Work Text:
There's a job opening at the Lancaster branch of Dunder-Mifflin. A junior sales associate. Apparently the previous guy died in a car accident, and they're having a hard time finding a person that wants to take their place, as if the position was cursed. Ryan doesn't believe in stuff like that, his predecessor at Scranton apparently killed himself, so it's not like the curse can get worse than that.
Ryan thinks he wants it. He's sick of being a temp and he knows he's not getting anywhere at Scranton. Ever since he's been to jail he stopped hoping for a promotion, and his ‘fresh start' has been nothing but humiliating. Normally he would quit. Look for some job where nobody knows him, where his criminal record is just a rumour and nobody makes fun of him, but the circumstances he found himself under make him wanna try to squeeze something from his current company one last time. He thinks he can do it. He thinks a higher position can be possible, because he has his manager wrapped around his finger.
Michael likes him, and Michael has a way with people. Ryan has to admit that the way Michael can work David Wallace is impressive. For some inexplicable reason Michael can get what he wants from him, and if Ryan can use that, he can make something of himself even after all the shit he's been through.
Leaving Scranton is appealing to him. Ever since prison and his addiction getting out to the public he's been pretty much trapped here. His mother is horribly overbearing and doesn't let him get out of her sight, sometimes even drives him to and from work which is particularly humiliating, but he knows why she does it. He wishes she was a bit more subtle about it, because being made fun of being a mama's boy is better than being a junkie who’s own mother doesn't trust not to relapse. His co-workers aren't dumb. They know what's up.
Ryan never would have thought he would miss being just the guy that started a fire.
IT's Thursday today almost 5PM, and Ryan is hoping to catch Michael before he leaves and invite him to dinner. He's pretty sure Michael is going to say yes. When it comes to him it's all Michael ever says.
When Ryan hears Michael giving a goodbye speech to the workers he knows it's his queue to get him. Going into his office is a little too personal for now. He doesn’t want to give the game away this soon.
It feels weird to get up so abruptly and not even get Kelly to ask him why. She's been ignoring him for a while since she started dating Darryl. Maybe it's better that way, but it stings.
‘Hey Michael!’ Ryan catches him right next to the reception. He hopes Pam doesn't eavesdrop. He doesn’t need more rumours going around.
‘Ryan!’ Michael exclaims as he turns around, with a huge smile and big surprised eyes. ‘What's up?’
Ryan leans on the reception desk, trying to look nonchalant. ‘I think we should go out to dinner together, catch up. What do you say?’
‘Wh- y-yeah, sure!’ Michael fumbles, completely taken aback by Ryan's request, as if his mouth couldn’t keep up with the excitement he's feeling. ‘Let's go!’
Ryan's smile falls a little. ‘I—uh, I was actually thinking about tomorrow—’
‘Come on, why wait? Let's go right now!’ Michael states and gives Ryan a pat on the shoulder. His hand lingers on his arm. Ryan doesn't flinch.
‘Sure. Why not...’ he says and swallows. This is one of those frustrating things about Michael, somehow, even when Ryan has a whole plan ready Michael still gets back control. Throws him off. Takes the lead. Ryan isn't sure how he feels about that.
‘Alright! What were you thinking?’ Michael asks.
‘Chilli's?’ Ryan suggests, putting that smile back on his face and getting back to the plan.
‘Ha! Chilli’s! Absolutely!’ Michael laughs, proud and a little flustered, like Ryan asking him out to his favourite restaurant just made his day. Or a whole week even. Like it's something to write home about.
‘I'll go get my stuff.’ Ryan says. He has everything with him, he just needs a moment to himself before they go.
‘Alright, see you downstairs Ry!’ Michael calls after him, and the pet name makes Ryan grit his teeth.
He always knew what Michael's deal is. Subconsciously he was aware, but now it's becoming all too real when he’s going on a fake date with a boss that's madly in love with him.
*
Michael is different when there are no cameras around. Ryan is grateful they decided not to follow them, he'd rather not have this night on record for everyone to see.
Michael is way calmer. Ever since Ryan came to Dunder-Mifflin there was always cameras in front of them, so he never really got to know Michael when they were off. Maybe there were moments, but nothing too long.
For Ryan, the cameras are uncomfortable. He doesn't like the way they make him behave. He looks like a deer in headlights, scared and jittery. He stopped watching himself back on those interviews because of that, and he hopes he learned to counter it. He’s not like that on a day to day, at least he hopes so. Ryan can work one person that he knows, make himself likable to them and switch it up if someone completely different comes along, but thinking about appealing to a large audience, it makes his brain overheat. Apparently he looked better on tape when he was VP, but he didn't watch that either, because he knows what gave him the brain power to handle all that. He doesn't want to stumble upon footage from some of his parties.
