Overwork
My second contribution to arashi_on fundraising post.
This one is for nekochan_lia who requested me a juntoshi fic with background office AU... Douzo~
× Title: Overwork
× Author: yukichan_tb
× Length: 2615 words
× Pairing: Juntoshi
× Rating: G
× Genre: Jun-centric
× Quick Note: As an Alternative Universe needs to be explained somehow, I can't jump to the point without a decent introduction... but when I'm writing a one-shot, this turns out a little difficult and a lot of things are pending...
Moreover, this time I also tried a new style of writing, so... I just hope you'll like this fic as it turned out!
Enjoy! ♥
--- ~ --- ~ ---
People usually call me “perfectionist”.
I wouldn’t define myself in that way though, I just like things to be done as they are supposed to.
I mean, my company trusts me. It’s more than natural for me to do my best in my job! Otherwise I wouldn’t deserve it and they’d better employ someone else, someone more efficient.
When I got employed here, I swore that I would have been a great benefit for this company, and I have never been doubtful about it.
People give me tasks, and I carry out them. All of them. Quickly, efficiently, perfectly I’d say.
People expect me to work twice as hard as most of my colleagues do, since I have always shown a deep love towards my job. And I do it, there’s no problem. It’s true, I like my job!
People asks me for help sometimes, whenever they are not able to fulfill their duties.
But I don’t ever do this. If they aren’t able to do their job, they shouldn’t be here in the first place.
All in all, no one has ever reprimanded me. No one has ever told me “please do it better next time”… Is there something wrong with it? Should I start working less accurately in order to have more friends in my workplace?
I don’t think so.
--- ---
“Matsumoto-san?”
When his boss commenced with that tone, usually it meant trouble. Jun knew it perfectly because he had heard it a lot of times before, anytime his co-workers had done wrongly their tasks…
It was quite unusual though, to hear that tone along with his name.
That’s why he absolutely didn’t know what to expect when he got called into his office for a private conversation.
“From Monday you’ll be transferred to another division” he said straight out. “Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate your working skills and I think you are really valuable for our company, but… there’s something wrong with the teamwork.”
“Has someone complained about not being able to keep up with me?” asked immediately the young worker, in a polemical tone.
“Let’s say that there have been several reasons who brought me up to this decision…” Replied the boss, not giving him any further hints “Anyway, it’s just a temporary arrangement; in the meanwhile I expect you to keep working as usual, and you can be sure that your good results will influence my final decision. That’s all.”
--- ---
Damn!!
What is this all about??
I don’t really get it, but if someone has problems in working along with me… why is that they are transferring me instead of that person??
Maybe they have just realized that I was wasted in that office, and they are moving me into a new team. With more efficient colleagues, smarter and more professional maybe.
Someone who doesn’t spend half of their working time chatting about their love troubles or the last drama they had seen on TV.
Oh well, I’m looking forward to Monday.
--- ---
A white shirt perfectly ironed, his favorite suit just collected from the laundry, a new tie bought especially for the occasion…finally on Monday Matsumoto headed to his new workplace.
Fourth floor.
His office was located down the left corridor… while walking quickly, he read one after another all the names on the doorplates, until he found the one he was looking for: “Customer service - complaints investigation”
Surely a tough role, to deal with unsatisfied customers, but he was confident about his own abilities.
He entered the room in his better posture in order to make a good impression already on his first day, but he was bitterly disappointed when he realized that there was NO team. A hysterical old man was the only one person present, and after having explained him what he was expected to do, he quickly exited the room leaving Jun completely alone, to deal with his new tasks.
--- ---
I don’t really get it… if I were looking at this situation from a pessimistic perspective, I’d think that they are penalizing meon purpose. But I don’t think that they would be so unwary!
I mean: if I am unsatisfied about my job, I could start looking for a new one and I don’t think that my company will be willing to lose me.
There must be another reason behind this change… maybe they are just expecting me to work even better without all those noisy and distractive people!
Yes, it has to be like this.
