who_is_she | (no subject)

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"Oh, damn," swears Parker's coworker, making him jump as he'd been distracted by his thoughts.

"What's up?" Parker asks, stirring from his seat in front of the bank of monitors and looking over at where his coworker is struggling with one of the computers.

"Just-- this stupid thing isn't working!" he exclaims, and Parker raises an eyebrow as the guy pounds his fist on the table.

"All, right, well... Don't break it more," he says, scolding slightly, "I'll just give Dave a call in IT."

"Oh, didn't you hear? Dave left. They replaced him with this new kid," says the coworker, and Parker pauses with the phone in his hand.

"Oh yeah? What's his name?" Parker asks, not really listening, but he stiffens when he hears the name of the new IT guy.

"Navin, I think."

Suddenly Parker's eighteen again, lingering too long in a hug on the last day of school and convincing himself that he probably will be able to see his crush again, and he has to shake himself and continue dialing. The chances of it being the same Navin are small, he knows, but he can't help but feel a little thrill of nerves as he calls up for help from the IT department.

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Navin picks up the phone, leaning back in his chair and holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he puts his feet up on the table.

"Yo," he says, then after glancing over at his boss, who shoots him a disapproving look, takes his feet off the desk and clears his throat.

"I mean hello. Yes. This is the IT department, how may I be of...help to you," he says, scratching the side of his nose and shrugging at his boss.

Parker's heart skips a beat at the voice at the other end of the phone, and he has to take a moment to breath and tell himself he's just projecting, and just because the new IT guy has the same name and voice as the boy he'd had a hopeless crush on in high school didn't mean it was the same person.

"Yes, this is Parker from security and we're having some trouble with one of our computers," he says, managing to keep his voice serious and stern.

Navin's eyebrows raise a little at the familiar voice on the other end, and when he says his name Navin pushes his tongue hard against the inside of his cheek. Standard protocol usually called for asking questions and making an attempt to direct the department members in fixing their own problems before heading to their offices in person, but he's curious, now, and makes the decision to skip that step.

"Right," he says, grabbing his small backpack of tools off the floor beside him and checking his watch, "I'll be right over to check that out for you. Security you said? I'm on the way."

He hangs the phone up unthinkingly, without saying anything more, and practically runs down to the security offices. He knocks on the open door and sticks his head inside, glancing around the room and hoping to spot a face he knew.

"Hey," he says, "You guys called IT?"

Parker swings around to face the door as soon as he hears the voice, his eyes going wide and his face immediately turning an embarrassing shade of red. For a long moment his mouth works soundlessly, opening and closing like a fish because he can't quite believe his eyes.

"Oh my god... Navin?" he says, his voice gone high-pitched and squeaky, and he just barely manages to stop himself from slapping a hand over his mouth to stop the sound. He feels like a nervous sweaty teenager again, trying to think of something to say in front of his crush, despite the fact that seven years had elapsed since he'd last felt this way, "It's... been a while," he says awkwardly, trying to stand up and move closer to Navin but stumbling and catching himself on the back of his chair and almost falling to the floor.

Navin gapes for a long moment, before his face breaks into a wide, goofy smile. He closes the space between them, and pulls Parker into a tight, enthusiastic hug, even as the other security guards look on.

"Parker, dude!" he laughs, rocking back and forth with the hug and pressing his face into his shoulder, "I thought that was you on the phone, man!"

He pulls back, still smiling wide as he claps his friend on the shoulder.

"How are you?" he asks, "You work here? I mean, duh, you work here, of course you do, but wow! It's really good to see you! We gotta --"

He remembers himself after a moment, and reaches for the bag on his back.

"Wait," he laughs, "I gotta do my job, which computers fucking-- I mean, messing up, whoops."

Parker is horrified at himself when his heart starts pounding at Navin's arms around him. He even giggles a little at Navin's accidental swearing, knowing the other guards are looking on bewildered because he could count on one hand the number of times he's laughing in front of them.

"Yeah, it's, um... Right over here," he says, backing up and gesturing to the terminal that was apparently being troublesome "I'm the-- supervisor, actually." He adds, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He hovers over Navin's shoulder while he gets to work, still blushing furiously and unable to look him or any of his coworkers in the eye.

Navin sits down at the computer, and begins his troubleshooting by trying to turn the computer on. When that doesn't work, he pulls some spare cables out of his bag, and starts checking them one by one to see if the issue is a short in one of the cords.

"Really? That's awesome!" he says, grinning at him over his shoulder, "So you're like, sort of my boss? Or one of my bosses? That rules. I just started the other day."

Eventually, one of the cables makes the monitor flicker on, and Navin grins again.

"Eyy, there you go," he says, but frowns when he opens a document and tests the keyboard, noting that several of the keys are unresponsive, and that one occasionally sticks.

"Hold up, this is busted too," he says, flipping it over and pulling a small screwdriver out of his bag, "This might take a little while. More time to catch up though, right? Or, oh, you're probably super busy. What time do you get off anyway? We need to hang out, I haven't seen you in forever.

