Work Crush (Johnathon Ohnn Fanfic)

-XVII-

He rummaged through the drawers for a while, but it soon became clear that he had run out of paper towels.

He let out another sigh, his smile never leaving his face, and he looked down at Daria, who still seemed too embarrassed to properly look at him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure someone from maintenance will come and clean it in a bit. It's probably nothing new for them to see. At least two out of ten cups get spilled every day here... It's basically a law of nature."

He carefully stepped towards the spill, his expression gentle, as he slowly knelt down next to Daria, who was still avoiding looking at him.

"Hey, are.. are you okay?"

She threw him a quick glance before letting out a breathy chuckle.

"Yea, yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm good. I just thought I could come by and see if you might wanna have lunch together.. if you're free.. maybe?" She trailed off after her ramble, her demeanor - somewhat uncharacteristically nervous.

A large, goofy smile appeared on his face, as his eyes lit up at her words. "Y-yeah! I'd love to. But are you sure you're feeling okay? You seem a bit... flushed."

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm feeling great." She replied, this time more enthusiastically, having shaked herself out of her stupor a bit. She rose to her feet before offering John a hand. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

He took her hand and let her help him up, a small tingly sensation going through his palm as he felt her skin against his as she pulled him to his feet. His goofy smile never left his face, as his heart rate began to rise again, the familiar thumping in his chest, as his mind was flooded with butterflies.

He looked at her for a moment, a thousand different words trying to worm their way out from his subconscious, but he swallowed them all back down, and simply nodded, his smile widening further.

They walked down through the hallway towards the elevator, John's heart rate rising with each step they took, as he tried to contain his glee at the prospect of spending his whole lunch break with her.

They stood in the elevator together, silence filling the cramped little space, John's fingers drumming against his thigh, as he fought the urge to glance at Daria every 5 seconds, and instead intensely staring at the elevator doors in front of him, silently counting the seconds as they passed.

"By the way..." She turned to look at the man. "You look really nice today."

His brain ground to a sudden, screeching halt at her compliment, and he slowly turned to look at her, his eyes slightly wide and an expression on his face that screamed 'blue screen of death'.

He swallowed hard, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, as a light pink flush began to spread across his cheeks, his heartbeat rising even more.

His mouth opened and closed as if he was trying to speak, but no words came out, his brain rebooting after her unexpected words..

They had done things far beyond compliment each other, but somehow this had the potential to become John's downfall. Thank God they were alone in that elevator.

He stood there in silence for a moment, still staring directly into her eyes, his brain screaming at him.

-say something, say anything, you're going to seem like an idiot, a moron, an absolute disaster of a person, just do something! Something!!!-

After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to swallow hard, regaining some resemblance of control over his thoughts. He spoke up, his voice coming out slightly hoarse, as he forced words through his dry throat and past his lips. "You... you really think so?"