Michael is a complete opposite. It almost seems that when the cameras are off he loses most of his confidence. Sometimes when he speaks his eyes still dart for the lens, as if he's looking for an approval from that one imaginary person watching that gets him. Without them, he has to focus on the man in front of him, and there's no lifeline, no one to be on his side if he screws up.
‘So, how are you feeling at work?’ Michael asks, looking down at the drinks menu. ‘Back as the Temp, did you miss it?’
Ryan looks right at Michael, expression almost offended, but the older man doesn't look up at him yet.
‘It's not great.’ Ryan says. He doesn’t know why he decided to be so honest right away.
‘Well, it could always be worse.’ Michael finally meets Ryan's eyes, and the way he says it sounds almost snarky.
Touché.
‘Could also be better.’ Ryan teases, putting on a smile. Michael scoffs at that, like it amused him. Ryan wonders if it really is going to be that easy. They haven't even ordered food yet, and they're already on the topic of Ryan’s job. ‘Maybe if there's ever an opening somewhere...’
‘Listen, Ryan...’ Michael's smile fades, and he's still looking at that card like he's gonna find help there. ‘If it were up to me, I'd put you in sales. Hell, I'd make you my personal assistant if I could...’
I bet you would. Ryan thinks.
‘...But it's really out of my hands. The only reason you're still at Dunder-Mifflin is because everything you do is on me. That's what David Wallace made me promise. That I'll be responsible for your mistakes. So I can’t do much for you, not now at least. Maybe someday David will forget about.... your criminal record... Do you want a pina colada?
‘I... never mind.’ Ryan takes a breath, trying to gather all that was said. Michael looks at him, finally, only after changing the topic.
‘We'll take pina coladas.’ Michael calls to an excited waitress that runs up to take their order. ‘Two. Just drinks for now.’
‘I'll just take water.’ Ryan says, looking down at the menu again, hand massaging his temple and somewhat preventing him from getting annoyed. This whole dinner was a mistake, it's not going to get anywhere. He's not getting out of that temp job.
‘Come on, get a fun drink, Ry!’ Michael smiles and taps Ryan's shoulder, grabbing his attention.
‘I can’t, Michael.’ Ryan says, trying to smile through it, but he’s really annoyed now.
‘Oh, right.’ Michael corrects himself, a little flustered and maybe a little apologetic even. ‘Can you make those pina coladas non-alcoholic?’
‘Yeah, we can.’ The waitress says, without any judgement, or at least she can conceal it. She looks over at Ryan, but her sight comes back to Michael right away. ‘Both of them?’
‘Yeah. Both.’ Michael says, and when the waitress goes away he sends Ryan another smile, this time an excited one. ‘I haven't drunk a non alcoholic pina colada since, gosh, I don't know, high school? This is fun !’
Ryan forces another smile and looks over at Michael. The older man looks around the restaurant, he seems a little awkward now, his hands are running around the table like they're a conduit to unleash Michael's pent up emotions.
Ryan grits his teeth, takes a breath, smile still not fading as he really looks at Michael. At his face, his hair, his clothes.
‘Why?’ Ryan asks him, out of the blue. And enjoys the confusion that befalls Michael’s previously excited face.
‘Huh?’ Michael huffs with a laugh. ‘Why what?’
Ryan feels like he has nothing to lose now. Maybe there are some ways to get that job away from Scranton, but he has to work Michael way deeper. Find out what it takes to get him to beg Wallace on Ryan's behalf.
‘Why did you want me back? Why do you keep me around like your life depends on it? At a cost to your own job?’
Michael blinks, and after a moment gives Ryan an awkward, nervous smile that he thinks will explain everything, but Ryan doesn't budge and stares him down. ‘Come on, Ryan.’ He says, eyes moving away, looking for a camera that's not there. ‘Why wouldn't I? You're my friend. I'd do anything for you. You—you're great.’
Ryan bites his lip. It's an awfully simple answer that carries sincerity you could only get from Michael Scott. For Ryan, it's completely baffling, because he doesn't think Michael is hiding anything right now, and there's no way he doesn't realise how this whole thing looks. What kind of messages he's sending. Could he really be that oblivious? That repressed?
The waitress brings them their drinks. Ryan feels a little childish, but Michael seems to be having fun.
‘David Wallace is a great boss, isn't he?’ Ryan asks, and Michael is surprised by that sudden change of topic. ‘Why do you think he's so lenient with you?’
‘Well, I get things done, first of all.’ Michel says and takes a sip from his non-alcoholic pina colada. ‘Oh, this is really good.’
Ryan takes his own sip of the drink, so he can buy some time to figure out how to play this. It is good, and it surprises him somewhat. It was nice of Michael to also take it non-alcoholic.