--- ---
It took him only few weeks to understand the hidden purpose of his relocation: No one is supposed to work completely alone and everybody should always treasure his co-workers, no matter what. Even someone like him, who has always been proud of his own value as an individual, had to learn how to share both the merits and the responsibility with other people…
But even after a whole month spent working at a devastating rhythm, dealing with demanding customers and even more demanding senior work-mates who kept assigning him loads of work to do, Jun wasn’t absolutely willing to admit his limits and ask for help.
Instead, he preferred overstaying in the office every night in order to have his job completed by the following day, and show his chief that he was a dependable person.
It didn’t matter if this drained completely his energies, or if he happened to fall deeply asleep on his desk almost every night, when the building was completely desert…
--- ---
Let’s say this clear: it’s not that I consider sleeping in the office a normal thing to do.
But I thought it just was a matter of time, and sooner or later I would have been able to complete my job within the regular hours. I just needed to get accustomed to the new schedule!
And in the meantime, I should just try to recover some energy whenever I had the chance…
If found it strange though, that sometimes after waking up I had the feeling that stack of documents I’ve left undone on my desk before falling asleep, had decreased by their own…
But I was really too tired and exhausted to be sure about that. As far as I knew, it may have been just an impression… or I could even be a somnambulist who keeps doing his usual activities while sleeping! (I just hoped this wasn’t the case though, since I wasn’t very confident on my own skills as a sleepwalker) :-/
Until one night, I finally noticed something.
To be honest, at first I thought it was just a dream: it wasn’t the first time I happened to fall asleep while working and I knew perfectly that uncomfortable posture which made my arm tingle after a little while… I knew also that pain in the neck, that wouldn’t leave me even after waking up and stretching out… and of course, I was very used to that shiver, the one which would always wake me up whenever I was finally starting to basking in my dreams.
Because when you happen to fall asleep on your arms, you slowly lose your body heat and it doesn’t take you much time before waking up due to the cold draughts down your back.
But that night, as I said before, I noticed something different.
Even though I was still between sleeping and waking, I was perfectly aware that I had fallen asleep on my workplace, but I couldn’t feel any of those unpleasant sensations I was almost expecting: my shoulders were warm instead, and there was a soft breath on my face…
I don’t know for how long I stayed there, awake but motionless, enjoying that unusual warmth that made me feel so relaxed.
Sure is, when I felt a hand stroking gently my hair I suddenly jumped up in panic.
Someone had caught me sleeping in the office!
--- ---
When Matsumoto realized he wasn’t alone, he lost 10 years of his life-span due to the shock: he was terrified.
And it didn’t matter that the guy in front of him didn’t look very menacing: he was still sitting next to him, but Jun could easily tell that he wasn’t very tall… moreover, judging by his face it was quite difficult to guess his actual age (and this was really a trouble for someone who wanted to know if he was a sempai or not), but the suit he was wearing was the same as Matsumoto’s, so he was surely an employee of his same company who had maybe been working overtime as well.
Anyway, the strangest thing about him was probably his posture: that man was sitting comfortably in his chair, as if he had been there for quite a long time staring at the sleeping man… and his hand was still in mid air after Jun’s sudden reaction, which made him recall the relaxing feeling he had felt before.
As if someone had been stroking softly his hair.
“Who… who are you?” the scared man asked at last, breaking the awkward silence.
“Ohno Satoshi” replied the other, still not showing any embarrassment or other particular feelings “Nice to meet you”
He was friendly.
But this didn’t answer to any of those questions that were spinning into Jun’s head…
“What… are you doing here?” was the most pressing one, which came out first.
“Oh, I was going back home when I suddenly realized to have forgotten my keys on my desk, so I came back to retrieve them… and I noticed that the lights were on inside this room, so I came to check… and I’ve found you.”
It sounded plausible.
Actually, he didn’t explain what exactly he had been doing next to him, but Matsumoto’s main concern in that moment was whether that man was higher-ranked than him. Or if he was going to report him to his boss…
“Is this what you are working on?” asked Ohno all of a sudden, diverting Matsumoto’s attention from his paranoid thoughts and bringing it to the bill-book on the table instead. “Oh! No wonder you’re spending the night into the office! There are needed at least two people to carry out this tasks according to your deadlines… why are you working on it all alone?”
