#neal sampat

[jimjamjomjum]

[ierofrnkk]

It’s unbelievable that he has game

[matchesarelit]

Imagine If You Will... (Presentations, Neal Sampat x gn!Reader)

Neal always made the best presentations, and you'd never say no to catching another one even if it took over your dinner break... although it doesn't hurt that you're totally into him.

Warnings: Drunkenness (not Neal or Reader), Conspiracy theories (one made up by me), cursing, Jim and Maggie being annoying will-they-wont-they (S1-esque), teasing (non-sexual), mentions of sex ('bone', 'sleep with'), talk of making someone jealous (Maggie) W.C: ~3.5k A/N: wrote this for myself cause the thought would not leave my mind, a bit all over the place tbh

For a Tuesday, the bar you work at was insanely packed, well for any other bar that is. The karaoke bar often found itself full on the most random of days, thanks to the News Night team that often poured in not long after nine. There must have been some serious stress up in the newsroom today, the usual crowd had ran through their happy hour left overs in minutes and were putting away drinks faster than you could open, pour or mix.

Well, almost all of the crowd.

A few tired faces sipped slowly, all but completely removed from the jovial air of the night. Predictably a small table of higher ups had tucked themselves away from the younger employees but for once they seemed at least content, relieved that the day was done.

The aforementioned younger employees were singing along to whomever was on stage, laughing and having what seemed to be a great time.

The most jubilant of all however was practically frothing holding in a ted talk up one end of the bar, Neal had all but skipped in around twenty after nine and slammed his laptop onto the bar. His palms drummed against the device as he sat waiting for your attention to catch on him, he'd prepared yet another presentation that he was more than eager to share.

There had been over a dozen presentations since he'd first caught you off guard with his Bigfoot conspiracy around six months prior, and you'd been intrigued (and smitten) pretty much ever since he'd taken a breath after the speech to introduce himself.

When you'd finished serving the small line you'd gained, you pulled a tray of glasses over to the corner where he'd stationed himself, setting yourself up to begin polishing as he spoke, you waited a moment before meeting his eyes.

'What do you have for me today?'

His smile grew ever wider as he began to ramble, shooting up from his stool, hands wild as always.

'There is a man on the edge of Texas who swears up and down that he witnessed an alien abduction,'

'That's crazy everyone knows-' You kept your voice monotone but the corners of your mouth pulled back as you watched the perpetual motion machine in front of you gearing up, giving away your interest.

'Yes! Exactly! No one gets abducted in Texas, but this runs in a long series of the general trend moving south towards the equator and-'

'Neal' Grabbing his attention with a call of his name and a soft hand stilling his frozen in the air you attempted to slow the speeding train, 'Don't spoil it! Wait for my break!'

Your enthusiasm wasn't new, and thankfully even after you asked him to delay his presentation, he had learned over time that you were truly interested.

Neal was a marvel, he had a way of making topics interesting no matter how absurd or irrelevant they were. Well... Most of the time. Not even his skills could make the discussion of 'Decentralized disingenuous rip-off architectural styles of the 22nd century' an enjoyable way to spend your half hour break... and yet you had sat there and engaged him nonetheless, forced as it may have been.

Yanking the laptop to his chest, he nodded vigorously, muttering out a string of 'of course'-s until he tripped slightly, steadied himself and wandered cautiously off in the direction of his friends.

Continuing the task at hand, you failed to notice someone saddling themselves in the recently abandoned stool and staring intently at the top of your lowered head, until, of course, they cleared their throat.

'Sorry, how can I- Oh hi Jim, what can I get you?' Jim had introduced himself a while back, and given the amount of mopey nights he spent sat at the bar you'd spoken quite a bit. You'd given him the bartender therapy treatment time and time again to no prevail, conceding not too long ago that maybe you'd just leave him be, outside of pouring his drinks.

Strangely enough he seemed caught off guard by the question, stuttering out a brand name somewhat absentmindedly, before falling silent.

