Conundrum

Chapter 7: Boys

      Shiro was too busy cursing his alarm clock and everything that had to do with time when he turned the corner, so it wasn't a surprise when he slammed into someone else. Folders and their contents flew everywhere; it was like a paper bomb had exploded. This time, Shiro cursed out loud. "I'm so, so sorry!"

      The other person just blinked and looked up at him, his eyes shining behind his spectacles. That's when Shiro blushed. Why did it have to be him of all people? If it had been anyone else, Shiro would've just apologized profusely, given them a small raise, and continued his sporadic way to the meeting he was late to. But the man in front of him was the only one he'd set his eyes on for as long as he could remember. There was no doubt whenever he saw the other man his chest fluttered, and his tongue became glued to his mouth. Shiro, ashamed as he was about it, even had several less than decent dreams about him. Despite going through internal panic, he still stuck out his hand, "Are you alright?"

      Adam, his secretary, just mumbled adjusting his glasses, "Yea." He then looked down and a look that only Shiro could describe as complete horror danced across his face when he saw all the papers strew about. Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "What am I supposed to do now?" Shiro bit his lip and checked his watch; his meeting started in three minutes. Yes, it was an extremely important meeting concerning how to make his company more eco-friendly, but his mind wasn't really on the logical side at the moment.

      "I'll help you!" his voice nearly cracked at the end of his sentence, and how it was possible he didn't know, but his face turned a deeper shade of red. Adam just blinked with a barely visible smile on his face and adjusted his glasses. "Okay."

      Shiro didn't know why he was surprised when Adam plopped to the floor, hands already reaching for the stray papers. Shiro somehow got lost just watching Adam place the papers back into the folder, one by one, and placed exactly above the others. He looked up; one brow lifted and the other scrunched. He cleared his throat. "You said you were going to help?"

      Shiro cursed himself a thousand times over for not being able to function like a normal human being around the other man. Why couldn't he take his traitorous eyes of the others mouse-brown hair? Or how it flowed from his head in thick waves? He wondered if it was as soft as it looked. And his sea-green eyes hidden behind the thick lenses of his black glasses nearly undid him every time he looked at them. But why couldn't he hide his attraction like every other sane person in the universe?

      He gathered as many papers as he could and tried to file them into a neat pile through gravity. Adam giggled, "You know that's not going to work right?" Shiro sputtered and set down the crazy pile of papers, heart pounding. Adam reached over to grab Shiro's pile and his hand brushed against the others. His hands were warm. And soft.

Kill me now.

      "Don't try and skip any steps, it'll take longer because you'll have to re-do it to make it right." Adam carefully took each paper and placed them in his own pile. He pushed one corner to match the rest of them with his index finger. Shiro was enthralled by every movement he made, and he felt like his soul left his body when Adam beamed at him. "At least that's what I've found out!"

Shiro couldn't help but smile back. "Then it's definitely true."

      It was Adam's turn to blush. He turned away to hide his blush and continued to pick up the loose papers. They worked together in silence until the folder was full again. Adam stood up and brushed a stray piece of hair out of his eye. "Thank you for helping me."

Shiro followed right behind him. "Of course. Anytime."

He then checked his watch and paled. "I would love to stay and talk more, but I really have to go."