“Erm… my co-worker is sick” lied Jun. He wasn’t sure that admitting the truth would have been a good idea.
Especially because it was more than clear that he wasn’t able to handle his own assignments.
“Oh… I see!” replied with enthusiasm the other man “That’s really considerate from you then, to keep doing also his share!! And since I’m here right now, do you want me to help you? In this way you’ll be able to go back home and sleep on a real bed for at least a couple of hours…”
Matsumoto stared at him in disbelief. As much as that kind offer sounded really interesting in that particular moment, he was going to refuse it because he was determined in making it with his own strengths, as he had always done until that moment.
Then his gaze fell down and he noticed a jacket lying on the floor, next to the chair on which he had been sleeping until a little while before… And by picking it up he realized it was still warm… as warm as his own shoulders were.
He looked again at the unknown man and pondered again his offer. And he nodded slightly.
--- ---
I don’t know why I allowed him to help me! He was a perfect stranger… I didn’t even know whether I could trust him or not.
But under my very eyes he started scanning quickly all the documents on the table, arranging them by priority and writing a few notes on the most problematical, with useful references and suggestions.
Ok, I won’t ever admit this aloud, but I would have never been able to do such an efficient job!
He was indeed a very practical person…
He also said he were going to “help me” but as a matter of fact he did most of the job by himself, because I couldn’t even follow him… He probably noticed that I was staring incredulously at him, because after a little while he explained me why he was so skilled: before getting his promotion he was used to work here. So he had learned a lot of tricks in order to handle the huge amount of work as quickly as possible.
And that’s when I realized he was a sempai.
Someone I was expected to show gratitude and respect.
Especially because he had carried out all my planned activities for the night… in less than one hour.
--- ---
“Ohno-san, I thank you very much for your help…” Matsumoto bowed in deference in front of the shorter man, suddenly becoming much more tense than he had been in latest hour.
He couldn’t help it: he felt really in trouble when he had to deal with higher-ranked colleagues because he always wanted to make a good impression, he didn’t want to rely on them, he wanted to show his own skills… and in front of that person he had done just the opposite.
“Oh, come on! There’s no need to be so formal!” Ohno giggled in response, somehow amused by that sudden stiffness “I just thought you were needing some help, since you even fell asleep on your desk…”
Jun was quite embarrassed by that statement, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t true “Yes, you’re right… and about that, I would really appreciate if you won’t tell anyone that I was sleeping here. You know, it’ll be a problem if my boss would find out about this…”
At least he could try to limit the damage.
“No problem! I won’t tell anyone! …And you’ll do the same for me, right?”
Matsumoto nodded a little uncertain, as he didn’t know why exactly he was supposed to stay silent about their meeting.
As far as he knew, that man had done nothing wrong… hadn’t he?
“Ok then!” Satoshi exclaimed in satisfaction, while preparing to leave “I wish you a good night, Jun-kun!”
And with an unexpected move he suddenly approached to the younger man, posing a soft kiss on his lips.
--- ---
I felt really hot, as if my lips were burning under his touch.
As well as my ears, my face… No, my whole body was burning.
In a corner of my mind I wanted to push that guy away and start shouting against him, asking what the hell he was doing.
How did he dare to do something like that?
But the truth is, I was feeling was so excited that I couldn’t really stop him.
I haven’t replied to the kiss either, but in my own way I was enjoying that strange experience and I didn’t want it to end until I had completely understood what was happening… if it feels good, why should I stop it?
Ok: I was embarrassed, and worried, and shocked maybe… but the only thing that I kept thinking in that moment was “maybe there’s nothing wrong to let myself go, sometimes”. Surely a good timing to start having such a careless attitude, ne~?!
And even when he moved away from me, and he looked straight into my eyes, I couldn’t really say anything.
He smiled.
I stared at him in astonishment.
He moved towards the door.
I let him go.
He left.
I just watched him leaving.
And only in that moment, I realized he had called me “Jun-kun”. Despite I had never told him what my name was.