'So, what's on your mind?' Placing the beer in front of him and retrieving fresh glass, you began to polish it to really finish the picture.

Glancing back to his group of friends, you followed his gaze, Maggie was sitting with the others but her mind was clearly elsewhere. Letting a groan slip past your lips you set your gaze back on the man in front of you. You'd heard your fair share about the pair of them, from the pair themselves, from Neal and on occasion from a drunken Mackenzie.

'Really? what a surprise! Christ! just make a move!'

'But I cant Sh-'

'They broke up' you cut him off, eyes narrowed in his direction

'Still... I can't- She doesn't thin-'

'Jesus fuck Ji-' This time It was a new voice that interrupted your own interruption,

'If you wanna know how she feels, just make her jealous'

'N-no I-that's not-' Your own stutter was ignored this time as Jim's eyes lit up at the woman's remark.

'Do you really think that'll work Mac?'

'No of course not... its just the plot of every romantic comedy for no reason.' Her sarcasm was about as thick as the idea itself was, this was a recipe for dumb-ass-ery for sure and something you wanted no part in. So you searched for the eyes of another customer, desperate, for the first time, to return to your job as you stepped away from the pair.

'Would you help me?' Ignoring him in hopes he was talking to he woman by his side you cursed the lack of a line, until with a call of your name he repeated his question.

Whirling back to him your face traversed the range of outraged expressions in the milliseconds it took to take the step, before settling on one of exaggerated disbelief.

'No way.' The simple dismissal had his head dropping onto the table, whereas Mac seemed undeterred. A hand, unknowingly heavy in tipsy lack of focus, slapped the back of his head in an attempt at comfort as she set a half hearted scowl on you.

'Why not? They just need a little bit of help,' Rolling your eyes at the push, you took a breath.

The pair needed more than a little help, they needed a truckload, and from what you've heard and witness in the bar, they'd dodged truck after truck over the past year. In your consideration of a reply, you let your eyes wander the space, getting stuck, as they always did, like glue on Neal as he traipsed towards his friends in the overpacked booth.

'They're both adults they-'

'Its because of Neal!' Mac's hushed exclamation followed by the smile of a cat with a mouthful of canary was infuriating, expected as it was.

'Wow great job, I cant believe you figured it out! You really are a journalist!' Your sarcasm was only slightly motivated by embarrassment at being caught staring, or at least that's what you'd prefer to tell yourself.

'Yeah Mac, its kind of obvious' The muffled statement left Jim as he raised his head, 'Even I got that and I didn't even see them checking him out.' Rolling your eyes with a smile you flipped him off for good measure, sure the conversation was sadly destined to continue.

'You'll be too busy with his presentation anyway won't you?'

'Yep! So have fun moping, I'm gonna take my break early.' Dismissing his glass house attempt at teasing you reached behind yourself, untied and shrugged off your apron, before turning away from the bar.

Making quick work of the space between, you stopped in front of the group, giving a quick hello to the others as Neal made a prolonged attempt to scramble from the cushioned seat, laptop tucked under his arm precariously. Offering him your hand and leading him to one of the tables in the back you ignored the all to familiar whistles cast your way by his friends.

Patting down his clothes, he opened the document and gestured you towards a seat, his movements were wilder than usual, the fun of the night clearly twisting his tired mind into an even more excitable demeanor.

'SO', he began, if you'd witnessed him doing a bump you'd have been less surprised by his immediate volume, 'Dirk Sevent, reported that on the fourth of April he was abducted from his backyard in Abilene, Texas.' The clack of his spacebar revealed a map, some photos and what you could assume was a picture of the man in question as he continued on, 'This is the forth report of such an incident in Texas over the last four months...' Clack 'However if we go back, this frequency of reports is triple what it was just five years ago, this is occurring in all states at it's latitude. This rate, which was, around five years ago, present in states at a placement such as Nebraska, which in turn had the rate that was present in Texas five years ago, ten years ago...' As he spoke Neal paced around you, emphatically pulling fact after fact from his mind, barely sparing the computer a look outside of hitting the spacebar. Listening to his speech, your eyes followed every gesture and jerk, utterly enthralled by the enigma that was his presence in these moments.

