FIC: Why Mark Wasn't That Upset That Jim Moved to Stamford (Jim gen, PG-13)
Title: Why Mark Wasn't That Upset That Jim Moved to Stamford
Fandom: The Office
Characters: Mark, Jim
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1200 words
Summary: The Saturday basketball game is getting out of hand.
AN: How season 2 Jim deals with his angst instead of lying in the dark listening to The Fray.
***
Mark recognizes the camera guy and crew as soon as they walk into the gym. Not that there are a lot of documentary crew members in Mark's life, but it's the same guys that came to their party two months ago, the ones who constantly tail Jim at work. Jim hadn't said anything about them coming to film their Saturday morning basketball game. Mark gives him a look, and Jim shrugs.
"I said they could come if they wanted. That's cool, right?"
What's Mark going to do, kick them out? "Whatever," Mark says, and shoots from behind the three-point line. The ball ricochets off the hoop and bounces sadly towards the other side of the gym. Then Mark has to go sign a release form for the documentarians to show his image in every media known to man, including some not yet invented. Holograms of Mark will be shown playing basketball in the year 2525.
Saturday mornings, whoever shows up plays - they've been doing this every week since college, and there's a group of regulars. College roommates and friends of friends and coworkers and whoever. This particular Saturday, six guys show up, including that dude Ryan from Jim's work, so they end up playing three on three.
Once the game gets going, it's easy to forget the cameras are there, which is a little creepy when you think about it. Mark's glad that it's not his office that they're taping, so they don't catch him picking his nose or acting like a jackass or whatever. Watching The Real World is good enough for him without having to live it.
It's a pretty evenly-matched game, though Mark's team of him and Adam and Ryan is doing a little better than Jim's team. Ryan's playing guard, takes the ball down the court, then fakes out Paul, passes to Mark, who goes in for a lay-up, which Jim fails to block.
Jim's face is getting pretty red, from the exercise and frustration - he's been way intense about games lately, way competitive. It's tiresome. When Mark comes down from the lay-up, Jim shoves him "accidentally" and Mark stumbles.
"Hey, watch it," he says.
Jim puts his hands up in an overly innocent gesture. "What?" he says.
Mark rolls his eyes and throws Jim the ball, heads back down the court.
This time, when Jim gets the ball, he charges straight down the middle, practically bowling Ryan over.
"Yeah!" Jim says when he scores, and he high-fives Chris. Mark looks at Ryan, who has a blank expression on his face. Mark shrugs at him, and Ryan sighs. Ryan came to the game last week, so he can't be that surprised.
"Hey, friendly game, right?" Mark says to Jim as he passes him.
Jim's heading back down the court, and it takes him a second to turn, looking around vaguely like he's not sure who Mark's talking to. "I'm being friendly," he says.
"Yeah, well," Mark says. He's getting sick of Jim getting like this at games, and then having to apologize to the guys afterwards for his roommate being a psycho.
Adam brings the ball down for their team, dribbling casually, looking at his options. Mark's open, but before Adam can pass to him, Jim's all up in his face, swatting at the ball, and when Adam turns so his back is against Jim, protecting the ball, Jim leans into him with his full body. "Jesus," Adam says.
"What, you can't take the heat?" Jim says.
"God, be *normal*," Adam says, fakes to one side, and then pivots to take a jump shot. Unfortunately, Jim follows him and jumps up to block. He's aiming for the ball - at least, Mark hopes he's aiming for the ball. But what he hits is Adam's face, hard, sending him sprawling backwards.
"MotherFUCK," Adam yells.
"Sorry!" Jim says, but he doesn't look sorry.
"What is *wrong* with you?" Adam's on the floor, hand touching his cheek, which is bright red with Jim's handprint.
"Dude, calm down," Jim says. "It was an accident."
"You okay?" Chris says, interrupting, and offers Adam his hand to get up. Adam takes it, glaring at Jim the whole time.
"I guess," Adam says.
"Drama queen," Jim mutters.
Mark would say something, but the camera's watching, so he just gives Jim a warning look, which makes Jim look even more annoyed. Awesome. Jim's always such a joy when he gets like this.
"Take two free throws," Paul says, and passes Adam the ball. As they go to line up, Mark grabs Jim's arm.
"Hey man," he says quietly. "Chill, okay?"
Jim jerks his arm away and doesn't say anything. Adam makes both free throws.