--- ~ --- ~ ---
Waiting for your reviews ^^
/me crosses her fingers :3
This one is for nekochan_lia who requested me a juntoshi fic with background office AU... Douzo~
× Title: Overwork
× Author: yukichan_tb
× Length: 2615 words
× Pairing: Juntoshi
× Rating: G
× Genre: Jun-centric
× Quick Note: As an Alternative Universe needs to be explained somehow, I can't jump to the point without a decent introduction... but when I'm writing a one-shot, this turns out a little difficult and a lot of things are pending...
Moreover, this time I also tried a new style of writing, so... I just hope you'll like this fic as it turned out!
Enjoy! ♥
--- ~ --- ~ ---
People usually call me “perfectionist”.
I wouldn’t define myself in that way though, I just like things to be done as they are supposed to.
I mean, my company trusts me. It’s more than natural for me to do my best in my job! Otherwise I wouldn’t deserve it and they’d better employ someone else, someone more efficient.
When I got employed here, I swore that I would have been a great benefit for this company, and I have never been doubtful about it.
People give me tasks, and I carry out them. All of them. Quickly, efficiently, perfectly I’d say.
People expect me to work twice as hard as most of my colleagues do, since I have always shown a deep love towards my job. And I do it, there’s no problem. It’s true, I like my job!
People asks me for help sometimes, whenever they are not able to fulfill their duties.
But I don’t ever do this. If they aren’t able to do their job, they shouldn’t be here in the first place.
All in all, no one has ever reprimanded me. No one has ever told me “please do it better next time”… Is there something wrong with it? Should I start working less accurately in order to have more friends in my workplace?
I don’t think so.
--- ---
“Matsumoto-san?”
When his boss commenced with that tone, usually it meant trouble. Jun knew it perfectly because he had heard it a lot of times before, anytime his co-workers had done wrongly their tasks…
It was quite unusual though, to hear that tone along with his name.
That’s why he absolutely didn’t know what to expect when he got called into his office for a private conversation.
“From Monday you’ll be transferred to another division” he said straight out. “Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate your working skills and I think you are really valuable for our company, but… there’s something wrong with the teamwork.”
“Has someone complained about not being able to keep up with me?” asked immediately the young worker, in a polemical tone.
“Let’s say that there have been several reasons who brought me up to this decision…” Replied the boss, not giving him any further hints “Anyway, it’s just a temporary arrangement; in the meanwhile I expect you to keep working as usual, and you can be sure that your good results will influence my final decision. That’s all.”
--- ---
Damn!!
What is this all about??
I don’t really get it, but if someone has problems in working along with me… why is that they are transferring me instead of that person??
Maybe they have just realized that I was wasted in that office, and they are moving me into a new team. With more efficient colleagues, smarter and more professional maybe.
Someone who doesn’t spend half of their working time chatting about their love troubles or the last drama they had seen on TV.
Oh well, I’m looking forward to Monday.
--- ---
A white shirt perfectly ironed, his favorite suit just collected from the laundry, a new tie bought especially for the occasion…finally on Monday Matsumoto headed to his new workplace.
Fourth floor.
His office was located down the left corridor… while walking quickly, he read one after another all the names on the doorplates, until he found the one he was looking for: “Customer service - complaints investigation”
Surely a tough role, to deal with unsatisfied customers, but he was confident about his own abilities.
He entered the room in his better posture in order to make a good impression already on his first day, but he was bitterly disappointed when he realized that there was NO team. A hysterical old man was the only one person present, and after having explained him what he was expected to do, he quickly exited the room leaving Jun completely alone, to deal with his new tasks.
--- ---
I don’t really get it… if I were looking at this situation from a pessimistic perspective, I’d think that they are penalizing meon purpose. But I don’t think that they would be so unwary!
I mean: if I am unsatisfied about my job, I could start looking for a new one and I don’t think that my company will be willing to lose me.
There must be another reason behind this change… maybe they are just expecting me to work even better without all those noisy and distractive people!
Yes, it has to be like this.