Clack...

'...the mirror effect in the southern hemisphere...'

Where did he pull that miniature globe from?

Clack...

'...psychological phenomenon...'

Is that a stock photo MRI?

Clack...

'...alien strategy...'

Okay now that's plainly just ET

Clack...

'...The End'

The impassioned speech passed the time much too fast, as it often did, and yet the pair of you continued a lively discussion until your phone alarm let you know to get back to work.

Neal walked you back to the bar, the conversation unrelenting until your apron was secured and a guest had started calling for your attention. With a wave he returned to his booth and you returned to your work, already impatient for the next presentation.

...

The crew from News Night were back at the bar within the week, another stressful day you presumed, and you considered for a moment that perhaps the broadcast had gone wrong when Jim's pouting face settled at the stool in front of you. However, when you heard an obscene chorus of laughter from their regular booth you realized it must be a ~personal issue~, so setting a beer down in front of him, you quirked an eye brow up as you met his eyes and with a sigh he met yours.

'I'm fine.' he ground out. Humming in response you moved to turn away knowing full well he was going to continue.

'I have no idea what I'm meant to do'

Furrowing your brow you tapped a finger to your chin, 'Hmm it is a hard one... OH wait, no its not just ASK. HER. OUT!' you were basically yelling, luckily the jarring voices of a duet sounding from the karaoke stage practically drowned you out.

Ignoring the roll of his eyes you maintained, 'She'll say yes.'

'You don't know that!' Jim ran a shaky hand down his face.

'Yes I do, everyone does. I'd even bet the people who see her on the blurry background of the broadcast do too.'

'Oh fuck off. Prove it then!'

'Piss off, I'm not helping you make her jealous' Reason not consciously known, you find yourself glancing around the bar, landing on nothing at all before returning to the man in front of you.

Meeting his eyes you weren't too happy about the smirk that pulled at the corners of his mouth, nor were you too excited about the teasing tone that filled his voice when he began to speak, 'You know he's not here... something about working late then going straight home.' Narrowing your gaze, you awaited what inevitably came next.

'Soo... You could help me? Knowing Neal wont see it, you should be happy to help now. Right?'

Releasing a deep breath you eyed Jim, considering the fallout.

One of their co-workers could see and think it was real and tell Neal, all the flirting over the last six months would go down the drain cause you'd look like you were about two seconds away from boning his friend (and boss).

Then again you were probably overthinking it, Neal wasn't here, and if Jim and Maggie did get together you doubt anyone is gonna remember Jim flirting with you. Even if they did, you'd just tell him the truth, you'd tell him you were trying to help Jim, lord knows he wants the pair together more than you do.

Plus this is a great chance to bargain...

'Okay, I'll do it, but just this once... and only for a price, from now on, you give a 30% tip on anything you buy from me or anyone here, forever.'

'What-?'

'That's the price... I'll flirt with you, help make it convincing and help you figure out if Maggie feels the same.'

He was silent for a moment... mulling over the deal until he slowly began to nod.

'Okay, deal.'

'Good, now slowly fix your posture, as if you want to look less like a gremlin in front of the woman you like.' Watching him follow your words, you let out a small fake laugh, not too noticeable but surely audible even through the never-ending karaoke performances. Painting a sickeningly sweet smile on your face, you tilted you head slightly as you feigned fawning over the man in front of you.

'Now lean back on your stool, I'm going to lean forward...' Trailing off in your lilting tone you reached to undo the top most button of your shirt, the action covered by a scratch of your neck with the other. Leaning across the bar on your elbows you put yourself in his space, fingers tapping on the surface as you kept your eyes on him.

'Why don't you flirt with Neal like this?' Why didn't you? His question was fair, but annoying nevertheless.

'Shut up. Now, do you have a business card on you?'

'Uh yeah, with the office line, why?'