‘Has he ever given you a hottest in the office award?’ Ryan says, and there's this voice in his mind that tells him it’s too far and too obvious of a question, but it just bugs him so bad how Michael can't seem to grasp the obvious.
‘No, actually.’ Michael says, sort of seriously. ‘He doesn't host any award show, which so stupid of him, he has no idea how well it boosts morale.’
He still didn't get it. Does Ryan have to spell it out for him?
‘I'd give that award to you.’ He says. He's way too deep now, frankly, he's just curious where it takes him. ‘If I was your boss.’
‘You were.’ Michael responds and gives Ryan this really intense look all of a sudden, with a smile and squinted eyes, like he knows what he said.
Did he know? Does he know what Ryan is getting at with him? Is this game actually played by two people?
The only thing Ryan knows is that if a woman gave him a look like that they'll be running to their car to fuck.
‘I didn't really have the time—’ Ryan tries to say, but his voice cracks in a weird way, giving away that he's not as confident as he was moments before. He clears his throat, but before he can continue, Michael speaks.
‘Would you have really given me hottest in the office?’ he asks, again, so sincerely, like it's all funny.
Ryan wants to strangle him.
He comes up with all those plans, tries to dig deeper into what Michael really thinks about him, plays it as subtly as he can without revealing too much, and when it seems Michael gets the bait and flirts back, it turns out he was being oblivious all along. Michael is driving him crazy without even realizing it.
‘Yeah, of course.’ He says with a breathy laugh, and he starts to feel his face get hot.
‘Oh, wow!’ Michael exclaims with wide eyes and a wide toothy grin that turns into a full on laugh. He looks away, tinkers with his drink, and Ryan can tell he's blushing.
The worst thing about all of it is that Ryan isn't really lying. He does think Michael is hot. He would never say that out loud to anybody, but he definitely has a thing for middle aged, corporate men, and Michael has a certain style he enjoys. He grooms himself very well, wears nice clothes, expensive ones, Ryan can tell. And the way he so properly combes his hair sometimes makes Ryan want to see them all messed up. Sue him.
He's not above fucking his boss. When he was VP he went to bed with a few particularly tough to convince clients and investors. Neither of them as hot as Michael, though.
But is he hot enough for Ryan to do him sober? They'll find out by the end of the night.
‘I really think you're a good guy, Ryan.’ Michael says after he composes himself. There's still a smile that comes on his face after every word, and he isn't looking Ryan in the eyes. ‘Smart, passionate, ambitious, you have good ideas. The website really was brilliant, and would have worked... if you didn't use it to commit corporate fraud.’
Michael snorts out a laugh, and strangely, it catches Ryan off-guard enough that he laughs too. He isn’t really one to laugh at his own mistakes and misfortunes, but in rehab they tell you it’s a good way to talk about your past, when there’s no malice involved, and with Michael, there never is.
‘You were an idiot too, never questioned anything when I told you to record those sales twice.’ Ryan jabs, and for a moment he thinks he went too far when Michael takes a pause.
But he snorts again, a genuine, sort of embarrassed sound escaping him. ‘I really was!’ he wails. ‘And you were so cocky about it too, like it was nothing!’
‘Yeah...’ Ryan leans his face on his palm, partially to cover himself, he doesn’t laugh like that too often, and in a way he feels like he's supposed to be ashamed Michael can work him like that. Get him to let loose. Help him have fun. Doesn't help that Michael looks cute when he laughs.
Ryan composes himself, looks at Michael again, and when they catch eyes Michael blushes again and scrunches his shoulders in that way he does when he's excited. There's just something there, in that man who looks so proper and serious, that spent more than a decade in a career that chewed and spat Ryan up in a matter of two years to be so sweet and innocent, it makes Ryan go crazy. He almost admires it, for the first time since he had known Michael Scott.
‘If I had a boss like David I'd be very grateful to him.’ Ryan says, voice low and almost dreamy, he decides to drop the facade of this game being about anything other than Michael.
‘Yeah. You should...’ Michael nods, but bites his lip for a moment of thought. ‘He doesn't really... want that from me. I tried to get him out to dinner not too long ago and it didn’t really work. I don't think he likes me much. He just likes how I run things.’ He rambles, doesn't pick up what Ryan puts down.
‘Maybe...’ Ryan takes one last moment of hesitation before going all in. ‘Maybe there are other ways an employee could show gratitude to his boss.’
‘Other than dinner?’ Michael asks, so innocently.
Ryan wonders if there are many other people that get turned on by frustration. He never thought it could be him, and Michael is the most frustrating man on the planet.
‘Dinner can be a start.’ Ryan says, not letting his gaze off from Michael, staring him down so intensely he can't look at him without getting the message.