When Jim's team gets possession, Jim brings the ball right down the paint, and Mark goes to block his shot, his arms carefully straight up. He manages to tap the ball so it flies sideways, out of bounds.
"Foul!" Jim yells, even though Mark didn't come close to touching him.
"No way," Mark says, shaking his head.
"You fucking fouled me, asshole!" Jim's livid, way out of proportion, and he's getting up in Mark's face about it.
"Um, no, I did not," Mark says, not backing down, and then Jim shoves him in the chest. "Dude, what is your issue?" Mark says, and Jim shoves him again. Mark shoves him back. They're about to come to blows when Chris grabs Jim and pulls him back.
"Hey man, calm down," Chris says soothingly as he pulls Jim away.
"I'm fine," Jim says, and shrugs Chris off, but he doesn't go to hit Mark or anything, so that's something.
"Uh, guys?" Ryan says. When Mark looks over, Ryan looks at his watch. "It's getting kind of late. I think I have to go."
"What time is it?" Paul says, and looks at his own watch. "Oh, God, yeah, me too."
"What?" Jim says, still angry.
"Yeah, I think I'm done," Adam says. "It was, uh, fun, though. See you guys." They all start heading to the sidelines to get their stuff.
"Well, that's just fucking great," Jim says, and he stomps off in the direction of the water fountain.
Mark rolls his eyes and goes to change his shoes. On the sidelines he gets waylaid by the documentary crew for an interview. He's not really thrilled about talking to them, but they ask him a ton of questions and after awhile he really gets going.
"Normally Jim's really laid back, and being his roommate is totally cool," Mark says. "But at basketball lately, God. Look, I know he's a unique snowflake under remarkable stress or whatever because of his unrequited love angstfest that no one else in the history of time has ever gone through or could possibly understand - to paraphrase many, many conversations we've had. I mean, whatever, I've known him a long time so I can give him a break on that. But if he doesn't stop having rage blackouts over retarded stuff, no one is ever going to play basketball with us again."
Jim's still all fuming and sullen in the car on the way home, but after he showers and changes, he comes into the living room with his hair wet, completely relaxed and back to normal, like nothing happened.
"Hey," he says. "You wanna go get Blizzards at DQ?"
"Yeah, okay," Mark says, and they go.
**
END
Fandom: The Office
Characters: Mark, Jim
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1200 words
Summary: The Saturday basketball game is getting out of hand.
AN: How season 2 Jim deals with his angst instead of lying in the dark listening to The Fray.
***
Mark recognizes the camera guy and crew as soon as they walk into the gym. Not that there are a lot of documentary crew members in Mark's life, but it's the same guys that came to their party two months ago, the ones who constantly tail Jim at work. Jim hadn't said anything about them coming to film their Saturday morning basketball game. Mark gives him a look, and Jim shrugs.
"I said they could come if they wanted. That's cool, right?"
What's Mark going to do, kick them out? "Whatever," Mark says, and shoots from behind the three-point line. The ball ricochets off the hoop and bounces sadly towards the other side of the gym. Then Mark has to go sign a release form for the documentarians to show his image in every media known to man, including some not yet invented. Holograms of Mark will be shown playing basketball in the year 2525.
Saturday mornings, whoever shows up plays - they've been doing this every week since college, and there's a group of regulars. College roommates and friends of friends and coworkers and whoever. This particular Saturday, six guys show up, including that dude Ryan from Jim's work, so they end up playing three on three.
Once the game gets going, it's easy to forget the cameras are there, which is a little creepy when you think about it. Mark's glad that it's not his office that they're taping, so they don't catch him picking his nose or acting like a jackass or whatever. Watching The Real World is good enough for him without having to live it.
It's a pretty evenly-matched game, though Mark's team of him and Adam and Ryan is doing a little better than Jim's team. Ryan's playing guard, takes the ball down the court, then fakes out Paul, passes to Mark, who goes in for a lay-up, which Jim fails to block.
Jim's face is getting pretty red, from the exercise and frustration - he's been way intense about games lately, way competitive. It's tiresome. When Mark comes down from the lay-up, Jim shoves him "accidentally" and Mark stumbles.
"Hey, watch it," he says.
Jim puts his hands up in an overly innocent gesture. "What?" he says.
Mark rolls his eyes and throws Jim the ball, heads back down the court.