--- ---
It took him only few weeks to understand the hidden purpose of his relocation: No one is supposed to work completely alone and everybody should always treasure his co-workers, no matter what. Even someone like him, who has always been proud of his own value as an individual, had to learn how to share both the merits and the responsibility with other people…
But even after a whole month spent working at a devastating rhythm, dealing with demanding customers and even more demanding senior work-mates who kept assigning him loads of work to do, Jun wasn’t absolutely willing to admit his limits and ask for help.
Instead, he preferred overstaying in the office every night in order to have his job completed by the following day, and show his chief that he was a dependable person.
It didn’t matter if this drained completely his energies, or if he happened to fall deeply asleep on his desk almost every night, when the building was completely desert…
--- ---
Let’s say this clear: it’s not that I consider sleeping in the office a normal thing to do.
But I thought it just was a matter of time, and sooner or later I would have been able to complete my job within the regular hours. I just needed to get accustomed to the new schedule!
And in the meantime, I should just try to recover some energy whenever I had the chance…
If found it strange though, that sometimes after waking up I had the feeling that stack of documents I’ve left undone on my desk before falling asleep, had decreased by their own…
But I was really too tired and exhausted to be sure about that. As far as I knew, it may have been just an impression… or I could even be a somnambulist who keeps doing his usual activities while sleeping! (I just hoped this wasn’t the case though, since I wasn’t very confident on my own skills as a sleepwalker) :-/
Until one night, I finally noticed something.
To be honest, at first I thought it was just a dream: it wasn’t the first time I happened to fall asleep while working and I knew perfectly that uncomfortable posture which made my arm tingle after a little while… I knew also that pain in the neck, that wouldn’t leave me even after waking up and stretching out… and of course, I was very used to that shiver, the one which would always wake me up whenever I was finally starting to basking in my dreams.
Because when you happen to fall asleep on your arms, you slowly lose your body heat and it doesn’t take you much time before waking up due to the cold draughts down your back.
But that night, as I said before, I noticed something different.
Even though I was still between sleeping and waking, I was perfectly aware that I had fallen asleep on my workplace, but I couldn’t feel any of those unpleasant sensations I was almost expecting: my shoulders were warm instead, and there was a soft breath on my face…
I don’t know for how long I stayed there, awake but motionless, enjoying that unusual warmth that made me feel so relaxed.
Sure is, when I felt a hand stroking gently my hair I suddenly jumped up in panic.
Someone had caught me sleeping in the office!
--- ---
When Matsumoto realized he wasn’t alone, he lost 10 years of his life-span due to the shock: he was terrified.
And it didn’t matter that the guy in front of him didn’t look very menacing: he was still sitting next to him, but Jun could easily tell that he wasn’t very tall… moreover, judging by his face it was quite difficult to guess his actual age (and this was really a trouble for someone who wanted to know if he was a sempai or not), but the suit he was wearing was the same as Matsumoto’s, so he was surely an employee of his same company who had maybe been working overtime as well.
Anyway, the strangest thing about him was probably his posture: that man was sitting comfortably in his chair, as if he had been there for quite a long time staring at the sleeping man… and his hand was still in mid air after Jun’s sudden reaction, which made him recall the relaxing feeling he had felt before.
As if someone had been stroking softly his hair.
“Who… who are you?” the scared man asked at last, breaking the awkward silence.
“Ohno Satoshi” replied the other, still not showing any embarrassment or other particular feelings “Nice to meet you”
He was friendly.
But this didn’t answer to any of those questions that were spinning into Jun’s head…
“What… are you doing here?” was the most pressing one, which came out first.
“Oh, I was going back home when I suddenly realized to have forgotten my keys on my desk, so I came back to retrieve them… and I noticed that the lights were on inside this room, so I came to check… and I’ve found you.”
It sounded plausible.
Actually, he didn’t explain what exactly he had been doing next to him, but Matsumoto’s main concern in that moment was whether that man was higher-ranked than him. Or if he was going to report him to his boss…
“Is this what you are working on?” asked Ohno all of a sudden, diverting Matsumoto’s attention from his paranoid thoughts and bringing it to the bill-book on the table instead. “Oh! No wonder you’re spending the night into the office! There are needed at least two people to carry out this tasks according to your deadlines… why are you working on it all alone?”
