Pornstar (mxm)

Chapter 7

Annoyed, Tristan opened the door to the copy room, only to pause dead. Sitting on the floor next to the copying machine, was Warren, who scrambled up as Tristan came in.

"M-mister Tanner! I have your copies," Warren stuttered, wiping at the tears in his eyes. "I mean I don't have them yet - just a second. I'm sorry," he babbled as he fumbled around with the pages, dropping half of them in the process.

Tristan's anger was blown away as he saw the tears in Warren's eyes. "What happened?" he asked gently. Now that he knew Warren had been crying, not jerking off, he immediately forgave him for taking 20 minutes to make a few copies.

"Nothing. I'll just be a second." Warren began picking up the papers from the floor, still avoiding Tristan's gaze, who had the ridiculous desire to hug him, or somehow comfort him.

Instead, he bent down to help him pick up the papers. "What's going on?" He wasn't good with feelings or at comforting people, so he had no idea how to behave.

"Nothing!" Warren said angrily, yanking the papers away from him. "I'll bring you your papers as soon as I'm done."

"You're not crying over that little porn incident earlier, are you?" Tristan asked in a cold, mocking tone that made him feel as if he had just kicked a puppy.

Warren said nothing while he pressed around a few buttons on the copying machine.

"Hey, it's fine. I told you I didn't have anything for you to do at that moment, and what you do when I don't need you, I really don't care about. It's no big deal - a lot of guys watch porn at work," he added casually, trying to make himself feel better and hoping Warren wouldn't find out how disturbed and upset he was at finding Warren upset.

"I wasn't watching porn!" Warren yelled, fully angry again. His mood shifted so fast Tristan had a hard time keeping up.

"Um, I'm pretty sure you weren't watching funny cat videos on youtube." Tristan chuckled, trying to stay casual.

"Leave me alone, that's none of your business," Warren snapped, yanking the copies out of the machine so fast Tristan was scared he would rip them up.

"Actually, given I'm your boss, everything you do during working hours is my business," Tristan reminded him calmly, still irked at the fact that Warren occupied his mind 80% of the time, while Warren didn't waste a single thought on him because he was too busy watching porn.

Warren's earlier anger was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and he stared down at the floor with that empty expression he usually carried. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again," he said quietly. "Here are your copies. Is there anything else I can do for you?" He handed Tristan the stack of papers.

"No, that'll be all," Tristan said just as quietly, taking the papers from him. How did this wretched guy have the ability to make him feel guilty even though he hadn't done anything wrong?
All of this was Warren's fault. If he wouldn't be such an idiot, none of this would have ever happened.

Warren nodded, walking past him to exit the copy room, but Tristan stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Wait." This was a terrible idea. "I think we need to talk about this." He didn't want to talk about it. Except he really did because the entire situation was getting too much for him; he needed to clear the air before it suffocated them both.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Warren yelled again, yanking his arm free from Tristan's grasp. "My feelings are none of your business! Just because you're a bitter, repressed, lonely, miserable jerk doesn't mean you need to put others down all the time!"

Tristan stared at him, completely taken aback. It was true that he was bitter, repressed and lonely, possibly even a tiny bit miserable - mostly thanks to Warren, at the moment - but there was no way for Warren to know that. "I don't put others down all the time. Or at all, actually-"