'Write something on one side, and hand it to me with a smirk, let your hand sit on mine for a moment before moving it.' Jim did as you said, leaning closer until the pair of you were but centimeters apart, the smirk on his face was charming as he watched you take his card with a shy smile. Even as he spoke it remained and flirtatious as ever, 'Is all this what you want Neal to do?'

His teasing was short-lived after that, when you leant closer, lips ghosting over his ear as a hand rested on his chest. You eyes glanced around the room as you spoke,

'Neal wouldn't need me to tell him what to-'

Your voice dropped off as your flitting gaze fell on the door,

Standing over the threshold was Neal, laptop tucked under his arm, eyes seemingly stuck on the pair of you.

Pulling back from Jim you move to hold his chin under your thumb, maintaining the smile on your face despite the strain it suddenly required. You spoke through your your gritted teeth, barely attempting to keep the seethe from your voice, 'Going straight home is he?'

His brow pinched the smirk falling slightly, 'Yeah why?' Glancing to your side to lead his attention, you leaned back from the bar. Watching out the corner of your eye as Neal stepped back out through the door, it falling closed with a slam behind him, your hands immediately moved to tug off your apron, still attempting to pretend to be flirting with Jim as you smoothed out your clothes.

'Go speak to Maggie, make this worth it or so help me god...' Forcing out the mumbled words, you tucked a piece of stray hair behind his ear for good measure, before, as casually as you could with your blood pounding through you ears you made your way out from behind the bar and out the door.

Fuck fuck fuck

Whirling around on the stoop, you couldn't see Neal anywhere, your heart sunk and the weather twisted the knife, within seconds every inch of skin puckered in goosebumps and your nose stung red. The frozen wind blew through the tee and jeans you wore to work like water through paper, your coat long forgotten in your rush.

Hands twisting together furiously, in a futile attempt at conjuring warmth and calming your nerves, your focus was spread too thin and you wavered as you scuttled towards the AWN building. Head on a swivel you searched the footpaths for his tall figure, stopping in your tracks only after a car horn blared right past you.

It took a longer moment than it should have before you noticed your feet were on the asphalt. Scurrying back to the side of the road you drove the heels of your hands into your eyes, hoping to wake up your absent brain as you prepared to concede and slink back to the bar.

Until a foreign heat rested on your shoulder, following the hand you found Neal's eyes on yours and his lips moving in some sort of mime act. Oh wait he's speaking,

'Hey-oh watch out there, are you okay? What are you doing out here?'

His voice was soft yet unsure, with an ounce of something new, that you immediately knew you didn't want to hear again.

'I-' Shaking your head in another attempt to collect a single thought you looked towards the ground, '-I was looking for you, and I guess I was moving a little too fast for my head to keep up.' His eyes remained on yours, as he nodded slowly, seemingly at a loss for words in a similar stupor to your own.

'Wait- Why were you looking for me?' His tone was the same and you hated it all the more that it must have been your doing.

'I saw you come in, but you left straight away, it was weird. I wanted to check on you.' Your voice was low, restrained from the casual air it normally held when you were with him, it didn't feel right.

'Yeah, I had a presentation, but you were busy so I thought it could wait.' His new tone wasn't harsh or cold, it was distant.

'Oh- yeah it wasn't-' real flirting, '-He asked if I'd' Fake flirt with him to make Maggie jealous.

Finishing either of those sentences would have been great... finishing that rambled nonsense with anything other than...

'He said you were going straight home.'

Fuck, Fuck. 'Cause what does that even mean?

'What' it was more of an ousting of breath than a question, you could tell his eyes were still locked on you, even as yours burrowed into the pavement.

'The other day, Jim and Mac asked me to flirt with him to convince him that Maggie liked him and would get jealous. I said no, and they knew it was because of you-'

'Me-' his interjection flew cleanly in one ear and out the other as you continued.

'So today, cause he thought you wouldn't be here, he asked again and I agreed because I thought it would be good for them to finally get together already and also I made him pay me 30% in tips in perpetuity-'

'No wait wh-' Once again your rambling tramped over his question.

