do you do, sit around with that bunch of rumor whores and gossip?"

The blonds head shot up some in his cubical, before he sighed.  "Look... I'm sorry about that.  I swear, I shouldn't have said anything.  I... I kinda thought you already knew most of them.  And I don't believe you're a tease or..."  He was surprised to have his chair spun around and a very angry red head standing over him.  Idly the blue eyed man thought of how it seemed that rumor was true... Fiery tempers on red heads, and all that.

"Listen, I flirted with one, ONE, fucking photographer and when I didn't sleep with him, he started talking about me like I was a cock tease.  I can tease someone, when I like them, and it'll end up in bed if the guy wants it to. "

Austin held up his hands, "Hey... I swear, I don't believe them.  I don't think most people do, the guys known for being grabby with the models and Jane plans on firing him, once the contracts up."

"Jane..."  He said, taking a step back.  "You're on a first name bases with Ms. Roentek?"

Making a face, Austin stood up and swore, "Look, she's my cousin... I don't get special treatment or anything like that, I'm here working on a Sunday when I'd really rather be off ... Doing something else.  But could you please not tell anyone?  You... you know how models are."  He said, imploring with all he could to have Samuel agree.

It was odd, but they'd both worked here for about 8-10 months and while... Samuel could admit that he'd always found the blond hot, he'd never actually thought he was... Cute.

Now a lot of things made sense, and he found himself nodding and actually wondering some things about Austin that he hadn't before.

"Yeah, I'm not going to say anything..."

He thought of how the man would taste, and if he'd be as good to be under, as he would to be over.  There was now very much something about him, that had Samuel pondering if the larger man was used to being taken or not.  He blinked as said man snapped his fingers before his face.

"Huh?"

"I said thank you."  Austin said, "You alright?  You got a real... Blank stare there for a moment, like you were... Off in lala land."

"Yeah, sorry... Just thinking about something."  Samuel said, stepping away and letting his mind continue to wander over the possibilities the husky man had unknowingly provided in his head.  It was almost an hour later, as he realized they should be getting ready to leave, that things turned... Interesting.

The red head started to gather up his things and looked up as something dropped onto his desk.  It was wrapped in newspaper and as he reached for it the front door closed behind Austin.  Opening the parcel, he smiled at the sight before him.

Inside was a bouquet of paper daisies, all stabled together with basic copy paper.  A yellow and green highlighter had been used to color in the center of the flower and the stems.  Smiling, he quickly gathered everything up and headed out the door, making sure to set the alarm and lock the door.   He doubted the other man being related to the editor would save him if he failed to do the best he could.  
Rushing outside, he looked around and frowned as it seemed Austin had actually left the parking lot.  His grip on the daisies loosened for a moment, before tightening as he started off to his car.  Anger and a kind of longing filled him, and he pulled his keys out while still fiddling with the flowers.

"First... You get all cute and make me curious... Then you give me what... What has to be one of the fucking cutest gifts ever... Only to take off?  Fucking asshole... Talk about a cock tease... And I'd been really considering..."  He trailed off, not sure he wanted to voice it out loud, even to himself.

"Really considering what?"  A voice said behind him.  Samuel spun around and looked at the said man, mouth open.

Green eyes met the blonds blue ones and with a smirk, the taller man stepped forward and crushed his lips to the others.   The heat of the day seemed to linger as he walked the other backward to the office door.  "I think, we should abuse the couch upstairs and... Stay around to make sure the article's kept safe..."  He whispered against Austin's lips.  "And, we should see if those fantasies you put in my head will actually work out."

The blond managed another blush, kissing Samuel's lips between the words.  "Were you thinking of the costumes upstairs as well today?"

This caused the red head to stop, before grinning broadly.  "No... I hadn't been, but now that you mention it..."


Monday morning the A/C clicked on like it always does at 7 am, humming happily as it kept the building cool.  The sound woke the two men who'd been sleeping in the editor's office couch.  Eyebrow raised, the red headed one looked down at the blond, whose cheeks turned several shades of red.

"How else could I enjoy your shirt plastered to your chest all day..."  He started, words getting lost in the following kiss the other gave him.