This time, when Jim gets the ball, he charges straight down the middle, practically bowling Ryan over.
"Yeah!" Jim says when he scores, and he high-fives Chris. Mark looks at Ryan, who has a blank expression on his face. Mark shrugs at him, and Ryan sighs. Ryan came to the game last week, so he can't be that surprised.
"Hey, friendly game, right?" Mark says to Jim as he passes him.
Jim's heading back down the court, and it takes him a second to turn, looking around vaguely like he's not sure who Mark's talking to. "I'm being friendly," he says.
"Yeah, well," Mark says. He's getting sick of Jim getting like this at games, and then having to apologize to the guys afterwards for his roommate being a psycho.
Adam brings the ball down for their team, dribbling casually, looking at his options. Mark's open, but before Adam can pass to him, Jim's all up in his face, swatting at the ball, and when Adam turns so his back is against Jim, protecting the ball, Jim leans into him with his full body. "Jesus," Adam says.
"What, you can't take the heat?" Jim says.
"God, be *normal*," Adam says, fakes to one side, and then pivots to take a jump shot. Unfortunately, Jim follows him and jumps up to block. He's aiming for the ball - at least, Mark hopes he's aiming for the ball. But what he hits is Adam's face, hard, sending him sprawling backwards.
"MotherFUCK," Adam yells.
"Sorry!" Jim says, but he doesn't look sorry.
"What is *wrong* with you?" Adam's on the floor, hand touching his cheek, which is bright red with Jim's handprint.
"Dude, calm down," Jim says. "It was an accident."
"You okay?" Chris says, interrupting, and offers Adam his hand to get up. Adam takes it, glaring at Jim the whole time.
"I guess," Adam says.
"Drama queen," Jim mutters.
Mark would say something, but the camera's watching, so he just gives Jim a warning look, which makes Jim look even more annoyed. Awesome. Jim's always such a joy when he gets like this.
"Take two free throws," Paul says, and passes Adam the ball. As they go to line up, Mark grabs Jim's arm.
"Hey man," he says quietly. "Chill, okay?"
Jim jerks his arm away and doesn't say anything. Adam makes both free throws.
When Jim's team gets possession, Jim brings the ball right down the paint, and Mark goes to block his shot, his arms carefully straight up. He manages to tap the ball so it flies sideways, out of bounds.
"Foul!" Jim yells, even though Mark didn't come close to touching him.
"No way," Mark says, shaking his head.
"You fucking fouled me, asshole!" Jim's livid, way out of proportion, and he's getting up in Mark's face about it.
"Um, no, I did not," Mark says, not backing down, and then Jim shoves him in the chest. "Dude, what is your issue?" Mark says, and Jim shoves him again. Mark shoves him back. They're about to come to blows when Chris grabs Jim and pulls him back.
"Hey man, calm down," Chris says soothingly as he pulls Jim away.
"I'm fine," Jim says, and shrugs Chris off, but he doesn't go to hit Mark or anything, so that's something.
"Uh, guys?" Ryan says. When Mark looks over, Ryan looks at his watch. "It's getting kind of late. I think I have to go."
"What time is it?" Paul says, and looks at his own watch. "Oh, God, yeah, me too."
"What?" Jim says, still angry.
"Yeah, I think I'm done," Adam says. "It was, uh, fun, though. See you guys." They all start heading to the sidelines to get their stuff.
"Well, that's just fucking great," Jim says, and he stomps off in the direction of the water fountain.
Mark rolls his eyes and goes to change his shoes. On the sidelines he gets waylaid by the documentary crew for an interview. He's not really thrilled about talking to them, but they ask him a ton of questions and after awhile he really gets going.
"Normally Jim's really laid back, and being his roommate is totally cool," Mark says. "But at basketball lately, God. Look, I know he's a unique snowflake under remarkable stress or whatever because of his unrequited love angstfest that no one else in the history of time has ever gone through or could possibly understand - to paraphrase many, many conversations we've had. I mean, whatever, I've known him a long time so I can give him a break on that. But if he doesn't stop having rage blackouts over retarded stuff, no one is ever going to play basketball with us again."
Jim's still all fuming and sullen in the car on the way home, but after he showers and changes, he comes into the living room with his hair wet, completely relaxed and back to normal, like nothing happened.
"Hey," he says. "You wanna go get Blizzards at DQ?"
"Yeah, okay," Mark says, and they go.
**
END