'-And like you weren't there so there was like no harm no foul so I was like who cares, it can only go well. And even if someone told you I could just explain what happened which I guess is what I'm doing...'

Pushing slightly on your shoulder to get your attention, his tone was still as strange as it had been but now it had an even stranger calmness, 'Why does me not being here mean anything?'

There wasn't really a way to answer without giving it all away, but there was no way you were going to do anything but tell him the truth, so you steeled yourself as you finally met his eyes,

'I figured if you saw me pretending to want to sleep with your boss it would send mixed messages, when I feel like the message of "Wow Neal, you're so hot and funny and smart" has at least been kind of clear. Even if it went clear over your head.'

'Wanna know something interesting?' His hand dropped from your shoulder, and the cold that took his place twisted your stomach...

'No...' In your mind there was nothing good that came from this so you took the slightest step back as you watched him pry open his laptop.

'Yeah, you do.' His eyes were on yours again as he spun the computer around in his arms, across the screen was a new presentation, an image of dark red curtains with script title scrawled in white; 'Reasons we should kiss right now...'

Clack...

'We're both really hot'

I mean he's not wrong,

Clack...

'I'm like crazy into you'

Is that a stock photo human heart?

Clack...

'You're totally into my presentations...'

How did he take that photo without you noticing?

Clack...

'Except for the "Decentralized architectural styles", yes I noticed.'

'P.S. that was a test'

Cheeky bastard...

Clack...

'...kiss?'

Okay now that's plainly just ET again

Pushing the laptop closed against his chest you closed the space between you,

'Kiss...' you confirmed as you leant in close.

.

.

.

'That wasn't originally the one for today so if you do want to hear about MothMan's tramp stamp-'

'Neal?'

'yeah?'

'Kiss.'

'OH yeah!'

[royalsunshinehotel]

caramelizing onions (Dev Patel, preference)

Five Days Until Monkey Man!!!!!

a/n: inspired by an ask from @binickandros from forever ago <3 backbone of the fanbase with their gifs 🫡thank you for your service.

Anwar Kharral (Skins 2009) I've got a headcanon that Anwar is a big soup enjoyer, specifically French Onion Soup, so I think Anwar could do alright caramelizing onions. As an adult, I think he can hold his own in the kitchen, but that's because he knows that the payoff is going to be worth it.

Sonny Kapoor (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2011) Sonny is blessed to be in the position where he can export the onion caramelizing to the hotel kitchens, where a professional can handle it. He has not been allowed in a kitchen since 2005, per his mother's orders. No, he will not tell you why.

Neal Sampat (Newsroom, 2011-2014) In my head, Neal comes from a family of restauranteurs. He's inherited the family skill, he's out of practice. His stove has been broken since he moved into this apartment. The odds are stacked against him, but still, he busts out a hot plate and gets to work, you're getting your onions.

Deon Wilson (Chappie, 2015) Deon has been eating hot pockets and adult portions of lunchables since he moved out of the house in 2015. He's barely familiar with vegetables, you're gonna have to teach him how to work the stove. Sorry girl, he's really cute tho.

Sheru "Saroo" Bierley (LION, 2016) Sue Brierly made sure both of her sons knew how to hold their own in a kitchen, and Saroo is not gonna forget that knowledge. If you've got a hankering for French onion soup, you better believe that he's gonna do everything he can to get ready for you.

Jay Menha (The Wedding Guest, 2018) Sanjay is tricky. The two of you travel so often for 'work', and it's kind of hard to not get takeout. However, once in a blue moon, Jay will make a nice meal for the two of you. He's romantic, he's sweet, and the two of you have a cozy night together. Yes, he did call his mother to make it happen. Yes, he's gonna do everything in his power to make sure you don't find that out.

David Copperfield (2019) I feel like David will need help the first few times he's in a kitchen. He's a man of means now, so he's able to pay his cook to give him lessons in the kitchen. This being said, I feel like David will want to cook for you, but tell you that the cook prepared it. You like it better when David cooks for you, even if you don't know it.