‘I don't think David is the type of guy to spend time from work with his employees...’
‘Maybe you're a better boss.’
Michael smiles again, but it seems he's trying to contain it. ‘Maybe...’ he says with a giggle. And Ryan thinks he finally got him.
‘If David was my boss, I'd make sure he had a good time.’ He tells Michael, and he sees the cogs turning in Michael's head as he listens to Ryan. ‘I’d make sure he knows I'm grateful. That I really think he helped me, and I appreciate it, and that if he ever needs anything, I'll be there.’ As he says that he moves closer to Michael, put his hand on his knee under the table and feels Michael jump at the gentle touch, but he doesn’t move away. ‘Even if he was annoying sometimes, and too much sometimes. Maybe I'd tell him he can be charming and cute and that the way he cares about me fascinates me enough to still stay by his side.’
Ryan doesn't even realize how much he rambles, but at this point he's saying anything that he thinks is nice, because with every word Michael's eyes get redder and his body more tense. Maybe there was truth in that monologue, but Ryan will never know. This was all for Michael. Just to get him.
‘Ryan, are we...’ Michael stops, takes a breath, chokes up a little but Ryan can tell how happy he is. ‘Are we still talking about David Wallace?’
Michael finally turns his sight back at Ryan, and his eyes are shiny and red, but the grin isn't anywhere near gone from his face. His eyes look over at Ryan’s face, and Michael most likely realizes that they have gotten much closer in proximity than they were at the start.
Ryan smiles back at him with a flirty, confident smile that's supposed to get Michael going, and it works, because the older man shivers under Ryan's touch.
‘Maybe I'd tell my boss he's an idiot, too.’ Ryan says, and it's the last snarky response he gets do give before he closes the distance between them and kisses Michael, without letting him have a laugh
Michael is surprised at first, Ryan can tell how tense he is, but he relaxes the moment he realises what's happening and returns the kiss.
Ryan isn't a soft kisser, but Michael is, and Ryan lets him lead and take it at his own pace, gentle, almost shy, and full of love.
Michael's good at this.
Ryan remembers there has been a bet going in the office if Michael's a good kisser or not. They never figured it out because nobody would dare ask Jan about it. Ryan just won himself 20 dollars.
Claiming it would mean telling Pam, so he can say goodbye to that money.
They break off after what feels like way too short of a time, and Ryan, embarrassingly, wants to go for another one. Hell, he can't stand sitting in this restaurant a minute more, and if they don't go to Michael’s house he's going to go crazy.
‘ Wow...’ Michael lets out. Ryan notices he's looking for the camera again, but Ryan brings him back to their table when he grabs his hand.
‘I think we should dich dinner.’ Ryan whispers to him, and Michael giggles like a girl as he squeezes Ryan’s hand.
Ryan goes for another kiss, but this time it's short. Michael doesn't reciprocate.
‘Ryan, I...’ He says, looking away. His hand still in Ryan’s. ‘I didn't know you were gay.’
‘I'm flexible.’ Ryan says, tone still just as flirty as before. He doesn't want to let Michael get all existential on him right now. Ryan being his gay awakening can wait until tomorrow.
‘That's...’ Michael laughs. ‘That's great...’ He laughs again, but Ryan can tell something is wrong. Like Michael is trying not to break down. ‘I can't, Ryan, I can't be gay.’
Michael takes his hand away from Ryan's, and the younger man widens his eyes in an almost shocked expression.
‘It's not a bad thing, Michael—’ Ryan starts, but Michael interrupts him.
‘I know, I know...’ he sobs. He isn’t full on crying yet, but Ryan can tell he's close. ‘I just... Ryan... I can't do this. I want a family. I want kids, I can't be gay.’
‘Michael.’ Ryan says, trying to grab his arm again, but Michael recoils and moves away almost out of fear.
‘It was... it was a nice time.’ He says with a sad, almost teary smile and Ryan wants nothing more than to grab him and shake him and make out with him again, but before he can take any action, Michael gets up from the table and all but runs away.
And Ryan is left there, with these stupid non-alcoholic drinks that he needs to pay for and an unfulfilled desire that now has only gotten stronger.
Michael Scott, the man that has been in love with him since the first day he stepped foot at Dunder-Mifflin, the man that has been harassing him every day, the one that probably dreams about them together every night, has just rejected him.
And not even because he doesn't like him. Quite the opposite.
It was at one of those court-mandated rehab sessions where Ryan was told he only wants things he can't have. He doesn’t like that about himself, but it's true. And now, apparently, he can't have Michael Scott.
Ryan smiles to himself. Perhaps the permanent Temp position at the office is going to be way more fun than he thought.
He definitely isn't going to ask anybody for a transfer any time soon.