Ben couldn't believe it! When his boss asked him to run through the induction for the new hire, he'd never expected to come face to face with James Winton.
Huh, He must have had one final growth spurt.
As he approached James he took the opportunity to drink in his new look. James looked the epitome of masculine beauty. His clearly expensive, tailored suit showed off his defined muscular shoulders and neck, and his once shaggy mop of red curls had been styled and slicked back, perfectly framing his strong symmetrical face.
His eyes were as deep and as piercing as Ben remembered them to be, but he couldn't find the warmth that used to radiate from them. Instead, Ben saw anger and hurt.
When Ben left the Winton household, he was determined to cut all ties and never look back, but he'd simply been unable. Strangely enough, it was Jed who bridged the growing gap between Ben and James, and Ben had always been truly grateful to Jed for not picking a side.
Jed had originally cornered Ben in an attempt to tell him off for hurting James, but after just one look at the heartbroken Ben, Jed had pulled him into a hug and declared that he wasn't going anywhere. The two had been good friends since, and their friendship had helped Ben at times when he felt his lowest.
Ben made a mental note to ask Jed why the hell he hadn't warned him ahead of time.
As Ben came to stand in front of James, he watched the other man force a casual, welcoming smile on his face, offering his right hand out for Ben to shake.
“James Winton. Nice to meet you.”
Oh... ok.
“Ben Stokes, Welcome to the team.” Ben was sure that their little performance had fooled all of nobody. The tension in the air was almost suffocating, but somehow all Ben could think about was the warmth of James' hand and the familiarity of his scent.
He knew he had missed James these last four years, but he hadn't realised just how much until now.
*****
To say James was pissed was an understatement. He wanted to walk right up to the stupid, handsome man and punch him in his stupid, handsome face.
All the hard work that James had put in to get over Ben Stokes suddenly seemed to have been for nothing. The years of trust issues, depression, and self isolation that the whole incident had caused seemed to be piercing it's way back into his psyche, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
After years of fighting his issues and studying his arse off he finally managed to get a job at his dream company, and now he had to work with Ben?
James didn't want to deal with this today, of all days. He had no interest in dragging up the past, and the idea of the whole office knowing made his stomach drop. He had to control the situation.
“James Winton. Nice to meet you”
Perfect move!
Ben paused for a moment, confused, before playing along. Now he just had to make it through the induction without Ben having a chance to bring anything up. As long as they were amongst their coworkers Ben wouldn't dare say anything, so James just had to make sure he wasn't caught alone with him.
Shit. The Elevator.
There was no way to avoid it. Hopefully the shock of their reunion coupled with the sense of shame he ought to be feeling, convinces him to keep his mouth shut.
The second the doors shut the tension rose again. All James could do was wait and hope Ben didn't say anything.
“James, I-”
Ben was cut off by the elevator doors opening to allow people entry. Thank god!
The rest of the tour was quick and to the point, with Ben almost running away the second it was over. James would have loved a second to calm down, but Ben had walked him right up to the open door of his new boss' office.
The office was bright and roomy, with a desk in the corner to the right of the door, and a sitting area at the back of the room, in front of a huge floor to ceiling window.
Stepping inside the office, James instantly noticed that the air was crisp, as if easier to breathe in. The culprit was undoubtedly the miniature forest that sprawled across every free space within the substantially sized room.
A cough drew his attention away from what could only be described as an office Nirvana, and back to the desk to his right; A woman was standing beside it.
“Mr. Winton, I suspect?” The woman stepped towards James, holding her hand out for James to shake. “Wilhelmina Jenkins. Call me Will.”
James Winton. James. Mr. Winton is my Dad.”
Will wasn't a tall woman, but she had an aura that demanded respect. She was dressed in a crisp, light blue dress shirt, tailored to fit her body perfectly without looking too feminine. Her high-waist, black slacks flowed perfectly down to a light pair of closed toe wedges. James suspected that her classy, androgynous, look was far from a happy accident. After a short, yet thorough, meeting with his new boss, James settled at his desk to begin a long week of memorising names and statistics for each of the clients he was to be working with.
*****
For the next four days Ben agonised over his new work colleague. On Monday he was going to try to talk things out then on Tuesday morning he had decided it was a terrible idea to pull up the past. On Wednesday he was certain that James deserved an explanation, but by Thursday Ben was sure he would just hurt James more if he bought back memories. After yet another night of too much confusion and too little sleep Ben was no closer to a decision. He'd sent Haruki a long message at 3:30 that morning asking for his best fatherly advice, but hadn't received any response; Haruki wasn't exactly known for casual correspondence, and likely wouldn't even notice his phone for days.
He'd been so preoccupied with personal issues that his work had suffered, and that meant yet another late finish. Nothing like working late on a Friday night to get the weekend off to a roaring start, right? As the last of the paperwork was being checked over and documents were being re-homed Ben finally had to admit defeat. He'd avoided taking the personnel file for James up to Will's office for days now, hoping to avoid any unnecessary confrontations until he'd cleared his head.
His head was still not clear.
But it was late. There was never anyone in the office after 7 on a Friday and it was well past 8:30 by now. Ben was sure it would be safe to pop the file in on his way out.
Ben made his way down to the fourth floor, using the elevator ride to bask in his sense of peace, knowing that he wouldn't have to face James for at least a few days.
His new Zen state followed him through the now dark fourth floor towards Will's office. He'd just pop the file on her desk and go home for a hot shower and a cold beer.
Well, Fuck.
He couldn't win! Tucked away in the corner of the office, with just a desk lamp to help him see, was none other than James Wilton. Luckily, James was so busy focusing on his work he hadn't noticed Ben's arrival. Easy. Ben could just slowly back away and leave before He was-
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Fuck! Why wasn't his phone on silent?!
James' head whipped around in search of the sudden noise, and their eyes met.
Fuck!
No backing out now...
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