Relationships in the Workplace

Weekend of the Unexpected Kind

Mano lets out a yawn as he gets up out of bed. His usual attire is boxers and a loose baggy shirt, today it's a tie-dye-inspired Gameboy shirt that's long enough to almost cover his boxers. He prepares his coffee, turns on his tablet to have his podcast of choice, WaveForm, play in the background, and stares out the window into the early morning light. Mano tends to be an early bird and hates with an iron fist waking up any later than seven in the morning. Some time past past and as he relaxed on his couch with his coffee and breakfast his phone rang. Mano was expecting a spam call but as the ringtone was a custom one he had set up. The caller I.D said: Aria 

Seeing this he answers like his life depended on it, "Ari? Good morning. I thought you liked sleeping in? Everything good?" He hears her cute laughter on the other side, "Easy Mano. Good morning to you. I just thought it to be nice to let you know I'm halfway to your place." Mano swallowed more of his coffee than he should've burning his throat in the process when he yelled, "YOOOOOOOOUUUUU WHAT?!" She cracks up in laughter and ends the call by saying "See you in a bit!" 

The call goes dead as Marno devours what's left of his breakfast and shuts the lid on his Yeti coffee cup. "I can't believe that I even thought I'd have a lazy weekend!" he cleaned up his place as best that he could. The place wasn't necessarily a mess mind you, but in case of having guests he wants to be sure that they don't see him as a slob. He tossed away some loose articles of clothing into his hamper, dashed through his dirty dishes cleaning and putting them on the dry rack, and right when he was about to get into a change of clothing he heard a knock on the door. "Oh c'mon!" he shouts in frustration as he races through his closet to at least grab a pair of pants to welcome her in. "They'll have to do" he puts on his white baggy joggers and makes it downstairs in time for him to hear a second set of knocks. 

He opens it a bit out of breath from his marathon house cleaning to see no one is there, "Wait what?" When he least expected he sees Ari on the other end of his walkway and without a second thought she makes a mad dash towards him. "Ari what are you doing?!" he braced for impact as she was gunning for him. She leaped and yelled, "You better catch me!" He had no choice as she was already off the ground. He caught her but he lost balance falling backwards, "Ow..." She didn't get hurt so she was unphased and she sat up now straddling him, looking down at him she grinned, "Morning"

He groans and glares up at her, "Why do you enjoy torturing me..." he tried sitting up but she placed a hand on his chest forcing him back down. "What are you-" With that same hand she puts a finger to his lips to quiet him. She bends over and whispers into his ear, "This is how I want you..." He had no shame showing his face red, "Aria my front door is still open, it's early in the morning, I have coffee that I want to enjoy AGH!" She rolls off of him laughing so hard that she almost goes into a fetal position. "Your face! Your reaction!" She's now in tears from how much she enjoyed teasing him just now. Mano just lays there dumbfounded "I'm gonna close my door now..."

 A few minutes have gone by and Mano prepared her some tea that he had lying around in his cabinets, "So?" he hands her the teacup "What brings you here?" She takes a sip of the tea, exhales softly to show her enjoyment of the flavor, and leans on her hand looking at him, "I just wanted to spend some time with you." She studies his shirt and looks back up at him, "Cute shirt by the way." By the way, she's acting it's almost as if she didn't just toss herself onto him a few moments ago. He almost forgot the frustration he experienced earlier as he enjoyed the idea of having a whole day to just be together. "That does sound like a nice idea..." he sips his coffee appreciating the moment they're having. 

And just like that they took advantage of the morning they played some board games, played some fighter games on consoles, and enjoyed some YouTube. Ari can be quite competitive and he had tasted her punches whenever she told him to not hold back during a session of Ninja Storm. As for board games, they did a lot of twenty questions and meme games that were more cringe than funny. It was the start of the afternoon when they were just enjoying YouTube, She was cuddled up next to Mano with her head resting on his shoulder.

'If this is a dream.... don't wake me up' he thought to himself not believing how much of a good time he was having with her. He looks at her admiring how unbelievably cute she is right now. 'How can you be such a troll one moment and such a heart slayer the next?' he wondered. She catches him looking at her and looks back at him, "What?" He shakes his head, "Just can't believe how lucky I am to have you here with me." This time it is her that gets a bit red in the cheeks, "Dummy... we're in a relationship now... you can be more direct ya know?" He rolls his eyes and says "Fine? Want me to be more direct?" She looks at him mentally preparing herself just in case. 

"You are the warmth that my cold needed" he started. Her eyes widen, "W-what...?" He continues, "You make my every day something I look forward to." She now burning up. "You bring intrigue into my life, Ari." She is practically fuming out of her ears, "M-Mano i..." He takes her hands and firmly holds them, "I don't know if I'd be doing half the things I'm doing today if it wasn't for you coming into my life Aria... and I mean every word. You simply inspire me to be the best me I can be and no one has ever come close before you to do that..." Ari is practically overloading as Mano can feel the heat in her hands making them sweat. "And I just want to say... thank you..." She hugs him hiding her face into his chest, "Damn it... I'm a mess"

He starts feeling her shake, so he holds her close in his arms rubbing the back of her head to comfort her. "Well said Mano..." she looks up from his chest with tears in her eyes, "Well said you made me tear up." He gives her a comforting smile and kisses her forehead, "And I'll say it all over again if I have to" She gives him an appreciative smile as she cuddles up onto him pulling a blanket he had lying around over their bodies up to their shoulders enjoying the rest of the video they were watching.