Joshua Madika (Modern Love, 2019) Joshua can and will buy you every single onion in the world. He doesn't mean to be so 'much', but you love him for it! This being said, he will give Carmelizing Onions one solid attempt, and depending how it goes, then he'll get you takeout from all your favorite spots in the city. It's a win-win to be honest.

Sir Gawain (The Green Knight, 2021) Oh, I'm sorry babe, he'd absolutely not be able to caramelize onions for you. I do, however, think, that he would be great at making smores. He is totally capable of putting a marshmallow on a stick and holding it over heat until it's golden brown. That is the extent of his food-gathering capabilities. God bless him for still being alive at age twenty-one.

[smartiehw]

[wejustdecidedto]

requested by @0urbladesaresharp​

Bonus:

[southasiansource]

DEV PATEL as Neal Sampat in THE NEWSROOM (2012-2014) — requested by anonymous.

Will: Neelami Sampat. It means blue jewel. Neal: I didn’t know that. Will: I did. I took the time. I care. Don: Are you asking him out? Will: If he wants me to, I’m nice.

[pxrtners-in-crime]

I want everyone to delete the e-mail you just received. Delete it right now without reading it. Honor system.

[spikershoyo]

guys send more dev and his characters request I can feel the creativeness flowing (I am still working on the angst but I HAVE THE VISION)

[mrsroryhuntzberger]

I forgot how much shit goes down in one episode of the newsroom. In season 3 episode 2 the following happens:

-Neal commits espionage (fine this technically happens in season 3 episode 1 but still)

-Neal alerts the FBI to said espionage

-FBI raids ACN and takes all their hard drives to find the stolen government files Neal accidentally convinced a whistle blower to steal

-Neal goes on the run

-Don commits insider trading on accident

-Hallie starts (another) war between ACN and republicans via a deleted tweet

-ACN is 10 days away from being liquidated if Leona Lansing can’t get $4 million dollars to pay out two 24 year olds with daddy issues

-Maggie snoops on an EPA guys phone call and gets a bigger story about CO2 levels in the atmosphere after having an ethical realization that using what the guy said on the phone was kinda sneaky

-Everything is up in flames and this is Maggie returning to the newsroom after returning from covering the Boston bombing

[solarpannel64]

Starting the newsroom and I’m so obsessed with Neal 🤞

[ierofrnkk]

he would be my office crush

[matchesarelit]

h-he's so beautiful

[royalsunshinehotel]

The Alchemy (Neal Sampat x Work Wife! Reader)

A/N: I'm on a real fluff kick at the moment, please enjoy this little ficlet! this one's for America's #1 Neal girlie @hecuba-of-troy

From the first moment that Neal set foot in America, he was more than aware that he’ll be in too deep with the culture shock. It would be overwhelming, and he’d learn to live with that. The risk outweighed the unhappiness he would have felt had he stayed home. 

That was several years ago, and still, New York City had surprises for him, the most important one being, you. 

The self-proclaimed “work wife” that he’d befriended since your very first day. 

Neal had never been one for work-life balance, coming as the second-born heir to a restaurant chain in London, so this was alright. And it happened quickly too, you snuck right in as his desk mate, and now he’s bringing you your morning bagel the way you like, and you deliver a special creamer only sold by a man in a bodega next to your apartment, across town. 

And there were the evenings, saturated and gloomy, at Hang Chews, the standard post-shift hangout. You’re three margaritas deep, wobbling off the karaoke stage after a solo attempt at “California Dreamin’ ” It has been a long day, that’s the only song you can sing after a long day. 

Thankfully, you’re able to make your way back to your stool at the bar, most of your co-workers had gone home, and from your expression, Neal said you had an hour max before you completely faded and got ‘hangry’. He was your work husband, in the noise and the lights of the ‘greatest city’, he knew exactly what to do to care for you. 

You’re the kind of dizzy someone can only get after pushing themselves. He knows that too. You ate that damn bagel he got you, and some of the drinks at the bar. 