“Erm… my co-worker is sick” lied Jun. He wasn’t sure that admitting the truth would have been a good idea.
Especially because it was more than clear that he wasn’t able to handle his own assignments.
“Oh… I see!” replied with enthusiasm the other man “That’s really considerate from you then, to keep doing also his share!! And since I’m here right now, do you want me to help you? In this way you’ll be able to go back home and sleep on a real bed for at least a couple of hours…”
Matsumoto stared at him in disbelief. As much as that kind offer sounded really interesting in that particular moment, he was going to refuse it because he was determined in making it with his own strengths, as he had always done until that moment.
Then his gaze fell down and he noticed a jacket lying on the floor, next to the chair on which he had been sleeping until a little while before… And by picking it up he realized it was still warm… as warm as his own shoulders were.
He looked again at the unknown man and pondered again his offer. And he nodded slightly.
--- ---
I don’t know why I allowed him to help me! He was a perfect stranger… I didn’t even know whether I could trust him or not.
But under my very eyes he started scanning quickly all the documents on the table, arranging them by priority and writing a few notes on the most problematical, with useful references and suggestions.
Ok, I won’t ever admit this aloud, but I would have never been able to do such an efficient job!
He was indeed a very practical person…
He also said he were going to “help me” but as a matter of fact he did most of the job by himself, because I couldn’t even follow him… He probably noticed that I was staring incredulously at him, because after a little while he explained me why he was so skilled: before getting his promotion he was used to work here. So he had learned a lot of tricks in order to handle the huge amount of work as quickly as possible.
And that’s when I realized he was a sempai.
Someone I was expected to show gratitude and respect.
Especially because he had carried out all my planned activities for the night… in less than one hour.
--- ---
“Ohno-san, I thank you very much for your help…” Matsumoto bowed in deference in front of the shorter man, suddenly becoming much more tense than he had been in latest hour.
He couldn’t help it: he felt really in trouble when he had to deal with higher-ranked colleagues because he always wanted to make a good impression, he didn’t want to rely on them, he wanted to show his own skills… and in front of that person he had done just the opposite.
“Oh, come on! There’s no need to be so formal!” Ohno giggled in response, somehow amused by that sudden stiffness “I just thought you were needing some help, since you even fell asleep on your desk…”
Jun was quite embarrassed by that statement, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t true “Yes, you’re right… and about that, I would really appreciate if you won’t tell anyone that I was sleeping here. You know, it’ll be a problem if my boss would find out about this…”
At least he could try to limit the damage.
“No problem! I won’t tell anyone! …And you’ll do the same for me, right?”
Matsumoto nodded a little uncertain, as he didn’t know why exactly he was supposed to stay silent about their meeting.
As far as he knew, that man had done nothing wrong… hadn’t he?
“Ok then!” Satoshi exclaimed in satisfaction, while preparing to leave “I wish you a good night, Jun-kun!”
And with an unexpected move he suddenly approached to the younger man, posing a soft kiss on his lips.
--- ---
I felt really hot, as if my lips were burning under his touch.
As well as my ears, my face… No, my whole body was burning.
In a corner of my mind I wanted to push that guy away and start shouting against him, asking what the hell he was doing.
How did he dare to do something like that?
But the truth is, I was feeling was so excited that I couldn’t really stop him.
I haven’t replied to the kiss either, but in my own way I was enjoying that strange experience and I didn’t want it to end until I had completely understood what was happening… if it feels good, why should I stop it?
Ok: I was embarrassed, and worried, and shocked maybe… but the only thing that I kept thinking in that moment was “maybe there’s nothing wrong to let myself go, sometimes”. Surely a good timing to start having such a careless attitude, ne~?!
And even when he moved away from me, and he looked straight into my eyes, I couldn’t really say anything.
He smiled.
I stared at him in astonishment.
He moved towards the door.
I let him go.
He left.
I just watched him leaving.
And only in that moment, I realized he had called me “Jun-kun”. Despite I had never told him what my name was.
--- ~ --- ~ ---
Waiting for your reviews ^^
/me crosses her fingers :3