Loyalty (JoshxBrendonxTyler)

9. Intimidation

Brendon sits in his cubicle once more. As far as he could tell, he was overreacting about the situation completely. As far as he could tell, no one was talking about him or glancing his way. As far as he could tell, everything is fine.

He's so thankful.

He's in a good mood, there's maybe even a smile on his face as he finishes a days amount of work he missed.

Brendon hasn't seen Debby yet, he's been here for a few hours now.

He knows he'll most definitely see her in the break room, and he's dreading it. He wasn't sure how far Debby will take this, he's hoping she can look past his faults and forgive him.

But is he really the one to apologize?

Brendon's not sure. He never is.

He tries not to think about it. The whole floor is filled with fingers on keyboards as usual, he's glad to be back no matter how much he hated it here. Yes, he enjoyed having time for himself, but you can only do nothing for so long before it becomes tiring. Having something to do helped him stay in check, and he needs it no matter how much he says he doesn't.

Everyone needs a routine.

Brendon's routine has been changing recently, though.

The days were still dreadful, that definitely hadn't changed, but he finally had something that helped him push through.

Josh sending him pictures of his coffee and talking about the little things Tyler did brought his spirits up and helped him remember there is good things in life even if he couldn't see it.

Josh was all around a kind spirit, Brendon has come to learn. He gained a lot more respect for him after the phone call the two of them had the other day. That medolic tone and free mentality settled easily, he helped Brendon a lot and he couldn't appreciate him more.

Though, even with all the good, Brendon's terrified.

Maybe it's selfish, he didn't know.

"Hey, Brendon." Someone clears their throat behind him.

He turns in his chair with raised brows. "Oh, hey, Lukas." His lips twitch. He's bad at conversing.

Lukas smiles just as awkwardly. They're awkward. He's holding a mug with steam coming from the inside, Brendon would kill for some coffee right now.

"Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to eat at break with me." He shrugs.

The two of them are staring at each other while Brendon tries to muster up enough voice to reply. He wonders whether or not he's only asking because Debby's been talking. Has she been talking? Brendon still didn't know.

"O-okay, yeah." He nods, looking at his watch. "Oh, wow, I should have been in there ten minutes ago."

Brendon stands, a pang in his chest.

Lukas smiles even bigger, cocking his neck to the side as a question.

Brendon nods again.

They walk side by side, Lukas sipping his coffee while Brendon stares at his feet. Why have people taken an interest in him all of a sudden?

Other employees look up from their computers and watch the two make their way to the break room. Whispering, glaring, judging. Either Brendon was too caught up in his own head or Debby really was running her damn mouth all around the office.

Great.

Exactly what he needed, right?

It wasn't as though he didn't have enough things to worry about.