He gets out of his seat to ‘greet’ you. Your brows knit together and he knows your “mystery” headache has begun to work. 

"Yeah, I'll settle up, you sit here and don't move." The lanky boy reaches for his wallet to close out your shared tab for the night. Of course the two of you shared a tab, it was easier. That’s what friends do. 

"I won't move, Mealanananai ." You giggle and Neal wants to die, but in a good way somehow. Ever since Will had seen fit to spill the tea on his real name, his drunk friends had made an attempt. His mother had been right though, it was a “right musical” name. 

Neal quickly settles his and your tab, and Tamsin the bartender gives him a look that makes his heart skip. He signs his bill, trying to subtly gulp. 

"Good luck pal," she says. He nods. He needs luck to wrangle you. 

The neon from the karaoke corner burns a little too bright as Neal tucks his wallet away and offers you his arm, 

"Why thank you sir," you say a little too loud, waving goodbye to the bar, and they wave back. They tend to do, only when you do it. 

“What a day Neal!” You exclaim, as his long arm loops through yours. It’s a great gesture, and helpful at the tattered state of your ‘work’ heels. 

“Yeah, I’m going home now.” You have a blue leather couch calling your name, and he knows it. 

“I’ll walk you out,” he says, and he does. 

You shudder in the cold night air. New York was tricky with weather, especially for someone newer to the city. Neal doesn’t flinch, he’s too comfortable, with you on his arm. 

“One day you’re gonna remember a sweater.” He mocks, lightly, as you eye his comfortable Sherpa-lined jacket and thickly knit sweater, blue. Your phone buzzes, the lyft driver is on the way.

"Keep dreaming chump.!" You tease.

"You can't get in here with me." Neal opens his coat to reveal, a likely very warm torso.

"You know I'll do it." You'd jump in that sweater with him so fast! You were drunk enough and he had very weak wrists!

"I know you will, now what car are we looking for?" He questions, but you're already moving towards him.

"Let me in!" You shout, giggling as you wrap your cold arms around him, covered by the jacket. His cheek is pressed against the top of your head. A beat passes, as the two of you sway together. 

“You alright? It wasn’t a great news day today.” 

“I’m good. Well not ‘good’, but I will be when I get home.”                   

“I think I get that.” He scrunches his nose, and your drunk self feels the urge to put the bridge of his nose  in your mouth. There was no way Neal could truly be this oblivious. Neither of you move.

“I know you do.” Of course he does! You had been flirting since the day you met him, and it was ridiculous to be written off as a ‘work wife’, when you both could be so much more. 

Jesus Christ this was annoying. 

There’s a lovely moment where your desk partner pauses, your hands warm in his pockets. He’s perfectly able to lean down and kiss you in the mouth. Maybe he’d grip your chin, maybe he wouldn’t do anything but you were right there. 

You know he won’t do it, you know he’s too focused on work to take a shot at someone technically his supervisor. He’s Neal. He’s going to be kind and treat you like a full person, who’s just as complicated as he is. 

It’s Neal, he’s going to do everything for you and ask for nothing in return. What made you insane about Neal was the fact he was just so focused on doing the best work he could, but he remained kind. Any man you met in Manhattan either had one or the other, which was annoying to say the least. 

Next Friday, maybe you should drink again. You could have had another shot before you finally break whatever the two of you are into pieces. You have a chance to do so now, but you don’t take it. 

“Goodnight Neal, don’t miss me too much.” You pout,  taking a half-step away, and watching him trip over himself to get the door of the first taxi that pulled up on the somewhat abandoned street. 

“Text me when you get home.” He says, and he means something else by it. 

“Same for you.” You half-smile, your remaining comrades stumbling out of the bar, Kendra with a few days worth of Chinese Takeaway, as she usually got on Fridays, “See you Monday.” 

You slide into your seat in the taxi, letting Neal pause, before shutting your door. You take a deep breath, from the bottom of your lungs, as Neal- your Neal gets smaller in the rear view mirror.

[smartiehw]