the office oneshot🧚‍♀️ (jim halpert mostly)

their little secret (jim and pam)

he didn't know her as much as he though she did. at work she was sweet and silent, though she still told people when they were going too far. like when michael implied that she dated every men in the office, even if she had only dated two. she got angry at him, but she didn't raise her voice, she just angrily said it wasn't true.

that's why it surprised him when he saw her room, and when he met her friends. he discovered a whole new aspect to the receptionist who had stolen his heart.

her apartment was modest, but in a way you could tell it was exactly how she wanted it. what picked his attention was the record player. he went through the records and was more than surprised. he didn't know what music she listened to, but he had assumed it would be pop music, like the other women he had met.

he read the names. bikini kill, the runaways, le tigre, heavens to betsy, sleater-kinney, babes in toyland, hole, bratmobile. he didn't recognize any of the names, but the art on the records led him to believe it was all women bands, and they looked quite agressive.

"what are those?" he had asked and she had looked over his shoulder.

"they're riot grrrl bands" pam had said and he had looked at her with a confused face. "it's a feminist movement from the 90s, they're all female musicians. the riot grrrls wanted revolution, its so powerful" pam had explained with a twinkle in her eyes. he could tell she was passionate about it.

"can we listen to it?" he had asked and pam had smiled so much.

they had spent the night listening to the punk-style music, as pam showed him pictures of teenage her at concert and zines she still had. jim was impressed, he would've never guessed she was a badass. she seemed nostalgic when she looked at the pictures.

she had dyed hair, edgy clothes, and all the people around her looked similar.

"when did you stop dressing like that?" he had asked.

"when i started looking for a job" pam had sighed. "and then i met roy and he wasn't a fan of it"

"so rebel girl pam stopped going to shows because roy didn't want to?" jim had asked.

"i guess" she had whispered while reading one of the zines. "i went to one recently, most of my friends are still into it"

the night had ended up with jim getting his makeup done and other stuff.

even if jim now knew about pam's almost secret life, he never expected her friends would be like that.
they had gone to a concert, a more actual band that jim hadn't caught the name of. pam spotted her friends in the crowd and introduced them to jim. for the first time in his life, he felt like an outsider. even pam had dressed up like her friends. all he could see was red hair, dark makeup, leather jackets with pins and patches, and doc martens with yellow or purple laces. the music was loud, people were screaming and he wondered who was pam.

he had thought she was a sweet, shy receptionist who dreamed to be an artist and to have a quiet little life.

but now she was a rebel, she was powerful, she was loud, she wasn't the receptionist anymore. she was dancing closely to jim in a way that made him lose his mind. she was still dreaming to be an artist, but she didn't want to paint buildings and flowers, she wanted to make zines, she wanted to inspire, she wanted to revolt. she didn't want a quiet life, she wanted to scream from the rooftop anything that she believed in.

that night he had learned that most of pam's friend group was gay, including her who was bisexual. he felt like he didn't know her at all, but he loved the new version of her he was discovering.

of course when monday came back again she was back into her light pink blouses and her natural makeup with her hair tied back. he wondered if it made her sad to do that all week, but she didn't seem sad. maybe it was even more powerful that it was a secret part of her. all he knew was that he loved that this was their little secret.