Parker realizes the other guards are all hovering around too, gaping at them both, and he manages to summon a stern look that sends them all scurrying back to their work.

"I'm-- I get off at five," he says, glancing at his watch and realizing it's nearly lunchtime, "Actually, it's about time for my lunch break. Do you want to, um...?" He trails off, realizing halfway through the question that that's almost like asking for a date. Only not, because they're old friends. It's totally normal to ask an old friend you haven't seen in a while out to lunch, right? Parker has a desperate urge to ask Lola for advice, and then he jolts at the realization that Lola would definitely be interested in seeing Navin again as well.

"Oh, ah, you remember-- I mean, of course you do, it's-- I mean--" Parker has to stop himself and swallow, sighing and running a hand through his hair before he can get his thoughts out properly, "Lola works here too. And we... Are roommates, too. So."

"Oh, for real?" Navin says, his grin faltering a little for a moment, "That's awesome, man. Yeah, I'd love to see her again. Give me just a few seconds and we can go get lunch."

He unscrews the back of the keyboard and fiddles with the keys, but he's a little distracted by the announcement that Lola and Parker are living together. It didn't surprise him, but he still felt a little let down that the guy he'd had such a big crush on for most of his life was dating a girl, and probably wasn't even gay.

"Done, I think," he says after testing the fixed keys, drumming on his knees for a second before packing up his tools, "You ready to go? What's there to eat around here?"

"Yeah, um, there's a pretty good place nearby we go to," Parker says, nodding, comforted by the thought of having Lola with them as he pulls out his phone and types out a quick message to her, explaining the situation. He can't help but chuckle a little at Lola's enthusiastic response full of capitals and smiley faces.

"We can meet her there," he says, turning towards a nearby closet and pulling out a coat and the gesturing for the door.

The car ride to the restaurant is quick, and when they get there Lola is waiting for them. She jumps up and down excitedly when she sees Navin, and pulls him into a tight hug, which he returns with a laugh. After several minutes of chatting they walk inside, and stand in line to order their food. He notices the two are standing very close to each other, and at one point she places her hand on the small of his back, and he chews the inside of his lip, trying to fight the slightly upset feeling in his stomach and enjoy the company of his old friends. He orders a bowl of lo mein and slides into a booth. To his surprise, Lola slides in across from him, leaving the seat next to Navin open and giving Parker a deliberate look before digging into her food with her chopsticks.

"It's seriously so great to see you again," she says, with her mouth full, "I'm always like, 'Parker, you should call Navin,' but he's always like 'Nooo, I haven't seen him in forever, what if he doesn't remember who I am, neh neh neh.'"

She makes a face and puffs out her chest while imitating him, and Navin snorts a little.

Parker laughs at Lola's terrible impression of him, shaking his head as he slides into the booth next to Navin.

"I do not sound like that," he says, shifting carefully away from Navin when their thighs brush accidentally, "And it would have been weird to call. And it wasn't like I had his number or anything." Parker shakes his head, still smiling faintly.

"Oh, by the way, Lola, Thunder called today and said that they're coming up this weekend," he says offhandedly, picking at his lunch.

"Oh, they are? Yaay!" Lola says, clapping her hands, "I haven't seen them in forever! Well, a few months, that's a long time. Are they staying with us or at a hotel?"

Navin listens to them talk curiously, steadily shovelling food into his mouth as he does. The dynamic between the two of them was starting to confuse him, and he suddenly remembers that Parker had described her as his roommate, and not his girlfriend. He finally decides he should probably just ask.

"Okay, wait," he says, raising a finger, "So you two are...dating, right? You are, aren't you?"

Parker gapes at Navin, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"What?" he says, disbelieving, "No! No, of course not, why would you..." Parker trails off, sharing a shocked glance with Lola.

"Actually, um..." Parker swallows, scratching the back of his neck and pausing for a moment before he decides to give a better answer than he usually would, "A couple of months after high school ended I moved away from my parents and um, Thunder adopted me. And Lola lived with Thunder's, uh, husband, so..." He looks over at Lola, making a face, "We're more like... siblings."

"Oh," Navin says, raising his eyebrows and looking down at his food as he lets out a short laugh, "Well, that's a relief. I mean that's cool, fine. Either way is fine."

He can't fight the slight smile on his mouth, but refrains from asking the next question on his mind, which was whether or not Parker liked boys like he'd suspected he had in high school. He scratches the side of his nose, deciding he might be moving in on him a little fast. He moves his food around with his fork and swings his legs under the table.

"So, like, your dads are coming to town then? That's awesome, I don't think I ever got to meet them."

Parker's a little thrown by Navin's relief and happiness at finding out him and Lola weren't dating, but swallows it back when Navin asks about Thunder and Mac.

"Yeah, they live a couple of hours away," he says, nodding, "Maybe, uh, you could come meet them when they're here? I'm sure they'd like to meet... My... friend... from high school," he says awkwardly, realizing halfway through the sentence that he's asking his high school crush to meet his parents.

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