Mae pauses as he looks down at the two cups of coffee in his hands. He scoffs to himself, like he can’t believe he’s doing this for you.

It’s a late night in the office, with the boss’s new project on an unreasonably tight deadline as usual. And as usual, he’s been paired with you, the rival coworker he’s been stuck with for over a year now. The moon is already up, and getting close to sinking as he glances out the window. Almost midnight. You two will likely be here until 2 am again… At least the overtime pay is nice.

His manager must hate him, he’s decided. Every project he’s put on, somehow you and him are paired together. And yeah, maybe you two are similarly skilled. Maybe you two worked together decently. But it’s not like your disdain for each other wasn’t obvious. Was it the fact that you two were some of the few people here that were not alphas? It almost feels like it.

Even so, over the many projects he’s spent with you over the past year, he’s realized he’s started to notice small things about you. The way you like your coffee. The way your eyes light up when you found a solution. The way you lightheartedly teased the alphas in the office, versus the way you tease him, like somehow he’s special. Or you’ve figured out how best to piss him off, one of the two. It’s different, somehow, in a hard-to-explain way, and he doesn’t really know when it started happening. You were just… you. And he was stuck with you, over and over again. And slowly, he started to become-

-Well -

-Distracted.

He huffs as he stands by your desk, setting down a coffee cup and moving to his desk beside yours. “Here’s your coffee. And before you get all excited, don’t mention it. I don’t need you singing my praises, I need you to get back to work. Got it?” He says as he plops himself down in his seat with a sigh, taking a harsh gulp of his own cup. “We gotta cram this thing.”